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26 May 2011 17:09

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U.S.: Report: John Ensign made life harder for John Ensign

  • John Ensign fouls up his legal situation: A report by Reuters today suggests that a decision by John Ensign himself may have paved the way for the charges he could be facing. Throughout the probe, investigators had wanted to get a look at a trove of Ensign’s e-mails, which he and his team claimed were protected by attorney-client confidentiality. The probe could very well have gone nowhere without them. That is, until Ensign himself handed them over as he was preparing to leave the Senate, after having refused for 18 months. Why on earth he did this is unknown, but it seems he may have scored an “own goal” here. source

12 May 2011 16:42

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U.S.: A bad day for former Senator John Ensign

  • attempt When John Ensign resigned from his position as Nevada’s junior senator on May 3rd, it was widely believed he was trying to halt an ethics investigation into his affair with a staffer, and subsequent alleged payoffs to her family.
  • failure The Senate Ethics Committee isn’t letting their old buddy John off that easy. They’ve forwarded their findings to the U.S. Justice Department, saying they found that Ensign violated the law. Jeez, all that resigning for nothing. source

22 Apr 2011 11:37

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Politics: John Ensign’s resignation a blessing in disguise for Republicans

  • negative Departing Nevada Sen. John Ensign has the stink of scandal on him, after he had an affair with his staffer’s wife, and then tried to bribe the staffer with another job in an effort to cover the mess up.
  • positive This is a good thing for the Republican Party, however, because it means they can appoint someone new to Ensign’s job — making it easier for that person to stay put in 2012. source
  • » A suggestion: Not Sharron Angle. Anybody but her, Nevada. Not Sharron Angle.

08 Mar 2011 22:55

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Politics: Senators running for the hills, not re-election

  • 8 U.S. Senators will retire in 2012 rather than seek re-election source
  • » What’s going on? Well, it’s a mix of this and that. A few of the retirees clearly weren’t going to win re-election, namely John Ensign and “Cowboy Joe” Lieberman. A few could have won but faced uphill battles (Jim Webb, Kent Conrad). Hawaii’s Daniel Akaka is just really old, and Kay Bailey Hutchison had promised that she’d retire if she lost her bid for Texas Governor (which she did). But some of the retirements — Jeff Bingaman and John Kyl in particular — seemingly came out of nowhere. We’ll just have to take ’em at their word when they say what politicians always say when they retire: they want to spend more time with their families.

07 Mar 2011 14:41

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Politics: Senator John Ensign to call it a career

  • John Ensign, signing off: The Nevada Senator is expected to announce he won’t seek reelection in 2012, opting instead to retire from public life. Ensign, 52, would face a winnable but nonetheless taxing battle to retain his seat in light of the ethics investigation against him, stemming from his extramarital affair with the wife of one of his top political aides. Ensign is one of Congress’ members of “The Family,” the secretive, moralistic Evangelical organization that operates out of the “C Street” house in Washington, which made his marital infidelity seem especially hypocritical and irritating to his detractors. (thanks pantslessprogressive) source

18 Nov 2010 20:44

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Politics, U.S.: Remains from the Sharron Angle campaign

  • the election is over. Sharron Angle narrowly lost her bid to unseat Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. But Jon Ralston has unearthed a few last bits of trivia about her campaign, including who played Reid in debate prep, the code used by staff to warn of media presence, and Angle’s complicated feelings on dictatorships. Oh, how we miss the election. source

04 Oct 2009 23:06

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U.S.: John Ensign shows how a sex scandal can quickly ruin your life

  • may Ensign, a Nevada senator, looked like one of the great hopes for the Republican Party in 2012 and was regularly named as a possible presidential candidate.
  • october Battered after months of dealing with a sex scandal with a staffer, Ensign can’t even get love from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Ouch. source
 

17 Jul 2009 17:19

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Politics: For fans of political scandal, three words: “C Street House”

  • Chip Pickering’s tie A mistress of former Mississippi Rep. Chip Pickering, who didn’t run for re-election in 2008, was sued by Pickering’s wife on charges of cheating with her hubby in the house.
  • John Ensign’s tie Nevada Sen. John Ensign, currently in the midst of the fallout from his own affair, was apparently roommates with Pickering at the sketchtastic D.C.-based home with religious group ties.
  • Mark Sanford’s tieS.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, while a congressman, was a member of the group. When word broke of his recent marital problems, he said he was getting help from the house. Conspiracy theories ahoy! source

27 Jun 2009 12:39

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Politics, U.S.: A handy guide to GOP presidential wannabes-turned-also-rans

17 Jun 2009 20:25

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U.S.: Nevada Sen. John Ensign, then and now. It’s pretty sad, kids.

  • critical Ensign, a social conservative, was one of Bill Clinton’s harshest critics during the Monica Lewinsky saga, saying “the truth must come out.” He also trashed on Larry Craig pretty badly.
  • hypocritical The rising Republican star took a detour from rising when he admitted last night to an affair with one of his Congressional staffers. Why now? Dude probably wants to run for president. source