Senator John Ensign Subpoenaed
Last night Senator Ensign arranged for phone calls about health insurance reform to constituents in the Congressional District of Dina Titus (D). While at least one political scientist called this move “clumsy,” today that is the least of the Senator’s problems.
It seems that Sen. Ensign and 6 local businesses got subpoenas today regarding his now-ended affair with Cynthia Hampton. Confirmed recipients include political rainmaker Sig Rogich, former state assemblyman Pete Ernaut, executives at eCommLink, Selling Source and Pay Card USA, Ensign’s former Chief of Staff, and The National Republican Senatorial Committee. Unconfirmed but likely recipients include electric utility NV Energy and Allegiant Air.
At issues is not whether the Senator was in fact having an affair — everyone admits that he was — but rather the aftermath. Not only were the Hamptons paid a lot of money, but Mr. Hampton was rewarded with several employment positions that seemed to “keep his mouth shut” about the whole business. And that is where the NRSC comes into play: it is alleged that Sen. Ensign hired Mike and Lindsay Slanker to run the NRSC fund-raising operations, while the Slankers were in turn trying to get Mr. Hampton hired as a lobbyist. Did anyone at the NRSC know what was going on? It seems unlikely, and unlikelier still that any evidence to that effect will be found.
Whether this will go anywhere is anybody’s guess — at least until everybody appears before the Grand Jury at the end of the month. If I had to make a prediction, it would be that Sen. Ensign’s political career is nearing an end, but despite the fact that this is a criminal probe, I would be shocked if anybody actually went to prison in this scandal.
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From the linked article….. “Sen. John Ensign organized a telephone call Wednesday night to thousands of Southern Nevadans represented by Rep. Dina Titus, in which he spoke against the pending health care reform bill and urged his audience to call her about it.”
Wait a minute….. I thought citizens were supposed to tell their elected officials how to vote…. I did not realize that elected officials called citizens to tell them what was in the citizens' best interests and to tell citizens to pressure other elected officials.
Some Ensign lackey said that Ensign was within his right to take the pulse of his constituents…. and he is right to do that. But if Ensign is going to make calls to take the pulse, Ensign should ask his constituents what they think. Ensign is not taking the pulse of his district when he tells people what to think and how to act.
I 100% disagree with StockBoySF who claims that elected officials should not try to convince constituents of their positions.
Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's right, and just because something is unpopular doesn't mean it's wrong. While reasonable people can disagree about this next point, I don't think it is the job of elected officials to vote for whatever their constituents want. As just one example, if elected officials blindly followed their constituents, Civil Rights legislation would never have been passed (it required southern Democrats to vote yes, against the will of their constituents, which “lost the south for a generation” for the Democrats, in the words of LBJ). I certainly wouldn't have been opposed to a southern Congressman trying to convince citizens of the virtues of civil rights legislation. And, as a hesitant supporter of health care reform, Ensign is in within his rights to convince citizens of his position (however misguided it may be).
Of course, he was not within his rights to offer a taxpayer-funded job in exchange for personal gain. For that, he should be punished, even though he never will be.
“I 100% disagree with StockBoySF who claims that elected officials should not try to convince constituents of their positions.”
Of course elected officials should let citizens know their positions, allowing constituents the chance to vote them in or or of office. But elected officials should not tell constituents what is in the constituents' best interests and tell the constituents to lobby on behalf of the elected official. The constituents should let the elected officials know what they want and let the elected official do the work. That's what they are there for. Not to dictate to their constituents.