Now Here's Some Weakness: John Ensign's Affair Seems To Be Obsessive and Stalkerish

Part of it we knew: Ensign had an affair with his chief of staff's wife. And the wife was also his campaign treasurer.

Ensign had an affair with her. And then paid the couple money to keep the affair quiet.

He called that extortion when he confessed to the basics of this. Well, who knows.

But the new stuff is that he seems to have gone a little off his rails.

The report said Ensign initiated the affair by contacting Cindy Hampton, saying he was “very persistent and relentless” and that Hampton testified that the senator wouldn’t stop, he “kept calling and calling” and he “would never take no for an answer.” Hampton testified that she was worried about losing her job as the senator’s campaign treasurer once the affair began.

...

When [Doug Hampton, the woman's husband] learned of the affair by reading a text message from the senator on his wife’s phone in December 2007, he jumped out of his car and chased the senator in an airport parking lot, the report said. Cindy Hampton sat in the airport for hours and later took a taxi home.

...

On multiple occasions, he told her that he wanted to marry her — including when they attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. During an official Senate trip to Iraq in February 2008, he repeatedly called Hampton, totaling nearly $1,000 in telephone bills.

When both Hamptons confronted the senator in his home to talk about the affair, Ensign professed his love for Cindy — and that “Doug could not work for him any longer,” the report said.

After telling his wife about his lingering feelings for Cindy Hampton, Ensign temporarily moved in with his parents — but the affair continued, including after he purchased two new cellphones so the two could communicate exclusively with one another. He typed in her name as “Aunt Judy” on his cellphone.

When his wife, Darlene, became aware of the 76 text messages he exchanged with Hampton, Ensign disconnected the phones. He wanted to buy two more, but Hampton declined. He later created fake email accounts and secretly called her from the Senate gym, the Capitol and on fundraising trips to New York.

After that, Cindy Hampton became a lobbyist and began unlawfully lobbying him (I guess you can't lobby someone you're diddling). And Ensign, what a guy, did in fact pressure the government to do favors for his squeeze's clients.

On page 3 of the story we unfortunately read of Tom Coburn's acting as an intermediary between Ensign and the Hamptons on their demand for compensation/severance/extortion money -- Good Lord, why was Coburn putting himself in that situation?

At Hot Air, Barbra Boxer says Ensign would have been expelled if he didn't resign. For once, she doesn't seem to be being stupid.

Useless Without Pics? Here's a picture of both couples -- the Ensigns, the Hamptons -- standing together.

Really...? I mean she's okay.

The question people will ask is "Well, does that mean she's really good in bed?," and I don't even think it's a question. Yes, she's really good in bed. No one goes bananas over so-so.

posted by Ace at 05:40 PM

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