Seriously:

WASHINGTON — Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles.

Mr. Ensign, Republican of Nevada, suggested that a Las Vegas development firm hire the husband, Douglas Hampton, after it had sought the senator’s help on several energy projects in 2008, according to e-mail messages and interviews with company executives.

The messages are the first written records from Mr. Ensign documenting his efforts to find clients for Mr. Hampton, a top aide and close friend, after the senator had an affair with his wife, Cynthia Hampton. They appear to undercut the senator’s assertion that he did not know the work might involve Congressional lobbying, which could violate a federal ban on such activities by staff members for a year after leaving government.

The e-mail messages also hint at what Mr. Ensign’s office now says was an effort by the Las Vegas firm, a small energy investment business called P2SA Equity, to improperly link Mr. Ensign’s possible assistance to a promised donation.

The F.B.I. and the Senate Ethics Committee are investigating whether Mr. Ensign, in trying to contain the fallout from his affair with Ms. Hampton, conspired to find lobbying work for her husband despite the federal restrictions. They are also examining a $96,000 payment Mr. Ensign’s parents made to the Hamptons.

Mr. Hampton has said that the senator promised to work around the lobbying ban and help him make up the income that he and his wife, a former Ensign campaign staff member, lost when they left their jobs after the affair ended in 2008.

The e-mail messages involving P2SA, which were provided to The New York Times by someone involved in the case, appear to open a new line of inquiry to investigators.

In October, The Times disclosed Mr. Ensign’s role in securing lucrative jobs for Mr. Hampton at two other Nevada companies — NV Energy and Allegiant Air — and intervening with federal officials on behalf of those companies. But the senator’s discussions with P2SA executives about potential work for Mr. Hampton have not been previously reported.

Mr. Ensign’s entreaties to P2SA, though, were unsuccessful. Executives there decided after several interviews with Mr. Hampton that they did not have a spot for him.

Mr. Ensign denied any wrongdoing.

I guess it's because he didn't tickle fight with anyone, at least as far as we know.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/us...nquire.html?hp