Vegas Shootout Update! 1 Court Security Officer Killed, 1 Deputy U.S. Marshal Wounded!

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Guard Shot Dead in Vegas Federal Building


A gunman opened fire at a federal building in downtown Las Vegas on Monday, killing one court officer and wounding a second before he was shot to death.

The gunfire erupted moments after 8 a.m. at the start of the work week and lasted for several minutes. Shots echoed around tall buildings in the area, more than a mile north of the Las Vegas Strip. An Associated Press reporter on the eighth floor of a high-rise building within sight of the building heard a sustained barrage of gunfire.

Nicholas Gramenos, who had a jury summons and was near the courthouse, captured video and audio of the shooting on his cell phone.

Another passer-by said he counted at least 40 shots.

"The first shot that I heard was a shotgun blast. I knew it wasn't fireworks," said Ray Freres, 59, a sandwich shop manager and Vietnam veteran who said he was behind the federal court building at the time.

"I heard an exchange of gunfire. I was watching the street," Freres told the AP. "If they were coming my way, I was going the other way."

The U.S. Marshals Service said the victims included a 48-year-old deputy U.S. marshal who was hospitalized and a 65-year-old court security officer who died.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, told reporters it appeared the gunman acted alone and the shooting was not a terrorist act.

"Right now they have no motive established," Ensign told a news conference outside the building. "Bottom line is, he didn't get past security."

Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Roxanna Lea Irwin also said authorities believe the shooter acted alone.

FBI Special Agent Joseph Dickey said the gunman died across the street shortly after the shootout. The man's identity and motive were not immediately known. His body remained for several hours in front of the restored historic Fifth Street School, a sprawling white stucco campus that dates to 1936 and was recently renovated.

Dickey said the shooter used a single shotgun, was wearing black shirt, black pants, and a black jacket. He walked in with the shotgun under his jacket and opened fire.

A total of seven marshals and security officers returned fire, starting in the main foyer, Dickey said. The gun battle spilled out into the front area and then on to Las Vegas Blvd.

John Clark, director of the Marshals Service in Washington, did not immediately identify the officers, but called them heroes.

"The brave and immediate actions of these two individuals saved lives by stopping the threat of a reckless and callous gunman," Clark said in a statement.

Bullet holes marked the entrance of the eight-story modern federal building, which was locked down after the shootout. After police arrived, paramedics helped two people out and down a ramp to ambulances.

A helicopter view showed heavily armed officers in flak jackets scouring the federal building's roof. Shortly afterward, employees in small groups were escorted by armed officers to the auditorium of the Las Vegas Academy, a school three blocks away.

Dickey called the building evacuation "standard procedure" in such an incident.

The gunfire erupted as downtown was busy with office workers and jurors reporting for duty, both at the federal building and the 16-story Regional Justice Center, which houses state and local courts two blocks away.

The state courthouse was evacuated as a precaution and closed for the day, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

Las Vegas police spokeswoman Barbara Morgan said the shooter had been shot in the head.

"It looks like he went in there and just started unloading," Morgan said.

The Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building opened in 2002 and is named for a longtime senior federal judge who still hears cases. It has federal courts covering Nevada and offices for federal officials including Ensign and fellow U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Neither was in the building at the time, authorities said.

The building was one of the first new federal buildings to be constructed according to safety standards that went into effect after the Oklahoma City bombing, reports KLAS.


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Dozens In Congress Being Investigated By Ethics Committee...Accidental Leak

(Rangel under investigation. The House Ethics Committee is expanding its investigation to determine if Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., inaccurately disclosed his personal assets. The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson discusses.)

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Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry

House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.

The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations. Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed.

Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, the committee chairman, Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), interrupted a series of House votes to alert lawmakers about the breach. She cautioned that some of the panel's activities are preliminary and not a conclusive sign of inappropriate behavior.

"No inference should be made as to any member," she said.

Rep. Jo Bonner (Ala.), the committee's ranking Republican, said the breach was an isolated incident.

The 22-page "Committee on Standards Weekly Summary Report" gives brief summaries of ethics panel investigations of the conduct of 19 lawmakers and a few staff members. It also outlines the work of the new Office of Congressional Ethics, a quasi-independent body that initiates investigations and provides recommendations to the ethics committee. The document indicated that the office was reviewing the activities of 14 other lawmakers. Some were under review by both ethics bodies.

A broader inquiry

Ethics committee investigations are not uncommon. Most result in private letters that either exonerate or reprimand a member. In some rare instances, the censure is more severe.

Many of the broad outlines of the cases cited in the July document are known -- the committee announced over the summer that it was reviewing lawmakers with connections to the now-closed PMA Group, a lobbying firm. But the document indicates that the inquiry was broader than initially believed. It included a review of seven lawmakers on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee who have steered federal money to the firm's clients and have also received large campaign contributions.

The document also disclosed that:

-- Ethics committee staff members have interviewed House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) about one element of the complex investigation of his personal finances, as well as the lawmaker's top aide and his son. Rangel said he spoke with ethics committee staff members regarding a conference that he and four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended last November in St. Martin. The trip initially was said to be sponsored by a nonprofit foundation run by a newspaper. But the three-day event, at a luxury resort, was underwritten by major corporations such as Citigroup, Pfizer and AT&T. Rules passed in 2007, shortly after Democrats reclaimed the majority following a wave of corruption cases against Republicans, bar private companies from paying for congressional travel.

Rangel said he has not discussed other parts of the investigation of his finances with the committee. "I'm waiting for that, anxiously," he said.

-- The Justice Department has told the ethics panel to suspend a probe of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), whose personal finances federal investigators began reviewing in early 2006 after complaints from a conservative group that he was not fully revealing his real estate holdings. There has been no public action on that inquiry for several years. But the department's request in early July to the committee suggests that the case continues to draw the attention of federal investigators, who often ask that the House and Senate ethics panels refrain from taking action against members whom the department is already investigating.

Mollohan said that he was not aware of any ongoing interest by the Justice Department in his case and that he and his attorneys have not heard from federal investigators. "The answer is no," he said.

-- The committee on June 9 authorized issuance of subpoenas to the Justice Department, the National Security Agency and the FBI for "certain intercepted communications" regarding Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). As was reported earlier this year, Harman was heard in a 2005 conversation agreeing to an Israeli operative's request to try to obtain leniency for two pro-Israel lobbyists in exchange for the agent's help in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to name her chairman of the intelligence committee. The department, a former U.S. official said, declined to respond to the subpoena.

Harman said that the ethics committee has not contacted her and that she has no knowledge that the subpoena was ever issued. "I don't believe that's true," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, this smear has been over for three years."

In June 2009, a Justice Department official wrote in a letter to an attorney for Harman that she was "neither a subject nor a target" of a criminal investigation.

Because of the secretive nature of the ethics committee, it was difficult to assess the current status of the investigations cited in the July document. The panel said Thursday, however, that it is ending a probe of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) after finding no ethical violations, and that it is investigating the financial connections of two California Democrats.

The committee did not detail the two newly disclosed investigations. However, according to the July document, Rep. Maxine Waters, a high-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, came under scrutiny because of activities involving OneUnited Bank of Massachusetts, in which her husband owns at least $250,000 in stock.

Waters arranged a September 2008 meeting at the Treasury Department where OneUnited executives asked for government money. In December, Treasury selected OneUnited as an early participant in the bank bailout program, injecting $12.1 million.

The other, Rep. Laura Richardson, may have failed to mention property, income and liabilities on financial disclosure forms.

File-sharing

The committee's review of investigations became available on file-sharing networks because of a junior staff member's use of the software while working from home, Lofgren and Bonner said in a statement issued Thursday night. The staffer was fired, a congressional aide said.

The committee "is taking all appropriate steps to deal with this issue," they said, noting that neither the committee nor the House's information systems were breached in any way.

"Peer-to-peer" technology has previously caused inadvertent breaches of sensitive financial, defense-related and personal data from government and commercial networks, and it is prohibited on House networks.

House administration rules require that if a lawmaker or staff member takes work home, "all users of House sensitive information must protect the confidentiality of sensitive information" from unauthorized disclosure.

Leo Wise, chief counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics, declined to comment, citing office policy against confirming or denying the existence of investigations. A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment, citing a similar policy.



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Charlie Rangel Attacked By GOP For Ethics Violations!...They Ignore Ensign & Sanford, Hypocrites!

(Rep. John Carter calls for Charlie Rangel to step down. Excuse me but where are the bells and whistles for Senator John Ensign and Gov Mark Sanford?? Hypocrites!)



(Ethics violation in Ensign affair? A Hardball with Chris Matthews panel debates whether Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., violated ethics law as part of the cover-up for his extramarital affair.)

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(Who financed Sanford's affair? More questions were raised Thursday about whether taxpayers paid for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's trips to see a woman in South America with whom he admitted having an affair. NBC's Mark Potter reports.)

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Charlie Rangel retains Ways and Means gavel


Democrats easily rebuffed another Republican attempt to remove Rep. Charles Rangel from his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday. But there was a small sign of eroding support for the embattled New York Democrat: Mississippi’s two House Democrats voted against him.

Reps. Gene Taylor and Travis Childers joined nearly all of the Republicans on a vote that effectively killed a resolution by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) calling for Rangel’s removal while the ethics committee undertakes a sprawling investigation into his finances.

The anti-Rangel votes from two southern Democrats may be seen as minor evidence of mounting pressure on Rangel, whose job remains secure so long as he has the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the large majority of the Democratic Caucus.

“These votes show that support for the Democratic Leaders’ decision to sweep this matter under the rug is starting to crack,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Six Republicans sided with Rangel on Wednesday: Reps. Peter King of New York, Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, Dana Rohrabacher of California, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Don Young of Alaska and Ron Paul of Texas.

A similar effort by Carter in February garnered no Democratic support.

Democrats’ parliamentary maneuvering ensured there would be no debate on the resolution, but Republicans clearly believe that forcing Democrats to defend Rangel with a roll call vote is good politics.

“We cannot tolerate a double standard in this country, one for the common man and another for the rich and powerful,” Carter said Wednesday. “To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve as chairman of the very committee with IRS oversight, without paying a nickel in penalties, and with no end in sight to his ethics investigation, sends a clear message to the American public that this government refuses to abide by the same laws they impose on the working people of this country. With this vote, those people can see exactly where their representative stands on the issue of equality under the law.”

Rangel balked at an effort to have the House supersede the ethics process.

"It's unfair," Rangel said Wednesday morning. "I think the ethics committee should get a chance to work its will."

Congressional ethics investigations are notoriously opaque and can often take months to complete, which is why Republicans are frustrated with the Rangel situation. But the chairman continues to have the full backing of Democratic leaders.

“We will await that [ethics] report,” Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said Wednesday. “Prior to that, any actions making reference to Chairman Rangel would be premature.”

The committee has its hands full, as new revelations about Rangel’s complicated finances seem to pop up every few months.

Most recently, Rangel restated his legally required personal financial disclosure, showing an asset range that jumped from roughly $500,000 to $1.3 million to $1 million to $2.5 million.

That was the latest in a string of incidents that have shined the spotlight on the Rangel’s personal and political conduct. He has admitted to failing to report income from a Dominican vacation home, and he has been accused of breaking New York City rules by maintaining multiple rent-controlled apartments, including a campaign office.

He also has come under fire for allegations that he used official letterhead to solicit private funding for a City College of New York Center created by an earmark and named for him and that he helped retain a tax break for a donor to the center. The New York Post reported Wednesday morning that Rangel secured a $3 million earmark in the House’s Defense Appropriations bill for another arm of CCNY.

Rangel, known for camera-ready bonhomie, may be less visible to television audiences these days. But he has been meeting regularly with Democratic leaders and various party factions to help fashion a health care overhaul. After a recent meeting of the Democratic whip team, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) said Rangel “is here to know what the members are thinking.”

Regardless of what they’re thinking, their votes say it’s not time for Rangel to step aside.

Rangel’s office believes the ethics push is also a Republican effort to derail health care.

“Let’s look at this resolution for what it really is – a highly partisan effort designed to undermine the important work in Congress on health care reform,” a Rangel spokesman said after the vote.

Technically, the House voted on Wednesday to refer Carter’s resolution to the ethics committee, which already is investigating Rangel and would essentially take the referral under advisement. The final tally was 246 to 153, with 19 lawmakers voting present. That vote came on the heels of another procedural vote on which Rangel prevailed 243 to 156, with 19 present votes.

On the first vote, Childers sided with Rangel. His spokeswoman did not immediately return POLITICO’s request for comment.

Asked before the vote whether Rangel would see an erosion of support, Taylor said “I guess we’ll know in a few hours, won’t we?”

Carter made a bit of a spectacle on the floor, taking about 18 minutes to read a resolution with a seemingly limitless supply of “whereas” clauses. When Democrats objected to forcing the clerk to re-read the entire thing, Republicans refused to consent to dispensing with the reading. In all, the affair took about an hour.




Democrats Hold Off GOP Attack On Rangel

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) sat stone-faced as the House chamber buzzed around him, preparing to vote on a measure that could partly undo his almost four decades of work in Congress.

As Republicans pressed their attempt to remove him from his perch as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Democrats stood by Rangel -- who is under investigation for a series of alleged violations that include improperly occupying several rent-controlled New York City apartments and not disclosing a laundry list of income and assets -- and deflected the measure to committee.

They have stuck with Rangel repeatedly as the list of charges against him has grown, resisting any temptation to push aside a popular fixture in the party who helped found the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. They have done so despite vows from Republicans to continue to force them to go on the record in defense of their colleague. But the issue carries complications for both parties.

Instead of full-throated defenses of Rangel, House Democrats measured their comments. Asked whether the controversy would have any negative impact on his party, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sidestepped the question, saying that "the issue is making sure there is a fair process."

Some Republicans, meanwhile, chafed at the sharp rhetoric aimed at Rangel, a jovial lawmaker who has many friends in both parties and is in a position to dole out favors on both sides of the aisle.

"There are some serious issues," said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who voted with the Democrats on Wednesday and said he was not ready to call for Rangel to give up his chairmanship. "But from what I know, there was no malice or malfeasance. He's a war hero, he's been here for 40 years, he's a decent guy."

The Republican-sponsored resolution said Rangel was unfit to serve as the chairman of the powerful committee that writes tax laws while he remains under investigation. Democrats blocked the move, sending the resolution by Rep. John Carter (Tex.) to the ethics committee and saying Congress should not act until that panel completes its investigation.

The resolution was the fourth attempt by Republicans in the past 16 months to censure Rangel or strip him of his committee chairmanship. House Republican leaders pushed their members to back the resolution against the Harlem lawmaker, arguing that his conduct violated pledges from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2006 to oversee the "most ethical Congress in history" and end what she called "the culture of corruption" when Republicans ruled the House.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) accused Pelosi of "breaking her promise," and party strategists said they would attack Democratic lawmakers in competitive districts who vote to keep Rangel in power or accept campaign donations from him.

"The Democrats have a number of ethics and corruption issues they are going to have deal with next year," said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has run an ad attacking Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) for accepting campaign contributions from Rangel.

A Pelosi spokesman brushed aside Republican complaints, saying, "Democrats have passed tough ethics and lobbying laws, increased transparency in congressional operations and legislating." Jennifer Crider, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Rangel's conduct would pose little danger for Democratic members in swing districts because "our members have built independent profiles."

"I think people will look at it and say, 'What is my congressman doing?' " said Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), who was first elected in a tight race in 2006. "I don't see it having a big impact."

Carter, a member of the GOP leadership who has become one of Rangel's main antagonists, spent more than 15 minutes reading from the resolution he had written, which pulled from numerous newspaper articles describing allegations against Rangel and editorials calling for his resignation. He accused Rangel of conduct that "held the House up to public ridicule."

In an occurrence rarely seen on the House floor, Carter read his resolution -- nine pages and more than 2,000 words. While other members talked to aides or read, Rangel sat silent and expressionless in the first row on the Democratic side of the aisle, eyes fixed on Carter.

"We can already hear the defense of the next tax deadbeat called into court. 'If Charlie Rangel doesn't have to pay his taxes, why should I?' " Carter said, quoting from an editorial in the New Haven Register.

Carter listed nearly every allegation against Rangel, who himself called for the ethics committee to examine his conduct last year. Rangel admitted last month that he failed to report more than $500,000 in assets on his 2007 federal disclosure forms. Last year, he acknowledged failing to disclose and pay taxes on at least $75,000 in rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic that he has owned.

He has been accused of improperly using congressional stationery to solicit donations for an academic center bearing his name at the City College of New York and attending a conference last year in St. Martin that was paid for by donors who employ lobbyists, a violation of House rules.

After a bill is introduced in Congress, by rule, a clerk reads the bill aloud, but members of Congress can bring such a reading to a halt by saying they are already aware of the legislation's details. But when Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), a Rangel friend, stood up to say such a reading was unnecessary, a number of Republicans immediately objected.

The clerk then proceeded to repeat the blistering text Carter had already read himself, as Rangel sat silently, not uttering a word to the longtime colleagues sitting beside him, Reps. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.).

Rangel walked slowly from the House chamber as the roll-call vote began, saying little to Democrats who patted him on the back and looked eager to comfort him.

The Democrats then voted to cede the issue to ethics committee, keeping Rangel in his chairmanship for now. That proposal has little practical impact since the ethics committee is already investigating Rangel and has been for more than a year.

In the end, Six Republicans crossed over to vote with Democrats, while two members of Rangel's party, Mississippi Reps. Gene Taylor and Travis Childers, sided with the GOP.

Rangel said little about the politics surrounding the resolution or the threat to his legacy Wednesday, telling reporters after the vote, "It's a thing that bothers me and my family."



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Ensign Like Sanford Is Also Losing Top Brass GOP Support...Resign! Resign! Resign!

Isolation grows for John Ensign


Sen. John Ensign and Doug Hampton were once so close that they affectionately referred to each other as “babe” when walking around the senator’s office on Capitol Hill.

But no more.

Since Hampton — then a top aide to the Ensign — discovered that the Nevada Republican was having an affair with his wife, the relationship has soured to the point that it threatens to sink Ensign’s political career.

Until news of the affair forced him to relinquish the post in June, Ensign was the No. 4 Republican in the Senate. Now he finds himself isolated, both personally and professionally.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) passed on a chance to offer a vote of confidence for Ensign on Friday, and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) took a pass on defending him during a CNN appearance Sunday. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of Ensign’s Capitol Hill roommates, called him “arrogant.” A number of Ensign’s top aides have deserted him over the scandal, and his poll numbers back home in Nevada have tanked.

Senate GOP insiders said there are no calls for Ensign to resign, or even any discussion of it, but a Senate Republican aide said Ensign “doesn’t have a lot of friends up here right now.”

The latest blows came last week, when The New York Times published a long, detailed report on the attempts Ensign made to funnel money to the Hamptons after they left the senator’s employ in April 2008 following several angry confrontations between Doug Hampton and Ensign over the affair with Cindy Hampton.

POLITICO and others have previously reported that Ensign’s family paid the Hamptons $96,000 and that Ensign helped Doug Hampton get a lobbying job in Nevada in 2008.

The Times reported last week that Ensign leaned on his network of financial backers in Nevada to provide Hampton with lobbying contracts. The Times also reported that Ensign intervened with the government on behalf of some of Hampton’s clients, a potential violation of the one-year lobbying ban covering Doug Hampton, who had failed to register as a lobbyist for these firms, a potential violation of federal lobbying disclosure laws.

When asked Friday about the latest allegations against Ensign, McConnell pointedly declined to support his colleague.

“Sen. Ensign continues to serve,” McConnell told reporters. “He’s a member of the Finance Committee [and has] been active in the [health care reform] discussions.”

“I really don’t have any observations to make about the Ensign matter,” McConnell added.

“The silence is deafening,” a former Senate GOP leadership aide noted when asked about the lack of backing for Ensign. “I can’t imagine that he’s gonna get a lot of support. This is bad, bad, bad stuff.”

A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee this summer. The ethics panel has begun a “preliminary review” of the Ensign case, but CREW plans to file additional complaints with both the committee and the Justice Department. Ethics experts said the panel is now likely to conduct a full-blown investigation of Ensign.

Sources close to Ensign also said the senator has told his staff that he has no intentions of stepping down. Yet the latest revelations have further undermined Ensign’s shaky support on Capitol Hill.

The critical question for McConnell and other GOP leaders, said the former Senate aide, is whether Republicans would be able to hold on to Ensign’s seat if he were to leave office. Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, has been seriously damaged by his own ethics problems, and state Republicans have had a hard time recruiting a top-tier candidate to run against Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 2010, despite Reid’s bad poll numbers.

“First and foremost, they’re going to think about preservation of the seat before they decide on anything or say anything publicly,” said this source. “My guess: At the end of the day, considerations of keeping the seat probably dominate. I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of Republicans in the leadership calling on him to resign, at least right now.”

One of Ensign’s friends told POLITICO that Doug Hampton appears to be on the “warpath,” and it’s making Ensign’s ability to resurrect himself extraordinarily difficult.

“I think it’s worse than I originally thought it would be,” the Ensign friend said. “I hear more and more talk about whether John can survive. ... I think it’s 50/50.”

But this source added that there is no “real push” among Ensign’s supporters for him to resign and noted that Nevadans are “giving him a chance to salvage his situation,” which Ensign could do by asserting himself in the health care debate.

Indeed, after bailing from a Thursday evening Finance Committee session on health care soon after the Times story broke, Ensign returned later that night to pepper staff with questions and debate amendments to the plan.

Throughout August, Ensign went into overdrive to re-establish his standing back home — and at one meeting, Ensign told his supporters and party activists that he had had no other affairs, denying rumors of his involvement with other female ex-staffers, according to two people familiar with the account.

However, since Ensign admitted the affair with Cindy Hampton on June 16, several members of his inner circle, including top Senate and political advisers Mike Slanker, John Lopez and Tory Mazzola, have left the Nevada Republican’s office or cut off their ties with him.

Beyond Slanker, Coburn, the Hamptons and the Ensigns, no one else on Ensign’s staff knew of the affair with Cindy Hampton until the senator called an emergency staff meeting at midnight at his C Street home on the day he would announce his affair, according to a person familiar with the account. About 10 people gathered there.

And within the past few weeks, two other Ensign aides — Brooke Allmon and Jason Mulvihill — also announced they were jumping ship. Allmon was deputy chief of staff, while Mulvihill was legislative director.

While Ensign has brought in a number of old staff members to fill those jobs, his core group of political and legal advisers remains very small. He has hired a crisis communications team, led by former Bush White House aide Ed Gillepsie, as well as lawyers, to help with the situation.

However, Ensign is not consulting with his Senate colleagues on how to handle the fallout from the affair, and they don’t seem in a hurry to reach out to him, either.

“I don’t have any idea who he is talking to anymore,” said a top Republican aide. “I don’t think anyone wants a piece of this.”

Neither Ensign’s office nor Gillespie returned calls seeking comment for this article.



South Carolina GOP calls for Sanford's resignation

Just hours after Gov. Mark Sanford held a news conference Thursday to fight back against Republican legislators seeking his ouster, the South Carolina Republican Party dealt him another blow by formally calling for his resignation.

Two-thirds of the GOP's executive committee voted to call for the governor's resignation at the end of an hour-long conference call organized by state Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd.

Floyd sent a letter to Sanford after the result was announced informing him of the vote.

It is a stinging rebuke for Sanford from the grassroots wing of the party that has long been his base of support. Members of the party's executive committee are volunteers elected by their fellow political activists — the kind of Republicans who make phone calls, stuff envelopes and knock on doors during election years.

While Sanford has sparred publicly over his two terms with state GOP lawmakers, who have also called for his resignation, the state's grassroots activists have been dependably in his corner.

The vote was also a formal change of course for the state party: Floyd convened a similar conference call in July after Sanford revealed his extramarital affair, which resulted in a vote to censure Sanford for "repeated failures to act in accordance" with the party's core principles and beliefs. But at the time, the party did not ask for the governor to step down.

Sanford's spokesman Ben Fox immediately released a statement following the vote insisting "that working South Carolinians are ready to move beyond this political circus and media-driven distraction." He thanked the committee members who voted against the measure.

"We'd also thank those on the committee and others across the state who've cautioned against a rush to political judgment that would ultimately overturn an election before all the facts and indeed the 'rest of the story' is laid out," Fox said.



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Ensign May Be Finished For Good This Time...Possible Criminal Ethics Violations

(MSNBC Political Commentator Rachel Maddow reports more on this terrible, immoral scandal. I wonder why Senator Ensign doesn't just step down. Silly me! I forgot he cares more about himself than he does his voters. Good job Rachel! I love your show.)

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Senator’s Aid After Affair Raises Flags Over Ethics


Early last year, Senator John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants — seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton.

“He’s a competent guy, and he’s looking to come back to Nevada. Do you know of anything?” one patron recalled Mr. Ensign asking.

The job pitch left out one salient fact: the senator was having an affair with Mr. Hampton’s wife, Cynthia, a campaign aide. The tumult that the liaison was causing both families prompted Mr. Ensign, a two-term Republican, to try to contain the damage and find a landing spot for Mr. Hampton.

In the coming months, the senator arranged for Mr. Hampton to join a political consulting firm and lined up several donors as his lobbying clients, according to interviews, e-mail messages and other records. Mr. Ensign and his staff then repeatedly intervened on the companies’ behalf with federal agencies, often after urging from Mr. Hampton.

While the affair made national news in June, the role that Mr. Ensign played in assisting Mr. Hampton and helping his clients has not been previously disclosed. Several experts say those activities may have violated an ethics law that bars senior aides from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts.

In acknowledging the affair, Mr. Ensign cast it as a personal transgression, not a professional one. But an examination of his conduct shows that in trying to clean up the mess from the illicit relationship and distance himself from the Hamptons, he entangled political supporters, staff members and Senate colleagues, some of whom say they now feel he betrayed them.

For example, a longtime fund-raiser who came through with help says Mr. Ensign misled him about why Mr. Hampton needed a new job. The senator also put his chief of staff at the time, who had raised concerns that Mr. Hampton’s activities could be problematic, in charge of dealing with him.

And Mr. Ensign allowed Senator Tom Coburn, a friend and fellow conservative Christian, to serve as an intermediary with the Hamptons in May in discussing a large financial settlement, to help them rebuild their lives.

“John got trapped doing something really stupid and then made a lot of other mistakes afterward,” Mr. Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, said in an interview. “Judgment gets impaired by arrogance, and that’s what’s going on here.”

In a statement, Mr. Ensign said: “I am confident we fully complied with the relevant laws and rules governing current and past employees. I have worked on these Nevada issues with these Nevada companies for years, long before Doug Hampton left my office.”

The senator declined to be interviewed. But his office said that the inquiries he had made about work for Mr. Hampton were “only recommendation calls” and that the senator’s actions in support of his former aide’s clients were “not at the behest of Mr. Hampton.”

Mr. Hampton and his wife, in a series of interviews, provided a detailed account of Mr. Ensign’s efforts to mitigate the fallout from the affair, which ruptured two families that had been the closest of friends.

Mr. Hampton said he and Mr. Ensign were aware of the lobbying restriction but chose to ignore it. He recounted how the senator helped him find clients and ticked off several steps Mr. Ensign took to assist them with their agendas in Washington, activities confirmed by federal officials and executives with the businesses.

“The only way the clients could get what John was essentially promising them — which was access — was if I still had a way to work with his office,” Mr. Hampton said. “And John knew that.”

After requests from Mr. Hampton, Mr. Ensign called the secretary of transportation last year to plead the case for a Nevada airline, Allegiant Air, which was under investigation for allegedly overcharging for tickets. In April, he arranged for Mr. Hampton and his clients to meet the new transportation secretary in a successful effort to resolve a dispute with a foreign competitor.

The senator, after exchanges between his senior staff members and Mr. Hampton, also urged Interior Department officials to complete an environmental review for a controversial coal-burning plant under development by a Nevada power company, NV Energy.

Despite those efforts, Mr. Ensign’s relationship with his one-time aide and the husband of his former mistress has ended in bitterness and recriminations. Mr. Hampton grew increasingly frustrated about his financial situation, believing that the senator had reneged on a deal to find him enough clients to sustain his income.

“You have not retained three clients for me as promised, and your poor choices have led to a deep hurt and financial impact to my family,” Mr. Hampton wrote the senator in an e-mail message in July 2008. “At your request and your design, I left your organization to save your reputation and career, and mine has been ruined.”

For his part, Mr. Ensign has complained that Mr. Hampton tried to extract exorbitant sums from him.

Until he admitted the affair in June, Mr. Ensign, 51, was a top Senate Republican leader and was discussed as a possible presidential contender in 2012. The silver-haired senator with a statesman’s looks and family money — his father helped found a Las Vegas casino — has championed conservative social values.

But the scandal forced him to resign as head of the Republican Senate Policy Committee and ended talk of any bid for the White House.

Mr. Ensign spent part of the summer apologizing to constituents. Drawing a contrast with former President Bill Clinton, whom he had voted to impeach as a House member during the Monica Lewinsky affair, Mr. Ensign said in August that his infidelity was largely a personal matter and added, “I haven’t done anything legally wrong.”

Longtime Family Friends

The Ensigns and the Hamptons had been friends going back to their time together in Southern California in the 1980s, when John Ensign was just starting out as a veterinarian and had not yet begun to consider a life in politics. Darlene Ensign, the senator’s wife, and Cynthia Hampton had known each other growing up there.

The families were so close that in 2004 the Ensigns persuaded the Hamptons to move to their expensive Las Vegas neighborhood. They traveled to Hawaii and Puget Sound aboard the jet owned by Mr. Ensign’s father, watched their children’s sporting events together and shared regular Sunday dinners.

In 2006, the senator hired Mr. Hampton as a top aide — effectively, his co-chief of staff — in a move that irritated some staff members, who thought Mr. Hampton’s friendship with the senator and his background at a military contractor did not qualify him for the senior post. Mr. Ensign also hired Cynthia Hampton as his campaign treasurer.

The Hamptons were such a fixture in the Ensigns’ lives that it raised no eyebrows when the senator took Ms. Hampton to Washington galas. Ms. Ensign did not like Washington much, associates said, and lived in Nevada.

At a black-tie Christmas party at the White House in 2006, Mr. Ensign and Ms. Hampton beamed as they posed for a picture with President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura. It was that night that he realized that his feelings toward Ms. Hampton had become romantic, Mr. Ensign later admitted to Mr. Hampton, according to Mr. Hampton.

A year later, during what Mr. Ensign said was a difficult time in his marriage, Mr. Hampton intercepted a text message from his boss to his wife that made plain that their relationship had become intimate. “It was such a betrayal,” Mr. Hampton said.

There were heated confrontations, tearful admissions, promises to end the affair, even joint family meetings that included the couples’ children. Still, the relationship continued.

During a February 2008 Congressional trip to Iraq, Mr. Ensign called Ms. Hampton almost every morning and night. She said that when the phone bill came to Mr. Ensign’s campaign office, he gave her almost $1,000 in cash to cover the calls. Mr. Ensign’s office confirmed that the senator gave Ms. Hampton “enough cash to cover the personal charges.” (On the trip, Mr. Hampton said he noticed frequent calls from Mr. Ensign’s cellphone to “Aunt Judy” — at his wife’s number.)

That month, Mr. Hampton decided to take stronger steps to end the affair. He and Mr. Ensign shared a strong Christian faith, and often attended prayer meetings at a Capitol Hill house where Mr. Ensign, Mr. Coburn and other lawmakers lived. The house, on C Street, is affiliated with the Fellowship Foundation, a Christian outreach group influential with conservatives in Congress.

Mr. Hampton went to several group leaders. On Valentine’s Day, they confronted Mr. Ensign during lunch at the house. Mr. Hampton, yelling at times, was there, too. Mr. Coburn, an ordained deacon, took the lead in questioning Mr. Ensign, who acknowledged that Mr. Hampton’s accusation was true.

“I said, ‘No. 1, you’re having an affair, and you need to stop,’ ” Mr. Coburn recounted. The senator said he also advised Mr. Ensign to make the affair public and to work to reconcile the two families.

Mr. Coburn warned Mr. Ensign that if the affair did not end, he would “go to Mitch” — referring to Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, Mr. Hampton said.

At the urging of foundation leaders, Mr. Ensign agreed to write a goodbye letter to Cynthia Hampton and send it by overnight mail. “What I did with you was a mistake,” he wrote in longhand. “I was completely self-centered and only thinking of myself. I used you for my own pleasure.”

But immediately after the confrontation, the senator called Ms. Hampton and told her to disregard the letter, Ms. Hampton said. The relationship would continue for six more months.

Work After Washington

The senator soon began developing an exit strategy to quietly move Doug Hampton out of his life.

Senate Republicans were facing a tough challenge in 2008, and Mr. Ensign, as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was charged with raising tens of millions of dollars to help bankroll vulnerable Republican incumbents and elect newcomers.

During an afternoon of fund-raising meetings in late February 2008, Mr. Ensign confided in Michael Slanker, the group’s political director, that Mr. Hampton was unexpectedly leaving his Washington office to return to Nevada.

There was no mention of the affair. Instead, Mr. Ensign told Mr. Slanker that Ms. Hampton was ill, and that her husband was weary of flying back and forth between Las Vegas and Washington, Mr. Slanker recalled. (Those explanations were “all untruths,” he said he learned later.)

Within minutes, the senator and Mr. Slanker came up with an idea.

Michael Slanker had made more than $500,000 in the prior five years working for what he called “Ensign Inc.” serving as Mr. Ensign’s top fund-raiser and political consultant. The company Mr. Slanker and his wife had formed to help run these campaigns, November Inc., had become dormant after the couple moved to Washington to help Mr. Ensign run the Republican committee in 2007.

Mr. Slanker said he proposed that the firm could be revived, giving Mr. Hampton a well-known base in Nevada political circles to start a small government affairs practice. That afternoon, the senator and Mr. Slanker met with Mr. Hampton.

“Whatever clients you can get — you can eat what you kill,” Mr. Slanker recalled telling Mr. Hampton of the deal.

As part of the arrangement, Mr. Ensign also agreed to help line up three or four clients who would pay Mr. Hampton enough to match or surpass his $144,000 Senate salary as an administrative assistant, Mr. Hampton said. His account is corroborated, in part, by e-mail messages Mr. Hampton sent to the senator that spring, and by a work plan that Mr. Slanker and Mr. Hampton prepared.

Soon after, Mr. Ensign called the Hamptons separately. Cynthia Hampton, he said, would have to leave her $48,000 a year campaign job , while her husband would have to quit as planned. But as severance, the senator said he and his wife would give the Hamptons a check for about $100,000, Ms. Hampton said.

Mr. Ensign’s lawyer in June, however, called the $96,000 payment that was ultimately made a tax-free gift from Mr. Ensign’s parents to the Hamptons “out of concern for the well-being of longtime family friends during a difficult time.”

Mr. Hampton’s notes from the phone conversation with Mr. Ensign — sketched on a Senate notepad — made clear that they had agreed on one other condition.

“No contact what so ever with Cindy!”

Phone Calls and Letters

NV Energy, the largest power company in Nevada, had a problem in the summer of 2008. The utility had been waiting more than a year for the Interior Department to finish an environmental assessment of a proposed $5 billion coal-burning plant.

The company figured that if Mr. Bush left office without the environmental report’s being approved, the entire project could be stalled indefinitely. Nevada Democrats, including Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, had spoken out against the plan.

That is where Mr. Hampton came in.

Weeks earlier, Mr. Ensign had contacted Michael Yakira, the chief executive of NV Energy, and inquired about work for Mr. Hampton, the company acknowledged in an e-mail message. The company and its executives were reliable supporters of the senator, contributing more than $50,000 to his political causes over the previous five years. After Mr. Yakira met with Mr. Hampton, the company hired him, through November Inc., to do “lobbying coordination” of federal officials, according to a copy of the contract.

Interviews show that the senator also spoke with other Nevada power brokers, including Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., the chief executive of Allegiant Air, the Las Vegas-based discount airline; Bob Andrews, a financial industry executive; Sig Rogich, a prominent Republican consultant; and Paul Steelman, a casino architect and developer. In the conversations, Mr. Ensign did not specify what type of work Mr. Hampton might perform, but the executives he contacted said he had made it clear that Mr. Hampton would be well suited for consulting that drew on his Senate experience.

Mr. Steelman said that, in the midst of a phone conversation in which he was seeking Mr. Ensign’s help on a casino dispute, the senator mentioned Mr. Hampton and asked if the developer might have business for him as a lobbyist or consultant.

“He knows I have a lot of clients throughout the world,” Mr. Steelman said in an interview.

He did not end up enlisting Mr. Hampton, but NV Energy and Allegiant Air did, each agreeing to $5,000-a-month contracts through November Inc., company documents and interviews show.

The senator had a record of assisting Allegiant and NV Energy, both major employers in his state. His office, for example, had helped the airline resolve questions raised by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2006, before the airline went public, and urged federal regulators in 2005 to approve NV Energy’s plan to buy an electric power plant outside Las Vegas.

Still, a review of the records and interviews shows that Mr. Hampton, in coordination with Mr. Ensign and his staff, played a significant role in pushing the companies’ agendas in Washington.

With NV Energy, for instance, Mr. Hampton spent the summer of 2008 strategizing with John Lopez, the senator’s chief of staff, about how Mr. Ensign could intervene with the Interior Department to get the coal-plant report completed, Mr. Hampton said.

In November 2008, Mr. Ensign wrote to the Interior Department secretary at the time, Dirk Kempthorne, restating his longstanding view that the project was good for Nevada and urging the agency to publish the report.

Mr. Hampton followed up the next month with an e-mail message to Mr. Lopez, still trying to get the report released. The delay “is really hurting Nevada,” he wrote.

Mr. Lopez responded the same day. “I have been pounding Interior and can’t figure why this hasn’t come out,” his e-mail message said. “I’ll call again today.”

Mr. Lopez asked Matthew C. Eames, the department’s director of Congressional affairs, to make inquiries. Mr. Eames, in an interview, said after that hearing repeatedly from Mr. Ensign’s office, he contacted half a dozen Interior Department officials in Nevada and Washington to urge them to issue the report.

Five days after the e-mail exchange between Mr. Hampton and Mr. Lopez — on Dec 17, 2008 — the environmental impact statement was signed. (NV Energy has since put the coal plant project on hold.)

Mr. Ensign’s office said that his intervention on behalf of the utility reflected his support for the plant. The senator “has been working on this specific issue for a long time before Doug Hampton was a lobbyist,” according to Mr. Ensign’s statement.

Senate ethics rules and federal criminal law prohibit former aides, if they have “the intent to influence,” from making “any communication to or appearance” with any senator or Senate staff member for a year after leaving their jobs. A separate law required Mr. Hampton to register as a lobbyist if he intended to press a company’s case on Capitol Hill.

Congress in 2007 toughened ethics laws to make failure to file as a lobbyist a criminal offense. Prosecutors have used the 12-month lobbying ban to bring criminal charges in several corruption cases, including the 2006 conviction of Bob Ney, then a Republican congressman from Ohio.

Mr. Hampton, who believed that Mr. Ensign’s help with his clients was crucial to his success, admitted he had ignored the restrictions. He said that it was November Inc.’s responsibility to register him as a lobbyist, but he added that he did not insist the company do so because it would have made obvious that he was making inappropriate contacts on Capitol Hill. As for violating the one-year ban, he said he did so at Mr. Ensign’s direction.

“Work with Lopez,” Mr. Hampton said the senator told him. “I will take care of Lopez. I will make sure Lopez gives you what you need.”

Mr. Lopez agreed that Mr. Ensign instructed him to work with Mr. Hampton, but offered a different explanation.

He said that after he had raised concerns about Mr. Hampton’s requests, Mr. Ensign responded by designating him to be the office’s intermediary with Mr. Hampton to ensure that the contacts complied with the law.

Mr. Lopez, who left Mr. Ensign’s office last month, also said his conversations with Mr. Hampton were simply “informational.”

“Did Doug advocate and try to lobby in a couple of instances?” Mr. Lopez asked. “Absolutely. But that’s his problem.”

Several legal experts said, however, that the communications between Mr. Ensign’s office and Mr. Hampton might have been improper. If Mr. Ensign knew that Mr. Hampton was lobbying his office and facilitated the arrangement, he could face an inquiry, said Stan Brand, a former House general counsel who specializes in government ethics issues.

“You can’t advise someone to do something against the law and not run into trouble on that,” Mr. Brand said.

Mr. Hampton also turned to Mr. Ensign to intervene in disputes involving Allegiant Air, whose chief executive had donated $60,000 to the senator’s political causes over the previous five years.

The company was under investigation by the Department of Transportation last year for deceptively tacking on a “convenience fee” on tickets sold over the Internet. Mr. Hampton asked Mr. Lopez to have Mr. Ensign call the transportation secretary at the time, Mary E. Peters, to object to the investigation, or at least to get a status report on the inquiry. (Ms. Peters confirmed that the conversation occurred.) The appeal failed, and half of a $50,000 fine was suspended.

In his statement, Mr. Ensign’s office said that he had spoken to Mr. Gallagher, Allegiant’s chief executive, about the airline’s concerns before calling Ms. Peters and that he did not act specifically in response to Mr. Hampton’s requests.

Mr. Hampton also worked with Mr. Ensign’s office to arrange a March 2009 meeting between Mr. Gallagher and the new transportation secretary, Ray LaHood. Mr. Gallagher, who is chairman of an airline association, was seeking to challenge a contract that Air Canada had won to provide transportation to professional American sports teams. (Eventually, Air Canada was forced by the department to make changes in its charter practices that Mr. Gallagher had requested.)

Mr. Ensign requested the session in a phone call to Mr. LaHood, a former House Republican colleague, transportation officials said. The department described the March 11 meeting — with Mr. Hampton in attendance — as part of a series of courtesy visits with airline executives. The agency acknowledged that the Air Canada dispute was discussed.

The same day as the Transportation Department meeting, Mr. Ensign and Mr. Gallagher had lunch in the Senate Dining Room, with Mr. Hampton and Mr. Lopez joining them. Mr. Hampton also set up meetings for Allegiant with five other senators on Capitol Hill, including Mr. Coburn.

Mr. Coburn said he realized only when asked about it that his meeting with Mr. Hampton might have violated the one-year lobbying moratorium. “It was wrong,” Mr. Coburn said.

Allegiant Air and November Inc. also said they were unaware of any possible legal issues until asked recently, and said they would consult their lawyers to determine if corrective action was needed.

Mr. Slanker, at November Inc., said that if his company was part of improper lobbying efforts, “I’m going to make it right.” The whole situation, he added, “makes me sick to my stomach.”

Going Public

Months after Mr. Hampton discovered the affair, he and his wife began seeing a counselor to salvage their marriage. But Mr. Hampton said he became increasingly embittered toward Mr. Ensign over the “destruction” the infidelity had caused.

By July 2008, Mr. Hampton said he was worried about his finances, since the senator had helped him get only two clients. The next month, Mr. Hampton secured a full-time position at Allegiant Air that paid as much as $225,000 a year. But he said he still felt he was in a precarious position because of his reliance on the senator for access in Washington. “I couldn’t keep living a lie,” he said.

So in April, he hired a lawyer, Daniel J. Albregts of Las Vegas. In an interview, Mr. Albregts said he believed the Hamptons might have a civil claim against Mr. Ensign over their dismissals from his staff and the consequences for their family.

That began a series of intense, though ultimately futile conversations intended to reach a financial settlement.

Mr. Hampton went back to Mr. Coburn, who offered to talk to Mr. Ensign about restitution for the Hamptons to help them relocate from Nevada. Mr. Coburn said he raised the issue with Mr. Ensign, who said, “I’ll listen.”

Mr. Albregts gave Mr. Coburn a figure: just under $8.5 million, to cover purchase of the Hamptons’ home, lost wages and “pain and suffering.”

Mr. Coburn dismissed that as “ridiculous.” Mr. Hampton came back with a lower number — about $2 million, which Mr. Coburn passed on. Mr. Ensign flatly rejected the proposal.

“That’s a joke; forget it,” Mr. Coburn recalled Mr. Ensign saying.

The negotiations were over, but Mr. Hampton had a final card to play: publicity. Without telling his lawyer, he wrote a letter to Fox News on June 11 laying out the affair. That would lead to a hastily scheduled news conference days later, when Mr. Ensign would express regret over the “deep pain” he had caused both families.

Doug and Cynthia Hampton are both now out of work — Allegiant Air let him go because of the scandal, and his NV Energy contract expired this spring. The couple have put their house up for sale and hope to leave Las Vegas.

While several citizens’ watchdog groups have called for an ethics investigation into Mr. Ensign’s conduct, there are no signs of any active inquiries. Mr. Ensign’s string of apologies and his back-to-business demeanor in the months since his news conference appear to have helped him ride out the political storm. Over the last week, he made the news again, for opposing a major element of President Obama’s health care plans. References to the affair were no longer attached to his name.



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Sources: NY Times, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow Show, Google Maps

2009 "Jackass" Award Winners...Drumroll Please

And the 2009 "Jackass" Award Winners are.....


(Audio of Pres. Obama calling Kanye West a "Jackass". From TMZ)



(Music fans are criticizing singer Kanye West after he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. TODAY’s Natalie Morales reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Serena Williams loses her cool and the match after a foot fault was called on her at US Open tennis semi-finals vs Kim Clijsters 2009.)




(ACORN Prostitution Investigation)



(SC Rep. Joe Wilson defends his stupid, disrespectful, embarrassing heckling scene during Pres. Obama's recent Congressional Health Care Reform speech.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Now Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced she's stepping down early.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(After publicly admitting to having an affair with a woman from Argentina, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford now says she is his “soul mate” and admits to relationships with other women. NBC’s Mark Potter reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Sen. John Ensign, R-NV, is making his first public comments since admitting his affair. Rachel Maddow talks about his comments with Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.)

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Sources: MSNBC, Politico, Huffington Post, Washington Post, TPM, The State, Daily Kos, Wonkette, TMZ, NBC Sports, N8tip, Youtube, Google Maps

Has The G.O.P. Lost Its Moral Compass For Good? Sinful Hypocrites!..Is A Revival Possible?

La Times, Politico, Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, MSBNC----


Considering all the recent scandals about Infidelity within the G.O.P., I'm sure the late President Abraham Lincoln (first Republican Pres.) is probably rolling over in his grave right about now.

Perhaps I'm wrong in my analysis but aren't Republicans supposed to be the party of Family Values and Godly Morales?

Since when did God tell these powerful men that it was okay by him for them to cheat on their spouses? When????

Is there a new God in existence advising them that the rest of us don't know about?

Since "the apple doesn't usually fall far from its tree" I wonder where the origin of these G.O.P. Extramarital Affairs began.

I could blog about rumors I heard regarding some leaders from the previous Administration breathing "hot and heavy" with women who weren't their wives, but I won't. (Sorry I don't have enough evidence....yet!)

How does the G.O.P. expect to ever bounce back if they continue down this road?

To all Republican Political Leaders: Your running away the Young people, your running away Minorities, your running away Female voters and your ruining the future of what was once an extremely Effective, Relevant Political party.

This is an absolute shame!

In addition, trying to ignore these scandals or use Pres. Obama's policies as a smokescreen (hint, hint Eric Cantor, John Boehner) isn't helping either.

Someone be it male or female, within the Republican party who doesn't have any terrible hidden skeletons or past extramarital affairs history, needs to take control and start a Revival.

NOT a Conservative Movement Revival, a People Revival!

Invest in and Focus on the needs of the American People and STOP fighting with President Obama.

Now is not the time for Political Posturing or Separate Agendas!

In case you haven't noticed Voters (your Constituents) are suffering and hurting.

People need JOBS! Should it matter if its a Job created by Recovery Act Funds or if its a Green Job?

Get over yourself G.O.P.!

Whether you want to admit it or not, Pres. Obama walked into office on January 20, 2009 and discovered a multi-trillion dollar deficit.

This deficit was created over a period of eight years, however the G.O.P. miraculously expects this Mortal man (Pres. Obama) to eliminate it in 6 or 7 months!

None of you seemed to have a problem with Former President George W. Bush spending billions of dollars a month in Iraq, but your screaming your lungs out over Pres. Obama's efforts to stop the long term Fiscal bleeding.

When the Banks and Wall Street firms were robbing common everyday folks blind, none of you said anything then either.

Instead of attacking Pres. Obama's policies which are only being established to help heal our nation, why don't all G.O.P. leaders standing on the sidelines barking like vicious attacks dogs, just step up and admit they are angry we now have a BLACK President in the Oval office?

While we're on the subject of Racism let's be real shall we?

Sanford's rebellion (the Stimulus Funds issue) is due to him not wanting to submit to a Black President. (Secession)

Palin's resignation was due to similar reasons. (Another Secession)

Just go on ahead (like Pat Buchanan did) and get it out of your system so you can move on to re-branding the Republican Party.

Of course once G.O.P. leaders do stand up and admit they don't like the idea of our country having a Black President, in about a year or two everyone will be asking "whatever happened to the G.O.P.?"

Even though I'm a Democrat now (I've haven't always been) who is proud to help Pres. Obama straighten out this mess, I still believe in a two-party Political system.

However...if the Republicans are more interested in destroying our nation due to Racism, Selfishness, Polarizing Politics and Refusing to keep their pants zipped around women who are NOT their wives, then I will have no problem adjusting to a totally Democratic Party country.

For the record I do think that Rep. Eric Cantor would be an Excellent Republican Presidential contender for 2012 but only if his background is clean and only if he can sincerely demonstrate to the American people that his opposition to President Obama is not due to Racism.

Considering what he inherited, I firmly believe that Pres. Obama is doing a commendable job and deserves everyone's support. Including the Republican members of Congress.

In the mean time I will continue to pray for Pres. Obama's success.

HEALTH CARE REFORM CAN'T WAIT!


P.S.

(I said I was proud to be a National Democrat, not a NC Democrat because the NC Democratic party is Corrupt beyond normal Corruption. They know it and don't care to fix it. Thus I will remain proud and Loyal to the National Democratic Party.)



(During an interview last week on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican, said the recent scandals involving Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford were "not good" but said the party is "not just about personalities -- it's about ideas."

When pressed by Wallace as to whether the two adulterous Republicans should step down, the Virginian said "it is up to them.")




(A Capitol Hill townhouse serving as a dormitory and meeting place for conservative Christian lawmakers has been linked to a third extramarital affair. The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson discusses.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(The wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is speaking out about her husband’s political future and says she’s keeping focused on her children. NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Individual Commentary by Douglas MacKinnon)

I've found myself thinking lately about the tag-line for a 1974 horror movie: "If this doesn't make your skin crawl, it's on too tight."

What brought the saying to mind? Most recently, it was Nevada Sen. John Ensign. And before that it was South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana and former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.

I am a former Republican and now an Independent Conservative, and what is going on with the GOP right now makes my skin crawl. What has happened to the party of morals, character and traditional beliefs?

Ensign, Sanford and Vitter should join Craig in the private sector and resign immediately. Not because they cheated on their wives but because of their hypocrisy and the sleazy things they've done in concert with their philandering.

Too many of my Republican friends offer excuses: "Democrats do the same thing," they say. But that won't play with the American people.

The Republican leadership -- especially any member of it who is thinking of running for president in 2012 -- needs to step back and acknowledge that the party is damaged, dysfunctional and coming across as hypocritical. There was a time when Republicans stood for something, but today it's no longer clear what the party's basic tenets are or who speaks for it.

The party doesn't even seem able to field a presidential candidate who understands why he or she is running. As one high-level Republican friend said to me of the 2008 race: "McCain was like an old dog chasing a car. He wasn't quite sure why he was chasing the car, and wouldn't know what to do with a car if he caught it, but at that stage of his life, he felt he had to chase the largest car going by."

Now that it's the party on the outside looking in, the GOP has to stop sending out the next candidate in line to chase the largest car going by and instead figure out what it stands for and how to connect with the changing complexion of our nation. That, or prepare for political extinction

So what can the party do? Two things. Reclaim the principles of honor, decency and morality, and connect with the extremely broad base of Americans who embrace those attributes.

Earlier this year, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush -- supported by Haley Barbour, John McCain and others -- gathered at a pizza parlor in Arlington, Va., to announce something called the "National Council for a New America." But the true "new America" isn't one inhabited by older, wealthy, white politicians.

I'm a conservative who grew up in abject poverty and was homeless a number of times as a child. More often than not, as a white child, I found myself living -- until the next eviction -- in predominantly black neighborhoods. That's where I caught my first glimpse of true American heroes: the single black moms who worked two or three jobs and did everything in their power to protect and advance their children. Today, I'm married to a Hispanic American woman and have witnessed up front the true "family values" that American Latinos embrace.

To make itself relevant again, the GOP needs to shed the morally bankrupt leaders who have violated the trust of their families and their constituents and embrace a broader base, a broader definition of what it is to be a conservative.

For what it's worth -- and as one who comes from the unwashed masses -- I'd tell the Republican leaders to go silent, get off the screen and get out among the American people for a few months and simply listen. Just listen. By doing so, they just might rediscover their lost convictions.


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Sources: La Times, MSNBC, Politico, Huffington Post, Fox News Sunday, Crooks & Liars, RNC, The Daily Reflector, Wikipedia, Google Maps