John Ensign’s parental bailout

Was the $96,000 Ensign’s parents gave to his mistress a gift, a payoff, or a crime?

Maybe Sen. John Ensign was jealous that Mark Sanford stole his GOP sex-scandal spotlight, said Manu Raju in Politico. Ensign, through his lawyer, revealed Thursday that his parents had given his former mistress and aide, Cynthia Hampton, and her family a $96,000 “gift.” Ensign revealed this 2008 “payoff” a day after the husband, Doug Hampton, accused him on TV of paying Cynthia a legally suspect $25,000 severance package.

Ensign “weathered the initial bad press surrounding his affair,” said Chris Cillizza in The Washington Post, but having his millionaire casino-mogul dad bail him out for sleeping with a married staffer—or, as his lawyer said, making “gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends”—just “may be too much.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us