The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday publicly released a preliminary report on ex-Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who resigned last week rather than face what could have been expulsion from the Senate for a variety of ethical misdeeds.
The headline was most certainly the news that Senate investigators have asked the Justice Department to review the possibility of filing criminal and civil charges against Ensign, who became tangled in trouble when he had an affair with the wife of a key staffer.
The Senate probe found "substantial credible evidence" that Ensign and his parents made false and/or misleading statements to investigators about $96,000 that was given to Ensign's ex-mistress.
The money was doled out so that it fell just short of the level where gift taxes would apply, and to many, simply looked like hush money.
The committee report also accused the Nevada Republican of possible obstruction of justice, accusing him of deleting documents related to the investigation, even after being told to hold on to possible evidence.
The report also shed light on the involvement of others in trying to get Ensign to break off his relationship, as a group that included Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) held an intervention in February of 2008.
"We'll take it from here," Coburn was quoted as saying. "We'll take care of this."
During the meeting with Coburn and others, Ensign agreed to write a letter ending the affair with Cindy Hampton - but the report says he quickly called his mistress and told her to ignore the letter.
Two days after the intervention - which took place on Valentine's Day in 2008 - Ensign's car was spotted in the parking lot of a hotel, as was Ms. Hampton's car.
One of the friends of Ensign called him on the phone and said, "I know exactly where you are. I know exactly what you are doing. Put your pants on and go home."
"Put your pants on and go home," was the quote.
You don't often see something like that in a Senate Ethics Committee report.
One final note - the head of the Ethics panel, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said on the Senate floor yesterday that the mountain of evidence against Ensign might have ultimately resulted in his expulsion from the Senate.
Just another reason why he resigned last week, before the case advanced even more.
And it's another head-shaking example of how lawmakers - with seemingly nowhere to go but up - drive their own careers into the ground.
