Late Night Bliss: Another One Bites the Dust

Republican Senator John Ensign from Nevada will resign his seat on Friday. He’s been under an ethics investigation for some time.

His departure comes as the Senate ethics committee is conducting an ongoing investigation into his handling of an affair with a former political aide — whose husband was also a top legislative aide to the senator.

Earlier this year the committee hired an outside counsel to begin a more formal investigative phase of Ensign’s actions, which would have likely led to either a public hearing on formal allegations or the public issuing of its allegations against the senator.

Removed from the Senate, the ethics committee has no jurisdiction in the matter and likely will keep private the results of its 20-month investigation.

In June 2009 Ensign publicly admitted that he had an affair with Cynthia Hampton, who was his political treasurer and was married to Doug Hampton, Ensign’s administrative assistant. The Ensign and Hampton families lived in the same neighborhood outside Las Vegas and were considered the best of friends.

In 2008, when the affair became known to the other spouses, Ensign dismissed both Hamptons from his political and legislative payroll. Ensign’s parents, wealthy casino magnates, paid the Hampton family $96,000 in what was labeled gift income for tax purposes, the precise amount legally permissible without triggering taxes.

There’s a Republican Governor in Nevada so this isn’t a game changer in terms of senate numbers. Here’s information the likely replacement.

Sources confirmed this afternoon that embattled U.S. Sen. John Ensignwill resign from office on Friday, opening the door for Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to appoint Rep. Dean Heller to finish out the term.

If Heller is appointed, it would give him a strategic leg up as an incumbent against his presumed opponent in the 2012 Senate race, Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley. Berkley is still expected to run.

It appears that Ensign is not under legal investigation.

The Justice Department and Federal Election Commission had announced separately that they were not pursuing investigations into Ensign’s conduct, but the Senate Ethics panel was pressing ahead.

Senate Ethics Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Vice Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) supported Ensign’s decision to step down.

“The Senate Ethics Committee has worked diligently for 22 months on this matter and will complete its work in a timely fashion,” they said in a statement Thursday night. “Senator Ensign has made the appropriate decision.”

Sources said the Senator informed his Nevada and Washington, D.C., staff of his decision late Thursday afternoon.

Ensign’s imminent resignation is a major boost to Republicans, who expected a competitive 2012 open-seat race between Reps. Dean Heller (R) and Shelley Berkley (D). Heller announced his bid in March, and Berkley said she would run last week.