Post by kevinfelixlee on Apr 22, 2011 2:29:55 GMT -5
Nevada Sen. John Ensign, facing an ethics investigation stemming from an affair with a campaign aide, will resign his seat Friday, his office announced Thursday afternoon.
The Republican had announced in March rs gold that he would not seek a third term in 2012, saying he wanted to spare his family from an 'exceptionally ugly' campaign.
The decision now to resign with more than 20 months left in his term would spare him prosecution by the Senate Ethics Committee, which in February named a special counsel to investigate potential violations of ethics rules and federal law.
'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 runescape money my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings,' Ensign said in a statement. 'For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.'
Ensign will formally submit a letter of resignation to Vice President Joe Biden - also president of the Senate - on Friday. It will take effect May 3, when the Senate is scheduled to return from recess.
Two Nevada members of Congress - Democrat Shelley Berkley and Republican Dean Heller - have already entered the race to succeed Ensign. Nevada's new Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, could potentially appoint Heller to replace Ensign, giving him the potential advantage of incumbency in what both parties expect to be one of the cycle's premiere races.
A spokesman for Sandoval said the governor has not yet been notified of the senator's decision.
Democrats hold a slim 53-47 majority in the Senate, and consider the Nevada seat one of their top pickup opportunities.
Appointing Heller would also trigger a special election for his 2nd District seat. Sharron Angle, who lost to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010, has announced her intention runescape accounts to seek that seat next fall.
In February, the Senate Ethics Committee named a special counsel to investigate claims that Ensign violated ethics rules and federal law in the aftermath of his affair with Cynthia Hampton, a campaign aide married to Douglas Hampton, another Ensign aide and close friend of the senator.
Ensign acknowledged the affair in 2009, after Douglas Hampton threatened to go public. The senator later acknowledged that his parents had paid the Hamptons $96,000 after Douglas Hampton runescape power leveling left his job in the senator's office.
The Hamptons have suggested the payment was severance, but liberal critics have termed it an improper campaign contribution to Ensign by his parents. Ensign called the payment a gift.
When asked in March whether his decision not to seek reelection was driven by the Ethics Committee investigation, he said: 'If I was concerned about that, I would resign.'