October 2, 2009, 1:30 pm
Senate Republican Leader Silent on Ensign
By Carl Hulse
While not criticizing Senator Ensign, Mr. McConnell also did not mount a defense or a show of support for him.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, on Friday refused to respond to newly disclosed details of Senator John Ensign’s efforts to establish a top aide in a lobbying business following the senator’s admitted affair with the man’s wife.
“I really don’t have any observations to make about the Ensign matter,’’ Mr. McConnell said at a morning press conference when he was asked repeatedly about the conduct and standing of Mr. Ensign, a Nevada Republican. “Senator Ensign continues to serve. He’s a member of the Finance Committee, been active in the discussions there.”
While not criticizing Mr. Ensign, Mr. McConnell also did not mount a defense or a show of support for the former member of the party leadership. As a former member of the ethics committee who participated in some high-profile cases, Mr. McConnell is not one to get too far out on a matter like Mr. Ensign’s situation until he sees all the facts and assesses the political climate.
But Republican senators are not happy with the Ensign case since it not only casts the party in a bad light but distracts from their attempts to challenge Democrats over health care policy and other legislative issues. Mr. McConnell called his press conference to weigh in on the health insurance overhaul emerging from the Finance Committee, not get caught up in Mr. Ensign’s tangled private and public problems.
Even though he showed clearly that he would not talk about Mr. Ensign, Mr. McConnell was asked three times about his colleague as reporters changed the question in an effort to elicit a response. On the final try, Mr. McConnell was pressed on how Mr. Ensign’s activities reflected on the “image and the credibility of the Republicans.”
“Well, at the risk of being redundant,” he said. “I really don’t have anything to add about the newspaper article that was in The New York Times today.” |
