Ensign Betrayed Wife, Staff, Nevada and USA --- John Ensign's, resignation gives GOP a boost in critical Nevada Senate race
News reports state: As Democrats seek to hold onto their slim
majority in the Senate, they're aiming to win some currently
Republican-held Senate seats in 2012. With scandal-plagued
Republican Sen. John Ensign set to retire, his Nevada Senate seat
seemed to be the best opportunity for Democrats. Now that Ensign's
resigning early, however, the dynamics of the race could
change.
Ensign is resigning his seat today, and Republican Gov. Brian
Sandoval is likely to appoint Republican Rep. Dean Heller as
Ensign's replacement.
Heller, a three-term congressman, was already in the race to
replace Ensign. He's expected to face off against Democratic Rep.
Shelley Berkley. Now, Heller's likely to get 18 months to try out
the job
Earlier it was reported by Bloomberg
News:
"Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, saying he wanted to
spare his family the emotional "wear and tear" of an ethics inquiry
into an extramarital affair, said he will resign his office
effective May 3.
He disclosed in June 2009 that he had had an affair
with a campaign worker, Cindy Hampton, whose husband, Doug, was an
aide on his Senate staff.
The Justice Department said last December that Ensign
was no longer a target of a probe into whether a severance payment
he made to Cindy Hampton was an illegal campaign
contribution.
"Senator Ensign has made the appropriate decision," the Senate
Ethics Committee, which had kept looking into allegations stemming
from the matter, said in a statement from committee head Barbara
Boxer, a California Democrat, and the vice chairman, Georgia
Republican Johnny Isakson.