Ethics committee hires special counsel in Ensign probe

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) - The Senate ethics committee announced the appointment of a special counsel to conduct its ongoing preliminary inquiry into allegations Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, may have violated Senate ethics rules in his dealings with a former staffer after Ensign had an affair with the staffer's wife.

The appointment comes about two months after Ensign announced that the Department of Justice told him he was no longer a target of its investigation into the matter and would not bring charges against him.

Carol Elder Bruce, an experienced former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington DC, will head the probe. She has previously served as an Independent Counsel in the investigation of former Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Deputy Independent Counsel in the investigation of former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese. She is currently a partner at the law firm of K&L Gates LLP.

"The purpose of a preliminary inquiry is to determine whether there is substantial credible evidence that a violation within the Committee's jurisdiction occurred," said a news release issued on behalf of ethics committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-California, and Vice Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia. "The possible responses after a preliminary inquiry are dismissal of the allegations, a letter of admonition, or, for more serious violations, an adjudicatory review."

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/01/ethics-committee-hires-special-counsel-in-ensign-probe/

[nyy1998]

1. If the Dems could run a good candidate in 2012 against him, he's as good as gone. nt

[DCKit]

2. Any Democrat that pulled this would have been strung up and publicly flogged in the Senate.

I can't believe the hypocrisy of the double standard is lost on any but the most rabid RWers.