Ensign Will Still Be Investigated

You can run but you can't hide. Despite resigning over an affair with a staffer two years ago, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) will continue to be investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. "The Senate Ethics Committee has worked diligently for nearly 22 months on this matter and will complete its work in a timely fashion," Sens. Barbara Boxer and Johnny Isakson, the top Democrat and Republican on the committee, said in a statement. It's an unusual move: Usually ethics committee investigations and Justice Department criminal probes of lawmakers come to a halt after the member resigns. Ensign announced Thursday afternoon that he would leave the Senate on May 3, two years after he acknowledged having an affair with Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staffer and the wife of one of his top aides. Though he had previously announced he would not seek reelection, Ensign said he would resign after the Senate Ethics Committee named a special prosecutor to continue looking into the matter after the FEC and Justice Department had dropped their cases. "I was hopeful that, with the closure of these investigations against me, the wear and tear on my family would soon be over,” said Ensign. “This was not the case.”