Nevada Sen. John Ensign announces resignation

[ShivanCommander]

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada Sen. John Ensign announced Thursday he will resign amid an ethics investigation, insisting he's done nothing wrong but saying he could no longer subject his family and constituents to further investigation.

Ensign said in a statement that he will send Vice President Joe Biden a letter Friday making the resignation official.

"While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings," he said. "For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great."

The Republican, who is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, announced in March he would not pursue re-election.

The 52-year-old acknowledged in June 2009 that he had an extramarital affair with Cynthia Hampton, a former member of his campaign staff, and that he had helped her husband, Doug Hampton, a member of his congressional staff, obtain lobbying work with two Nevada companies.

Ensign's admission that he cheated on his wife seemingly foreshadowed his political downfall. Amid the scandal, his parents provided the Hamptons with $96,000 described as a gift, and Ensign helped find Doug Hampton a lobbying job.

Read more: http://www.ksdk.com/rss/article/255699/18/Nevada-Sen-John-Ensign-announces-resignation

 

[TruthSeeker]

Another case of a disgraced Republican politician biting the bullet, doing the right thing, and resigning his office.

Disgraced Democrat politicians, on the other hand, don't resign. They point fingers, talk about "witch hunts", scream "racism", proclaim their innocence in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, then run for re-election, and usually lose. Unless their last name is "Kennedy", or they are a "minority".

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Another case of a disgraced Republican politician biting the bullet, doing the right thing, and resigning his office.

Disgraced Democrat politicians, on the other hand, don't resign. They point fingers, talk about "witch hunts", scream "racism", proclaim their innocence in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, then run for re-election, and usually lose. Unless their last name is "Kennedy", or they are a "minority".

if by doing the right thing you mean not doing the right thing for a long time and then running when it turns out they may hold public hearings on it...so to save yourself from the details getting out you bolt...if thats what you mean by the right thing

 

[TruthSeeker]

if by doing the right thing you mean not doing the right thing for a long time and then running when it turns out they may hold public hearings on it...so to save yourself from the details getting out you bolt...if thats what you mean by the right thing

Did you actually READ the original posting and/or link, PFOS? Apparently not. It sure looks to me like the details were made public a while ago.

There's no excuse for what Ensign did, regardless of what political party he belongs to.