The appointment of special counsel could be devastating to Ensign’s reelection prospects. Ethics hires Ensign special counsel

The Senate Ethics Committee has appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), whose affair with the campaign aide married to another senior Ensign staffer shocked Washington in June 2009.

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the chairman and the top Republican on the Ethics Committee, announced on Tuesday that Carol Elder Bruce, a partner in the firm K & L Gates, has been chosen as a special to conduct a “preliminary inquiry” into whether Ensign violated Senate rules during his affair with Cindy Hampton, a former campaign aide. Hampton’s husband, Doug Hampton, was Ensign’s deputy chief of staff during most of the extramarital relationship.


Ensign’s parents gave $96,000 to the Hamptons and their children after the two aides left Ensign’s office in early 2008, but Ensign refused to pay millions more to the couple in order to keep the affair quiet. Ensign went public with news of the affair in June 2009 after Doug Hampton contacted Fox News.

Bruce is a white-collar criminal defense expert and a former assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia.

“The purpose of a preliminary inquiry is to determine whether there is substantial credible evidence that a violation within the Committee’s jurisdiction has occurred,” said a release from the Ethics Committee announcing Bruce’s appointment.

“The possible responses after a preliminary inquiry are dismissal of the allegations, a letter of admonition, or, for more serious violations, an adjudicatory review. An adjudicatory review generally involves more formal proceedings, including notice to the Senator of the nature of the possible violations, a description of the evidence of such violations, and the right to a hearing before the Committee recommends disciplinary or other action.”

The Justice Department has dropped a criminal probe into the Ensign case, and the Federal Election Commission said the the $96,000 payment to the Hamptons was not improper.

However, the Ethics Committee has been investigating the matter since late 2009, and Tuesday’s announcement means it is likely to drag for at least several more months.

The appointment of a special counsel is an rare move for the ethics panels in either the House or Senate. A special counsel was appointed to investigate former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) over allegations that he had violated tax laws and House rules related to a college course he was teaching. Gingrich later agreed to pay $300,000 to cover the cost of the probe.



The last time such a step was taken by Senate Ethics Committee was in 1989, when special counsels were used in cases involving former Sens. Al D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), as well as the Keating Five scandal.

Bruce will prepare a report for Boxer, Isakson and the other members of the secretive panel, who will then decide whether to end the probe or move onto an “adjudicatory review”stage. If there is an adjudicatory review, then a public report would be issued by the Ethics Committee, even if no charges are brought against Ensign. If the probe is ended prior to an adjudicatory review, no public statement by the panel is required.

In an interview, Boxer declined to say why Bruce was appointed or what it means for the Ensign investigation.

“The committee on a bipartisan basis decided that this was an appropriate step,” Boxer said.

Boxer added: “I wouldn’t read anything into it. I think the committee has done a lot of work and at this stage, we think it’s appropriate in order to expedite things to move it through. This is what we’re doing, and have the expertise we need.”

Isakson declined to comment on the Ensign case.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who was dragged into the scandal as an intermediary between Doug Hampton and Ensign when the Hamptons asked for millions in damages from the Nevada Republican, also declined to comment. POLITICO reported last July that Coburn had turned over thousands of pages of e-mails and other documents related to the case to FBI agents.

Bruce is well-respected lawyer with decades of experience in political sensitive investigations. She was appointed as an independent counsel in 1998 to lead a probe into former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Bruce did not seek an charges in that case, which was centered on allegations that Babbitt lied to Congress over his rejection on a casino application and received political contributions from opponents of the casino.

Bruce was also deputy independent counsel in the 1987 probe into former Attorney General Edwin Meese over income tax and conflict-of-interest charges.

Ensign is up for reelection this cycle and has indicated he is running, despite the collapse in his poll ratings following disclosure of his extramarital relationship. The appointment of special counsel, however, presents a new, and potentially devastating, blow to Ensign’s reelection prospects.