Ensign’s Lover Got Paid

Granted a brief reprieve from the national spotlight thanks to S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s “Argentine connection,” Nevada Senator John Ensign was back in the news today – admitting that his parents gave nearly $100,000 to his ex-lover and her husband after learning of their son’s affair.

Ensign’s parents say they were merely acting “out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during difficult time,” to which we can only say “mmm-hmmm.”

That’s a lot of “concern,” if you ask us. Our founding editor’s mom would have had Sic Willie neutered.

Anyway, Ensign also reportedly gave the woman – who worked for his various political organizations – a $25,000 severance package, which has understandably attracted the attention of campaign finance regulators.

These financial revelations accompanied the release of an embarrassing letter from Ensign to his lover, Cynthia Hampton, in which the Senator comes off positively Swaggert-esque.

“I used you for my own pleasure,” Ensign says in the letter. “Plain and simple it was wrong; it was sin.”

Attorneys for Ensign say none of the payments violate the law, and are blaming Doug Hampton – Cynthia’s husband and another former Ensign employee – for spreading false information.

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