Nevada’s junior Senator, John Ensign (R), has admitted to an affair:
Calling it “absolutely the worst thing that I’ve ever done in my life,” U.S. Sen. John Ensign admitted Tuesday he had an affair with a campaign staffer last year.
“If there was ever anything that I could take back in my life, this would be it,” Ensign, 51, said Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas, reading from a prepared statement in a brief news conference at which he took no questions.
The Nevada Republican, a leading conservative voice in his party who has been listed as possible presidential material, indicated he plans to remain in office and that his wife of 21 years, Darlene, is standing by him.
The woman and her husband “were both close friends, and they both worked for me,” Ensign said.
Ensign had the affair, from December 2007 to August 2008, with a woman who worked for his Senate campaign and his political action committee. The woman’s husband, meanwhile, worked in Ensign’s Senate office, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
I’ve never met John Ensign, but I have voted for him – a total of three times. In each of these votes, I was confident that I was voting for a man of integrity who could be relied upon to do the right thing. I didn’t expect perfection, but I did expect Ensign to be a man of wisdom, judgment and honor. And now I find out that I cast my vote for a man who didn’t just have sex with a subordinate, didn’t just cheat on his wife, didn’t just betray a good friend, but did all three of these things at once. “Lack of judgment” doesn’t even begin to cover what we have here.
John Ensign is 51 years old; he has been married for 22 years; he has three children; he has substantial wealth; he has the respect of his family, friends, fellow Nevadans and even his political opponents…he, in a word, has it all. Whatever a man can need for happiness, God has granted it to John Ensign. And what does John Ensign do with this great, good fortune? He decides that having sex with someone other than his wife who is married to one of his very best friends is more important than honorably discharging the duties incumbent upon a man who has achieved such a station in life.
As to what this will mean in Ensign’s personal life, I cannot say and would not say – that is between Mr and Mrs Ensign and my prayer is that Ensign will show proper humility and Mrs. Ensign will find it in her heart to forgive a horrid betrayal. A family break up is always a sad thing and no matter what pain Senator Ensign has caused, the best thing is for he and his family to remain united as he works through his failure and developes better moral sense and stronger wisdom to prevent a recurrence. Thing is, while Senator Ensign is doing this, he will not be able to properly discharge his duties as a United States Senator and senior leader of the Republican Party. Sad as I am about it, Senator Ensign has to take a sabbatical from public life and deal with his personal life – he should resign from the Senate forthwith and allow a Republican governor to select an honorable person who can devote themselves full time to the needs of the State of Nevada.
We all fail from time to time – and the larger the failure and the higher one’s station in life, the more serious is the failure. This is why we’re supposed to select men and women of strong judgment and character to be our leaders – a flighty youth all too easily falls for temptation. Its a pity that Senator Ensign decided to eschew his 51 years of life and all he’s learned in order that he might have sex with someone he knew full well – before, during and after – he should not have had sex with. Until Senator Ensign can demonstrate to the electorate of Nevada that the lack of judgment which led him to this failure has been corrected, he cannot be entrusted with the awesome responsibilities which come with the office of Senator. Ensign can still have a very bright future in politics – but not right now; maybe in a few years. We’ll have to see.
As a people, we’ve for too long allowed this sort of thing to pass without any consequences. Its all supposedly private and we’re supposed to step back and allow the erring politician time to revamp is life. Well, that is backwards – it is the fallen politician who is to step back and allow someone else to take the burden; hopefully someone who adheres to the basic rules about marital fidelity. The cost of infidelity must be a requirement to surrender office. A man who can betray his wife is not a man we can currently trust to carry out the people’s business – let such a man off the hook, and he’ll just keep doing it, arrogantly assuming he’s invincible. Senator Ensign is not invincible – he’s just a man, and he needs to work on things, as a man, not as a Senator.
