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CREW Files Supplements to Complaints against Sen. Ensign.


Based on New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 Times story introducing new facts in case

WASHINGTON -- Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is an American government watchdog organization founded in 2003. One of their most visible projects is a biannual list of Washington politicians they label as the "most corrupt.  (CREW) provided additional information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged with investigating all violations of federal laws except those assigned to some other federal agency.  (FBI) and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, supplementing the complaints CREW filed against Sen. John Ensign John Eric Ensign (born 25 March 1958) is the junior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since January 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.  (R-NV) in June based on activities surrounding his affair with a campaign staffer, Cynthia Hampton.

On June 16, 2009, Sen. Ensign confessed he had engaged in an affair with Ms. Hampton, his campaign and PAC treasurer, who was married to Doug Hampton, the Senator's administrative assistant. A number of legal and ethics violations stem from that affair, which are detailed in CREW's original complaint, found here.

Today's letters provide additional information and note new possible violations stemming from Sen. Ensign's conduct.

A New York Times October 2 story indicates Sen. Ensign illegally helped his former administrative assistant Doug Hampton violate a one-year lobbying ban and then assisted Mr. Hampton's clients with their legislative agendas. The additional information details how Mr. Hampton failed to register as a lobbyist, and lobbied his former office before the end of the one-year cooling off period. Sen. Ensign assisted Mr. Hampton by finding lobbying clients for him and then meeting with those clients at Mr. Hampton's behest. Mr. Hampton clearly violated the lobbying ban and Sen. Ensign appears to have conspired with him to violate the ban. Sen. Ensign also may have committed honest services fraud by contacting federal officials at the request of Mr. Hampton.

The New York Times story also refutes Sen. Ensign's characterization of a $96,000 payment to the Hampton family as a gift from his parents. Mr. Hampton's contemporaneous notes show the payment was intended as severance. It appears Sen. Ensign described the payment as a gift in order to avoid reporting the payment to the Federal Election Commission (FEC See forward error correction.

FEC - Forward Error Correction
), which might have forced him to explain it publicly.

The letter to the Senate ethics committee ethics committee A multidisciplinary hospital body composed of a broad spectrum of personnel–eg, physicians, nurses, social workers, priests, and others, which addresses the moral and ethical issues within the hospital. See DNR, Institutional review board.  also asks that Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who met with Mr. Hampton and at least one of his clients, Allegiant Air Allegiant Air is an American low fare airline, owned by Allegiant Travel Co. (NASDAQ: ALGT), headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The airline operates scheduled and charter flights from focus cities at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, Orlando Sanford , be investigated for his role in helping Mr. Hampton violate the lobbying ban. CREW also asked the committee to investigate Sen. Coburn for lying to reporters when he categorically denied serving as an intermediary in the Hamptons' efforts to secure restitution from Sen. Ensign. Sen. Coburn admitted to the Times that he brought Mr. Hampton's request for a $2 million payment to Sen. Ensign, who rejected it.

Melanie Sloan Melanie Sloan (b. 16 December 1965) is the Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Sloan was born in Delaware.[1] She attended the University of Chicago and received her J.D. from University of Chicago Law School.
, executive director of CREW, said today, "To say that Sen. Ensign has shown himself unfit for office could be the understatement of the year. He has proved himself to be a philandering criminal disguised as a U.S. Senator. Sen. Ensign should be investigated by both the FBI and the ethics committee and the committee should also delve into Sen. Coburn's role in the tawdry affair. The American people An American people may be:
  • any nation or ethnic group of the Americas
  • see Demographics of North America
  • see Demographics of South America
 deserve to learn the truth about their elected representatives."

Click here to read CREW's letter to the Senate ethics committee.

Click here to read CREW's letter to the FBI.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman
  • Naomi O. Seligman - Director at Oracle Corporation
  • Naomi Seligman Steiner - Deputy Director and Communications Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
 at 202.408.5565 // nseligman@citizensforethics.org
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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Oct 6, 2009
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