Ethics panel: Ex-senator broke law

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Former Sen. John Ensign of Nevada broke federal law, made false statements to the Federal Election Commission and obstructed a Senate Ethics Committee’s investigation into his conduct, the panel said Thursday in a scathing report that sent the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

The former Republican lawmaker “created a web of deceit that entangled and compromised numerous people,” the committee said, adding that it had assembled enough evidence to warrant possible expulsion had Ensign not resigned.

Ensign quit his seat effective May 3, one day before he was to have testified under oath about an affair with the wife of a top aide, the aide’s subsequent lobbying of Ensign’s office and a payment from Ensign’s parents to the onetime aide’s family.

The committee also asked the FEC to conduct its own investigation.

Committee chairman Barbara Boxer told the Senate in a speech, “When Sen. Ensign resigned, he said — and I quote — ‘I have not violated any law, rule or standard of conduct.’ I want to go on record ... to say how strongly I disagree with that statement.”

The Senate cannot punish a member no longer serving, but the referrals ensure that investigation of Ensign will go on for some time.