Sen. John Ensign Acknowledges Mistress Payment

Nevada Sen. John Ensign has acknowledged his parents gave his mistress nearly $100,000. AP Photo by Ron Edmonds

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Chris Cillizza 
July 9, 2009 - Washuington Post
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Nevada Sen. John Ensign(R) has acknowledged that his parents paid his mistress and her family $96,000 in April 2008, according to a statement made by his attorney moments ago.

"After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time," said Paul Coggins, counsel to Ensign.

Coggins added that Ensign never used official money or campaign funds to make the payments. "None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds nor were they related to any campaign or official duties," said Coggins. "Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules."

Ensign's father, Mike, is a well-heeled casino executive, having left his post as chairman of the Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. Ensign's father took $29 million in stock options when he left in 2005 and two years earlier had cashed out $103 million worth of stock.

Ensign's acknowledgment comes less than 24 hours after Jon Ralston, the king of Nevada political reporters, sat down with Doug Hampton -- the husband of Ensign's mistress -- who made a string of allegations including that Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn had tried unsuccessfully to force Ensign to end the affair.

Ensign has insisted he has no plans to resign his office, telling the Las Vegas Sun today that "I always planned on serving and working hard -- working harder than I ever worked -- and I'm going to continue to do that."

As we have written before (in relation to one Mark Sanford), stories like this one often spiral out of control of the person at the center of the storm. Ensign had weathered the initial bad press surrounding his affair but this detail may be too much.

Much more to come....