John Ensign

Washington As Republican Sen. John Ensign was exiting the Capitol on Wednesday night, a Democratic senator entering the building stopped to greet him and thank him for having helped out on an earlier issue. The next afternoon Ensign strode toward the main doors of the Senate chamber to deliver a floor speech on health care, making his way through a gaggle of reporters who not too long ago would have bombarded the Nevadan with questions about his affair and potential ethics violations. Ensign passed by without bother. The senator is trying again, with some success, to resume a normal legislative life in Washington, prompting ... Read Full Story

A Nevada man whose wife had an affair with Sen. John Ensign said he discovered the relationship after intercepting a text message around Christmas in 2007. "How wonderful it is. Can't believe it's like a kid. Scared, but excited." Doug Hampton recounted the text message during an interview for broadcast Monday night on ABC's "Nightline". The interview covers a lot of ground already made public since Ensign, R-Nev., acknowledged the extramarital affair in June, but provides new details about how the affair was discovered as well as the senator's reaction when Hampton confronted him. The acknowledgment of the affair has led to a huge ... Read Full Story

Sen. John Ensign's former mistress and her husband sought an $8.5 million settlement from the Nevada Republican before the affair became public, The New York Times reported Thursday. Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a friend of Ensign, acted as an intermediary in negotiations last spring with the lawyer for Cindy and Doug Hampton before Ensign publicly admitted the relationship with Mrs. Hampton, the Times said. According to the Times, Coburn rejected as "ridiculous" the $8.5 million figure suggested by the Hamptons' attorney, Daniel J. Albregts. The amount was to cover the purchase of the couple's home in Nevada, lost wages and pain and ... Read Full Story

Suggestion Box : Stay silent, John Ensign Las Vegas Weekly Staff Tue, Dec 1, 2009 (5:16 p.m.) Hear that silence? Up until this week, that’s been the sweet sound of Sen. John Ensign saying absolutely nothing—about his affair with an ex-staffer’s wife, the hush money he got his parents to put up, any details of the sordid mess. Unfortunately, Ensign is talking again, specifically about the health-care reform package this country so desperately needs, throwing out verbal vomit such as “people will die.” Yeah, as opposed to the present time, when lord only knows how many are in peril because they can’t afford a ... Read Full Story

Rep. Dean Heller has become the first high-ranking Nevada Republican to call on Sen. John Ensign to break his silence and answer remaining questions about his affair with a member of his staff. I dont want to speculate, but until John talks, we havent seen the end of it, Heller told Sun columnist Jon Ralston during an interview on Face to Face With Jon Ralston, which aired Wednesday and will again at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today. Ensign faces investigations by the Federal Election Commission because of an undisclosed payment to Cynthia Hampton, with whom he had the affair, as well as a ... Read Full Story