Uh oh. Report: Coburn Urged Ensign to Pay Millions to Mistress

[babylonsister]

http://washingtonindependent.com/50099/report-coburn-urged-ensign-to-pay-millions-to-mistress

Report: Coburn Urged Ensign to Pay Millions to Mistress
By Mike Lillis 7/8/09 5:55 PM


So says the Las Vegas Sun, which has conducted an exclusive interview with Doug Hampton, the husband of Sen. John Ensign’s (R-Nev.) former mistress.

Hampton and Ensign were bonded by their conservative evangelical faith. Hampton said he reached out to intermediaries involved in a Christian fellowship home in Washington, D.C., where Ensign and several other powerful Washington figures live.

The group, including Coburn, a well-known conservative, confronted Ensign and suggested that the Hamptons needed to be given financial assistance — in the millions of dollars — to pay off their $1 million-plus mortgage and move them to a new life away from Ensign.

And that’s not all. Hampton also reiterated the claim that Ensign paid his wife $25,000 in severance money when she stopped working for the Nevada Republican’s campaign.

If true, Ensign faces a possible felony violation of campaign finance law if he paid the severance but failed to report it as an in-kind contribution to the campaign committees where she worked, according to ethics complaints filed against him.

Knowingly and willfully failing to report a contribution of more than $25,000 is a criminal violation subject to five years in prison, according to complaints filed last month by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Ensign was probably hoping that this thing had gone away following the more recent — and more bizarre — news coming from the governors’ mansions in South Carolina and Alaska. The Doug Hampton interview, a two-part series which airs tonight and tomorrow, ensures that that won’t be the case.

[tekisui]

1. Great news. Resign Ensign!

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

2. "possible felony violation of campaign finance law"

So many shoes dropping...Uh oh is right.

[sazemisery]

3. Senator Coburn, I'm so proud to call him my own.

Who wouldn't want a Senator like this? He involves himself in blackmail and thinks lesbianism is rampant in Southeastern Oklahoma. That makes me feel so secure in the knowledge that he is doing things in my best interest.














:sarcasm:

[KamaAina]

10. Really?

thinks lesbianism is rampant in Southeastern Oklahoma.

Looks like Southeastern Oklahoma may be the country's best-kept secret!!

[a la izquierda]

17. yeah...he's a shit alright...

but you know, 90% of okies won't care about this terrible ethics breach. they only care that he's pro-life and anti-gay. ugh.
i love my adopted home state, but i swear, there are some real morans here.

[yesphan]

24. Ripreeezentin'

Yes, we are so well represented at all levels here in OK. I can't wait for Sally Kern to run for
U.S. Congress so we can have our own Michell Bachmann !

[sazemisery]

25. Howdy fellow sane Okie.

:hi:

[yesphan]

27. Right back attcha

Surrounded by wingnuts. We are indeed highly outnumbered and need to stick together.
I'm in Norman, you ?

[sazemisery]

30. Muskogee. n/t

[yesphan]

32. Yes !

I'll be there next week at the civic center for a concert.
2nd row, center. Should be a good one.

[Hansel]

29. You can have our's. nt

[Cha]

4. Ensign deserves to be held

responsible for his actions..what if we didn't have a Dougie in this!

I'm hoping he has the facts and not just acting like an irresponsible husband, scorned.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. one question. WHY IS THIS NOT ON THE TOP OF THE REC LIST?

Excuse me for shouting. I now return control of your set to you.

[tekisui]

6. I regret that I have but one rec to give per thread.

[malaise]

7. From day one I said her severance package was the most

interesting part of this story. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! :popcorn:

Millions for the mortgage - we guessed that as well.

Bring it on.

Where can I hear this interview?

add

[malaise]

9. Kick this is HUGE!!!! n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. I knew Coburn was in deeper then he was letting on

This scandal is not even close to swept under the rug yet!

:popcorn:

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Coburn is such a slime. n/t

[myrna minx]

12. How did this miss this thread? K&R n/t

[alsame]

13. Ha, Ha, Ha, K&R

[malaise]

14. Rachel will be discussing this shortly

Should be fun

[babylonsister]

15. With Frank Rich! Can't wait. I hope everyone is mentioned. nt

[radhika]

16. Why are these adult men so involved in each other's sex lives...

This whole House-on-C Street, christo-fascist Family idea of all-male support groups focusing on each other's lives creeps me out. In High School, every little private detail of our sex lives was hashed out with best friends and frat/sorority buds. But then we grew up. We evolved into organizing and managing our own lives. Maybe we'd discuss things with friends but we didn't confess to them, take them along as chaperones.

Ensign and Sanford are apparently living in Republican Sleep-Away Camp. They're mature (old) but obviously need a crotch-sniffing house mother like Coburn to check up and see if they have stains in their panties (excuse me for an obscure reference, but I went to Catholic School).

I'm intrigued by Coburn MD. He's an anti-abortion/birth control foe who famously was Bush's homophobic head of an AIDS Advisory Group He was charged with malpractice for apparently sterilizing a woman against her will. This Family cult seems like Scull and Bones - where they sit naked and tell each other's their sexual histories.

[kestrel91316]

18. K&R. Dumbass John. That letter was especially embarrassing to me,

because as someone who taught him (granted, it was microbiology and not English), I feel partly to blame for how it sounded like it was written by a 10th grader.

I feel like such a failure.

[babylonsister]

19. Ha! There, there, it's not your fault.

:hug: :D

[Papa Boule]

20. That "Christian fellowship home" referenced in the article

Is that the same one referred to in http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247163106&sr=8-1">this book?

[radhika]

21. Yes

It's a fascinating read.

[peacetalksforall]

22. The story of sex cover-up and protectionism (if the word can be used

in this circumstance) reminds me of the scandal/rumors that surround Bush Sr - Poppy. If there is anything to the stories, it also involves a 'grouping' of men that carried it off.

[peacetalksforall]

23. If true and if this plays out like other 'stuff' before this, Ensign will never

go to jail because of two things - to allow him to go to prison would be equal to a sacrifice - a sacrifice to show and tell that Republicans believe in the rule of law, but below the surface it would mean that they have given up - that the evidence is too solid and/or they have someone even better to take his place.

It is Cornyn that is going to be the more interesting of the two.

Who are the other roommates? Who all contributed money and from where? A PERFECT case for following the money. We need Larry Flynt. I hope he is well.

[burning rain]

26. Well, that certainly puts high value in family values!

^

[BlueMTexpat]

28. This Ensign story just gets better and better!

Here's yet more money being paid out ...

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/09/ensign.affair/

:rofl:

[old mark]

31. "Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington"? Sounds

like a pretty small group.....
all Democrats, too.

mark