Rachel is about to present the details of the Ensign affair

[malaise]

which is 'getting bigger'. Anna Marie Cox will be on with her.
Should be good. Hope they have the details of the 'severance package'. :evilgrin:

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Beginning to sound like the Palin family of misfits

This is going to get juicy.

[malaise]

2. Here we go

:popcorn:
Pretty much the TPM story.

No extortion was reported according to the FBI - Ensign was worried about the TV date with the Hamptons. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Follow the money!! hahahahahahaha :rofl: :rofl: John was paying the mistress and her son from the RNC coffers. :popcorn:

[SpiralHawk]

17. The RNC coffers - Holy Crap

The RNC is funding infidelity.

Freaking wide-stance Republicon Family Values are totally messed up.

[Lisa0825]

3. WOW

:wow:

I had no idea about all the $$ details!

[malaise]

5. We've been following the money

That's the story.
Having accused them of extortion and having the FBI deny the existence of any such report could mean a hefty lawsuit.

[Catshrink]

6. It's a felony to attempt to extort from a member of Congress

I think Ensign is in a world of hurt.

[kestrel91316]

7. I don't know that they were extorting Ensign. He may have made a pre-

emptive move by offering a bribe using campaign funds. In which case he ain't no victim.

I can see him in prison stripes.........he'll look dashing.

[malaise]

9. According to the Nevada police and FBI they have no reports

of extortion and he's apparently backing down from that according to TPM.
The truth is he used party funds to pay the mistress and hire her son and connections to find a job for the husband after the affair ended.
------------
This is going to get ugly.

[malaise]

10. The Hampton house in pix

http://tours4.vht.com/Viewer/PhotoGallery.aspx?ListingID=1150611&Style=PAN

[Cha]

11. The house that brought down

Ensign?

[malaise]

12. That one

:popcorn:

[Catshrink]

13. I know...

my post was poorly worded. I should have said that because there was no police report, his version of events is suspect.

[malaise]

14. Yep

He was so terrified of their TV interview that he started spinning his own web and there is no report to back him up.

[Catshrink]

4. Love the Dr. Seuss shirt

And the Ensign stuff was pretty amazing also.

[malaise]

8. Always follow the money - this has teeth

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/did_ensign_act_on_behalf_of_girlfriend_husband.php
<snip>
Politico reports that the affair took place from December 2007 until May 2008. Cynthia Hampton was employed last year as the treasurer of Ensign's Senate reelection campaign. And in February, 2008, Ensign made her treasurer of his Battle Born Political Action Committee, when Christopher Ward, who had held the job, was ousted amid a fiscal scandal. The same day, Hampton also took over from Ward as treasurer of the Senate Majority Committee, a joint fundraising committee for six GOP senators, including Ensign, who faced reelection that year. This move, too, appears to have been instigated by Ensign. When Hampton left the campaign in May 2008, Ensign gave her a severance package of an unknown amount.

But it's Ensign's ties to Cynthia's husband Doug that may be more interesting. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ensign and Hampton are old friends. When the senator gave Hampton a top staff position in 2006, "it was as if Ensign had put his brother on staff," a former Ensign staffer told the paper. " had a lot of sway with the senator." Hampton's formal title was "administrative assistant," the former staffer described the job as a sort of "co-chief of staff." Hampton's financial disclosure form shows that he made around $101,000 in 2008 and $144,000 in 2007.

Then, after both Hamptons abruptly stopped working for Ensign in May 2008, reports the Review-Journal, Doug Hampton went to work for Allegiant Air, a Las Vegas-based travel company, and for November Inc., the political consulting firm that runs Ensign's campaigns and employs several former Ensign staffers. According to FEC records examined by TPMmuckraker, Allegiant Air's CEO, Maurice Gallagher, contributed over $46,000 to the Ensign-affiliated Senate Majority Committee between 2005 and 2007, as well as smaller amounts to Ensign's Senate campaign and the Battle Born PAC. And Gallagher's wife Marcia gave another $20,000 to Senate Majority Committee during the same period, as well as $6200 to the Ensign campaign. Ensign touted Allegiant in an interview earlier this year.

Even the Hamptons' son has gotten into the act. Politico reports that 19-year old Brandon was paid by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2008 -- when Ensign was NRSC chairman -- to do "research policy consulting." He made a total of $5,400, up through August 2008.

Meanwhile, it looks like the money from these various jobs would have come in handy for the Hamptons. Politico adds that in 2006, the couple took out a $1.2 million mortgage on their Las Vegas home, with an interest rate of 8 percent. The house is now valued at around $862,000, according to the website Zillow.com, which analyzes real estate.

[saltpoint]

15. Some of the things I'm thinking about the Ensign story include

my hope that he loses ground rapidly for his would-be White House run in 2012, since I don't want anyone like Ensign anywhere near the White House, meaning Ensign as Ensign long before this story broke, and also I hope the bad publicity centers on the hypocrisy of the Republican Party which on one hand plays cheerleader to "the sanctity of marriage" while on the other excuses its members from extra-marital affairs, sex in airport stalls, and assignations with hookers, etc.

[kestrel91316]

16. Ensign's presidential hopes are toast. Already. IMHO he'll be lucky to stay

out of federal prison. I smell big league malfeasance here.

The cool thing is, when he goes to prison I can write to him and say "Hey, John, remember me? I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. Is there anything I can do to help?"

:evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

18. Hi, kestrel. That would be a wild development, federal

prison. I have heard only the quietest of whispers about big league malfeasance, but the whispering is from the lips of some pretty in-the-know folks.

It would please me a lot to have someone with a career-long voting record as abominable as Ensign's eliminated from serious contention for the White House.