Senator John Ensign announced his retirement this afternoon, leaving the door open for Sharron Angle to take another run at the Senate in Nevada.
“I just came to the conclusion that I couldn't put my family through this," said the Nevada senator, who said that he had “fully planned” to run for re-election until coming to the decision to retire last week.
Ensign, whose fast-rising political career was derailed after he admitted to an affair with a campaign aide whose husband served as his deputy chief of staff, said that a pending Senate ethics investigation into his conduct had “zero effect” on the decision not to run for a third term.
Ensign allegedly helped the aide’s husband find a new job, and Ensign’s parents paid the couple $96,000.
"There are consequences to sin and when you’re in a leadership role, those consequences can affect a lot of other people," Ensign said during a press conference announcing his retirement from the Senate.
“At this point in my life, I have to put my family first,” he added.
Oh, how noble. Put his family first, or just unwilling to face public scrutiny in a campaign over his C Street connections, his mistress, or his corruption?
