New revelations are emerging in the sex scandal surrounding Rethuglican Sen. John "Don Juan" Ensign. Don Juan, who was having an affair with an employee, Cindy Hampton, admitted the affair to his parents, who then shelled out $96,000 in payments to the mistress and her husband, Doug. Don Juan's lawyer is spinning the payments as "gifts" from the Ensigns out of their generosity. Most are seeing it as payments to keep the Hamptons from exposing the affair. There's also the issue of a $25,000 "severance" payment to Cindy Hampton, after she left Don Juan's office, something that may have violated ethics laws.
In a curious side note, there are allegations from Doug Hampton that Rethuglican Sen. Tom "Deacon" Coburn was advising Don Juan on how to extract himself from the affair ("Pay them off, DJ"). The Deacon is saying his "advice" was privileged, since he is both a Doctor (OB/GYN) and a "deacon," but he's clearly nervous about a potential Senate Ethics Committee investigation that would probe what his "advice" was.
Let the games continue!
