John Ensign (R-Nev.)

Former U.S. Senator (January 2001 to May 2011)

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Why He Matters

Ensign grew up in the Las Vegas casinos and became one of their primary Senate defenders. A veterinarian by trade, Ensign survived a couple of very close elections, winning by just more than 1,000 votes to join the U.S. House in 1994 and then losing to Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) by less than 500 votes in a 1998 Senate campaign.

In his relatively short Senate career, Ensign focused on local issues, working with Reid to oppose the use of Yucca mountain as a dumping site for nuclear waste and to defend the Nevada gambling industry against regulation. He toed the Republican line on issues ranging from taxes and Iraq to abortion rights and stem-cell research.

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As chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the tough 2008 cycle, Ensign defended 23 GOP seats, including a handful left open by retiring Republicans. Republicans lost three open seats and five contested battles to finish with 41 senators to the Democrats' 59 (after Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) switched parties, that margin grew to 60 to 40). He didn't run for NRSC chair during the more successful 2010 cycle.

The Nevadan was considered a 2012 presidential hopeful, but his prospects were eliminated by his June 2009 admission of an affair with a campaign staffer and its subsequent fallout. One day after admitting the affair, Ensign stepped down from his position as chairman of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, the number four post in GOP leadership.

In March 2011, Ensign had announced he would retire rather than seek reelection in 2012.

"There are consequences to sin," Ensign declared at a news conference in Las Vegas, adding that he didn't want to put his family though an "exceptionally ugly" reelection campaign.

Until he announced his resignation from the Senate effective May 4, 2011, Ensign was still under a Senate Ethics Committee investigation that dramatically increased in seriousness in February 2011 when the committee appointed a special counsel to lead the case, the first time the panel had acted in such a manner in two decades and suggesting the probe, despite being dismissed by the Justice Department in December 2010, would last well into 2012.

Ensign's resignation meant the end of the Senate Ethics panel's probe and likely means its findings will never be released publicly.

"While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings. For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great," he said in a statement.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) named Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to hold Ensign's seat until the 2012 elections. Heller was already the frontrunner for the open seat.

More on: John Ensign (R-Nev.)

At a Glance
Path to Power
The Issues
The Network
Additional Resources

Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: Chair, Senate Republican Policy Committee (January 2009 to June 2009); Chair, National Republican Senatorial Committee (January 2007 to January 2009); U.S. Representative (1995 to 1999); Veterinarian, Owner of South Shores Animal Hospital (1994 to 2001); Veterinarian, Owner of West Flamingo Animal Hospital (1987 to 1994)
Birthday: March 25, 1958
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
Alma Mater: Oregon State University, B.S., 1981; Colorado State University, D.V.M., 1985
Spouse: Darlene Sciaretta
Religion: Christian
DC Office: 119 Russell Senate Office Building, 202-224-6244

State Office: Las Vegas, 702-388-6605; Reno, 775-686-5770; Carson City, 775-885-9111
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Path to Power

Ensign grew up one of three children to a single mother who worked in a casino as a "change girl," giving quarters to slot machine players. She eventually married Mike Ensign, who became chairman and CEO of Mandalay Resort Group. Ensign decided to pursue a career as a veterinarian.

He graduated from Oregon State University in 1981 and then went to veterinary school at Colorado State. He returned to Las Vegas and opened his own veterinary practice with the city's first 24-hour clinic. He helped manage a couple casinos for his stepfather and was active in local politics.

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In 1994, he decided to challenge popular four-term Rep. James Bilbray (D-Nev.). Ensign was a hugely successful fundraiser, and 1994 was a good year to run as a Republican, even in a relatively Democratic district. He campaigned, like many Republicans that year, on a platform of smaller government and less taxes. Bilbray claimed victory on election night, but when the votes were finally counted, Ensign came out on top by a little more than 1,000 votes.

As a freshman, Ensign got a coveted seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and he played an important role in convincing then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to separate the welfare and Medicaid issues and send a welfare bill to President Bill Clinton, who signed it.

Challenging Reid

In 1998, Ensign left the House to challenge Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in an election that turned out to be even closer than his initial one. Both campaigns ran highly negative ads, trying to influence the opinions of the state's hundreds of thousands of new residents, particularly in Ensign's home district of Las Vegas. The two candidates combined to spend nearly $8.5 million, and Reid won by 459 votes. After a hand recount that took weeks, Reid was still ahead, and Ensign conceded.

It didn't take long for Ensign to get another shot at the Nevada electorate. Sen. Richard Bryan's (D-Nev.) term was up in 2000, and he decided to retire. Ensign announced his intention to run for the seat the next day, just more than two months after his race with Reid ended.

The Democrats had difficulty getting a viable candidate to run against Ensign. Former Gov. Bob Miller (D) declined and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa (D) pulled out after a couple of months of poor fundraising. A handful of other candidates decided not to run, and eventually, the nomination fell to Ed Bernstein, a personal injury lawyer who was a fixture on Las Vegas television sets. Bernstein spent $1.1 million of his own money but came up well short.

In the Senate, Ensign immediately began working with ex-rival Reid on Nevada issues like gambling and nuclear waste storage. After he was easily re-elected in 2006 against challenger Jack Carter, the son of former President Jimmy Carter (D), Ensign said of Reid, "He works his side of the aisle, and I work mine. Because of that working relationship and trust, we are able to get things done that frankly, members of the same party in some states can't get done."

Senate Leadership

In 2006, Ensign assumed the unenviable title of NRSC chairman, and was tasked with limiting Senate GOP losses in a disastrous year for his party. Republicans defended 23 seats, including five seats with no incumbent, compared with just 12 seats that his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), had to worry about. What's more, Ensign had a hard time raking in campaign cash. Republicans lost eight seats in the 2008 elections, giving the Democrats 59 senators before Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, giving Democrats a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate. But Republicans didn't lay too much blame on Ensign,who faced near-impossible circumstances. Instead of leading the NRSC again for the 2010 election cycle, Ensign took over as chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee, the fourth-highest position in Republican leadership. His successor at the NRSC is Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Extramarital Affair and Fallout

Ensign was said to be interested in a presidential run in 2012, when he was up for reelection to the Senate. He made his first trip to Iowa, the home of the first presidential battleground, in spring 2009. But in March 2011, he instead announced his retirement from the Senate in 2012.

Ensign's political downfall stemmed from fallout from an affair with a former campaign staffer who was married to one of Ensign's Senate aides. Ensign admitted the affair in June 2009 and the aides no longer work for him. The affair is said to have started in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. "I love my husband," Ensign's wife, Darlene, said at the time of the admission.

In April 2008, Ensign's parents, who made a great deal of money in the casino business, each made $12,000 donations to Cynthia Hampton, the woman with whom Ensign had an affair, and her husband Doug Hampton, and each of their two children, totaling $96,000. Ensign's office released a statement seeking to explain the payment, stating: "His parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time."

The statement came shortly after Doug Hampton did an interview in which he said Ensign paid Cynthia Hampton more than $25,000 in severance after she stopped working as his PAC treasurer, an action that would be illegal under campaign-finance law. If it were a gift, the money wouldn't be subject to campaign-finance laws. Hampton also said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) knew about the affair and tried to convince Ensign to end it and help the Hamptons pay off their house so they could start a new life away from him.

The senator also helped Doug Hampton land a Nevada-based lobbying job after he left his Senate office, and then worked to help his new clients in Washington, according to a New York Times report.

One day after admitting to the affair, Ensign resigned as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. That position made Ensign the fourth-highest ranking member of the GOP Senate leadership.

Various Probes

The Justice Department, Federal Election Commission and Senate Ethics Committee all investigated the fallout surrounding the affair, payments and charges that Ensign helped Doug Hampton find a lucrative lobbying job, despute the fact he is legally barred from lobbying the Senate a year after leaving his post.

Justice notified Ensign he was no longer a target of a probe in December 2010, but the Senate ethics panel ramped up its case in February 2011 by taking the rare action of hiring an outside counsel, something it hadn't done in two decades.

Senate Resignation

As a result of the Ethics probe, Ensign announced his resignation from the Senate effective May 4, 2011, although he conceded no wrongdoing.

"I am gratified that, after extended investigations, both the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission saw no grounds on which to charge me with improper conduct. I was hopeful that, with the closure of these investigations against me the wear and tear on my family and me would soon be over. This was not the case."

"As is its right, the Senate Ethics Committee is continuing its investigation of issues into which it has been inquiring for the past year and a half. Indeed, the Committee even decided recently to devote more resources to its investigation by hiring an outside counsel even though the issues have been viewed and reviewed by so many others."

The Issues

Ensign is a stalwart Republican vote on issues ranging from taxes to social issues to national defense. A longtime member of the evangelical Christian group Promise Keepers, Ensign opposes stem-cell research and sponsored a 2006 proposal that would have made it more difficult for a minor to cross state lines to receive an abortion.

During the 110th Congress, he voted with the Republican Party 87.5 percent of the time, splitting with the party on a couple of issues that have a direct impact on his home state of Nevada.

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Iraq and Torture

When he ran for re-election in 2006, Ensign continued to back President Bush's war strategy at a time when many other Republicans were trying to distance themselves from Bush, and he has continued to support the troop surge and oppose a timeline for withdrawal of troops. Ensign was in Iraq in December 2003 when Saddam Hussein was captured. Ensign also vigorously opposed a 2006 Senate bill to limit interrogation of suspected terrorists, saying it put "terrorist rights over the interests of the American people." He said that he did not consider sleep deprivation or water-boarding to be torture.

Nevada Issues (Gambling and Nuclear Waste)

A politician can't get far in Nevada without backing a couple of key issues, and Ensign has consistently fought for the Nevada gaming industry and against allowing nuclear waste to be housed at Yucca Mountain. Shortly after Ensign got to the Senate, then-Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced an amendment that would have banned betting on college sports. Ensign fought against the ban and was able to kill it. The proposal has floundered in the Senate ever since. But Ensign did vote, with Reid, a ban on internet gambling, to "protect children."

In February 2002, President George W. Bush sought to designate Yucca Mountain a permanent nuclear waste site, and Ensign and Reid could not gather enough votes to stop the bill, which became law in July 2002. But there are lawsuits pending, and approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could take years. Meanwhile, both Ensign and Reid have promised Nevada voters that they will not allow nuclear waste in their home state. They have worked to stop funding for the site and have used other methods such as putting holds on nominees for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. They have also spent time trying to convince non-Nevada lawmakers that transporting nuclear waste to Nevada is dangerous.

The Economy

Ensign supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in the fall of 2008, saying "this is too critical to the American people." He pointed to several construction projects in Nevada that were having trouble finishing because of difficulty getting credit and said not doing anything would have had a negative effect on jobs and credit in the state.

The Network

After joining the Senate, Ensign formed an unusually strong relationship with fellow Nevada senator Harry M. Reid (D), against whom Ensign had run a particularly tough campaign in 1998. Former Ensign Chief of Staff Scott Bensing became NRSC executive director when Ensign became the NRSC chair. Bensing was listed in Roll Call's "Fabulous 50" Hill staffers list in 2008.

Ensign is also one of many borders at C Street, a townhouse frequented by Christian lawmakers who counsel each other and study the Bible. The townhouse is run by an Arlington-based network of Christian non-profits known as "The Fellowship", which seeks to advance its values through political ties. Other residents of the house include Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Jim DeMint(R-S.C..), and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). Former residents are ex-House Member and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R).

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