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Ensign Blamed Wife in Letter to Mistress

Husband releases note, raises possible felony charges

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 8, 2009 7:17 PM CDT

(Newser) – For those keeping score, John Ensign is the senator whose affair made national headlines before Mark Sanford. He may have thought he was done with the spotlight, but the husband of his former lover is having none of it. Doug Hampton has given the Las Vegas Sun a letter that Ensign wrote to Cynthia Hampton in which the senator admits that he used her "for my own pleasure" and "betrayed everything I believe in." He added that he "justified my actions because I blamed my wife."

Doug Hampton says Ensign wrote the letter in the presence of Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and others after being pressured to break off the relationship. After writing it, however, Ensign went right on pursuing Cynthia. Doug Hampton also accuses Ensign of paying his wife, a former staffer, $25,000 in severance when she resigned. If true, that could be a felony violation of campaign finance law if he failed to properly report it. The Sun could find no record of the necessary paperwork.

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Doug Hampton, whose wife had an affair with Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. speaks at a news conference in June. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., talks with reporters on his way to a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

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I was completely self-centered and only thinking of myself. I used you for my own pleasure not letting thoughts of you, Doug, Brandon, Blake or Brittany come into my mind. - Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada

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Ensign Blamed Wife in Letter to Mistress