Family Values Hero Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum Covered Up Ensign's Affair

GOP Sen. John Ensign To Resign

Last month beleaguered GOP Sen. John Ensign announced that he wouldn't seek reelection in 2012. But today his aides revealed that Ensign will resign tomorrow.

Ensign has fallen under investigation by the ethics committee in the wake of an alleged sexual relationship with an aide and accusations that he steered business to her lobbyist husband. His departure could clear the way for Nevada's Republican governor to appoint Rep. Dean Heller (R) to the seat, giving the GOP an incumbent in 2012.

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) To Retire

Scandal-plagued adulterer and defender of marriage Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) announced today that he will not seek reelection in 2012.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign, facing an ethics investigation stemming from an affair with a campaign aide, said Monday he would not seek reelection because he wanted to spare his family from an "exceptionally ugly" campaign. "At this point in my life, I have to put my family first," Ensign told reporters at a news conference in Las Vegas. Just two months into the 112th Congress, Ensign is the eighth Senate incumbent to opt out of running for a new term, out of 33 seats up in 2012. The announcement is welcome news to national Republicans who have admitted the two-term Republican would be vulnerable in the race. GOP Rep. Dean Heller, who won three statewide elections as secretary of State, is considered the party's best candidate to retain the seat.

CNN's Rick Sanchez Ambushes Sen. John Ensign Over Ethics

More Scandal For Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The New York Times has uncovered serious ethical violations committed by anti-gay Sen. John "Defender Of Marriage" Ensign. This new information is related to the adultery scandal Ensign confessed to early in the summer. Rachel Maddow lays it all out below.

Sen. John "Defender Of Marriage" Ensign Losing Staff, Still Running For Re-Election

And the mysterious C Street House story gets better and better.

$100K To Sen. Ensign's Mistress

The family of GOP Sen. John "Defender Of Marriage" Ensign paid his mistress $96,000 out of the kindness of their hearts. Not as hush money. Totally not. Ensign's lawyer:

In April 2008, Senator John Ensign's parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts. After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others.

The cuckolded husband of Ensign's mistress released a handwritten letter from the Senator yesterday in which he plead for forgiveness for having used her "for his pleasure" and having sinned against God. Ensign has not addressed his having pilloried Clinton for adultery and having endorsed anti-gay marriage legislation...all while being a cheater himself.

Coulter: The GOP Punishes Cheaters

And yet Sen. Ensign has not resigned.

Sen. Ensign Scandal Widens

Maddow On Sen. Ensign

Ensign has resigned from a GOP leadership post, but not from his Senate seat.

Maddow On Sen. Ensign's Affair

Defender Of Marriage GOP Sen. John Ensign Admits To Cheating On His Wife

Presumed 2012 GOP presidential candidate Sen. John "Defender of Marriage" Ensign (R-NV), who has a 100% rating from the Christian Coalition, has admitted to an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer. Oh, and there's blackmail involved too.

The news certainly damages any hope Ensign has of running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 – he had fueled speculation about a presidential run with a recent visit to Iowa — and it may also hinder what has been a steady rise in Senate GOP leadership. Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada told POLITICO that Ensign began an affair with a staffer several months after he separated from his wife. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the sources said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways. Sometime later, a Nevada source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. Sources said that the man subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money – at which point Ensign decided to make the affair public. In his Las Vegas press conference, Ensign declined to give specifics about the woman involved but did say she and “her husband were close friends and both of them worked for me.”

Ensign has routinely voted against the interests of LGBT people on all issues: DOMA, hate crimes, you name it. And those with long memories will recall that Ensign famously called on Bill Clinton to resign over the Monica Lewinsky affair, calling it "an embarrassment to the country," and turning the scandal into a regular speaking point in his campaign.

UPDATE: From Sen. Ensign's official Senate page, dated 2004.

Washington, D.C. – Senator John Ensign took to the floor of the United States Senate today to defend the sanctity of marriage and urge passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment Act.

“Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children,” Ensign said. “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied.”

Ensign, in his comments, noted that Nevadans had amended the state constitution to guarantee the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Ensign emphasized the need to preserve the will of Nevadans who voted overwhelmingly to preserve marriage as well as the need to preserve the will of the majority of Americans.