Ensign’s parents gave mistress’s family $96k

LAS VEGAS — Sen. John Ensign said Thursday his parents gave his mistress and her family nearly $100,000 “out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time,” providing his first public acknowledgment that the woman received payments tied to the affair.

In a statement through his attorney, Ensign described the April 2008 payment as a single check for $96,000 given to Cindy and Doug Hampton and two of their children. The Hampton family received the check after the senator told his parents of his affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and longtime friend.

“None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds, nor were they related to any campaign or official duties,” Ensign’s Dallas-based attorney, Paul Coggins, said in a statement. “Sen. Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.”

The statement comes a day after Doug Hampton told a Las Vegas television show that Ensign paid Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in severance when she left her job as treasurer for two Ensign-controlled campaign committees.

Ensign, the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul, had not commented directly on allegations of payments to the Hamptons, but through a spokesman called Doug Hampton’s statements “consistently inaccurate.”

A liberal Washington watchdog group has said such a severance payment could have violated campaign finance laws because it was not reported by the committees.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has sought a Senate ethics investigation and on Thursday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for a criminal probe of the matter.

An FBI spokesman in Las Vegas, David Staretz, said the bureau was not investigating the matter. The U.S. Attorney for Nevada did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Coggins of the firm Fish and Richardson PC said no laws were violated with the $96,000 check.

“The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others,” he said. “The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts.”

Coggins did not immediately return a call for additional comment.

Ensign, a 51-year-old conservative Christian lawmaker, confessed to the affair last month, after Doug Hampton sought money from the senator through an attorney and began to take his story to the media.

Until May 2008, Doug Hampton also worked for Ensign, as a Senate aide. He said Wednesday his livelihood had been ruined by his wife’s affair.

“This is a grievous act,” Doug Hampton said Wednesday on the local news show “Face to Face with Jon Ralston.” ”When you look at the details, when we talk about all of the things that have taken place as a result of John’s actions and leadership, and the decisions that he initiated, and things that were covered up to help this happen … It’s unbelievable.”

The Hamptons and Ensigns have been friends for decades. Cindy Hampton and Ensign’s wife, Darlene, went to high school together. The families live in adjacent gated communities in the Las Vegas suburbs and their children attend the same school.

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