Ensign's affair scandal swirls
Published: July 9, 2009 at 3:46 AM
upi.com
LAS VEGAS, July 9 (UPI) -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., paid his married lover more than $25,000 in severance pay when she left her job on his campaign staff, her husband alleges.
Doug Hampton claims in an interview that ran on the Las Vegas ONE TV station Wednesday that Ensign paid Cindy Hamption "well over $25,000" when she left her treasurer's job in May 2008, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Doug Hampton, 47, was a senior staffer in Ensign's Senate office until May 2008. He claims both he and his 46-year-old wife lost their jobs with the 51-year-old senator because of the affair.
Doug Hampton also alleged a group of Ensign's friends, including Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., urged Ensign to given the Hamptons a large financial payment -- "millions of dollars" -- and end the relationship.
The Review-Journal said Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola issued a statement, saying "Ensign said Doug Hampton was consistently inaccurate in his statements."
The Review-Journal also reported Ensign wrote Cindy Hampton a letter saying they had sinned and "God never intended for us to do this." Doug Hampton revealed the letter to the media.
"I used you for my own pleasure. ... I betrayed everything I believe in," Ensign allegedly wrote in February 2008. Ensign has acknowledged the affair ran from December 2007 to August 2008.
Coburn's office confirmed he knew about Ensign's affair and had urged him to end it, the Washington publication Politico reported.
"Dr. Coburn did everything he could to encourage Sen. Ensign to end his affair and to persuade Sen. Ensign to repair the damage he had caused to his own marriage and the Hamptons' marriage," Coburn's office said. "Had Sen. Ensign followed Dr. Coburn's advice, this episode would have ended, and been made public, long ago."
Politico said a source familiar with the matter said any discussion between Coburn and Ensign about paying the couple was "an expression of restitution and not in any way 'hush money.'"
Coburn spokesman John Hart told Politico the Oklahoma senator "categorically denies" Hampton's claim that he urged Ensign to pay millions to the couple. |
