By: David Chalian and Quinn Bowman
Sen. John Ensign is being investigated for his handling of an affair with a former political aide. File photo by Getty Images.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is resigning from his seat in order to avoid further investigation and action from the Senate Ethics Committee looking into any possible wrongdoing related to his affair with a former senior aide's wife.
"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years. The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada," Ensign said in a statement.
"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. For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great," he added.
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Vice Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., issued a two-sentence statement that appeared to be the equivalent of "good riddance."
"The Senate Ethics Committee has worked diligently for 22 months on this matter and will complete its work in a timely fashion. Senator Ensign has made the appropriate decision," they said.
Ensign said his resignation will become effective May 3. A former senator is not subject to penalty or further investigation from the Senate Ethics Committee.
Politically, Ensign's resignation can have significant impact on what's expected to be one of the most high-profile senate races of the cycle. If Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval appoints Rep. Dean Heller to the seat, Heller will get to run for election with some of the trappings of incumbency.
This would no doubt complicate what Democrats see as one of their best pickup opportunities in the country in a year when most of their time is going to be spent playing defense.
With the GOP only four seats away from a majority in the Senate, a complicating factor thrown into one of the Democrats' most promising pickup opportunities is welcome news at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
"There will be a very clear choice for Nevadans between an uncompromising extremist like Dean Heller, who wants to end Medicare and cut loans for small businesses to give more tax breaks for the very rich, and Shelley Berkley, a true fighter for Nevada's economy and middle class. Nevada will remain a top target for Senate Democrats," said Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in an attempt to put a good face on the unwelcome news.
If Rep. Heller gets the appointment as expected, he vacates a competitive House seat for which a special election will take place this year, providing a great opportunity to see how the political terrain has shifted, if at all, since 2010 in a major battleground state.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/post-14.html
Remember when the GOP stood for balanced budgets, individual freedom and isolationism.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Party has run up these deficits, we want the federal government to be in our bedrooms and between our women and their doctors, we started two wars instead of ending them like the Korean War and were supposed to stop the Vietnam War the Democrats started. We have lost our way!
So why waste our time with these fools who use their racist rhetoric, like this Marilyn Davenport and Donald Trump with his birther unproven myth, why keep Ensign, the liar, why do we allow our Fox news people to keep talking down our country. Don’t they know we can win the next election with optimism and hope instead of the current rhetoric, that the sky is falling, if we are not careful we will end up like chicken little where no one will listen to us.