KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasI-Team: New Emails Surface Linking Senator Ensign to Job Payoff
John Ensign
Doug HamptonLAS VEGAS -- Newly released emails and details continue to paint a scene of a desperate, cuckolded man fighting against a rising star in the Republican Party.
This week, the New York Times published emails between Douglas Hampton, Senator John Ensign and another former staffer. The emails give new life to plans first explained by Hampton months ago.
Hampton's wife Cindy was Ensign's mistress and after the affair was exposed, Douglas Hampton used the opportunity to gain positions as a lobbyist to supplement lost income. Both Hampton's worked for Senator Ensign during parts of the affair and aftermath, leading to stark allegations of off-the-books severance payoffs and job trading to maintain the silence of the Hamptons.
The I-Team has learned that investigators from the Department of Justice in Washington have been in Las Vegas this week, armed with subpoenas and interviewing members of the business community who they believe might have been approached by Ensign in a pitch to steer consulting work to November Inc. That company is ran by Mike Slanker, a former Ensign staffer who connected Hampton with clients Allegiant Air and NV Energy.
The legal problems center on the timing of the lobby work. Federal law bars former staffers from lobbying for one year after leaving their political work. By Hampton's admissions and the email trail, that "cooling off" period does not appear to have been followed by either Ensign or Hampton.
Also revealed this week is the push to get Hampton a job lobbying for P2SA, a construction and energy firm. The emails appear to connect a $10,000 donation, a job for Hampton and support from Ensign on new work for the firm and that of Greg Paulk, a prominent Las Vegas business owner.
Ensign returned a portion of Paulk's donation after internal concerns surfaced over the image of impropriety.
In a statement to the I-Team, Ensign's spokesperson Rebecca Fisher wrote: "Any allegation or inference that Senator Ensign's motivation for doing his job as a Senator was anything but for the good of his state is completely false and misleading. He did everything necessary to ensure there was no impropriety whatsoever in this matter. He not only returned the donation, but also informed the company that his office could not be of assistance in any capacity due to the connection of a fundraiser and legislative requests made by an employee of the company. Public records clearly show that Senator Ensign did not take any legislative action at the behest of this company.
"No one is more anxious for this investigation to be completed and for the facts to come out than Senator Ensign. He is hopeful that politics will stay out of the investigation so that he can continue to focus on his job as Nevada's Senator."
It is unclear when the FBI or Senate Ethics Committee investigations will be complete. Ensign has said he has no plans to resign his position.
