Press

PRESS

July 17, 2009

CREW Provides FEC Recently Released Information on Sen. Ensign Payments

FEC Complaints, Ethics, Federal Agencies, Federal Election Commission (FEC), Press Releases, Senate Members, John Ensign

Washington, D.C. – Today, CREW filed a supplementary letter with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding additional campaign finance law violations that may have been committed in regard to payments made by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and his family to the family of his mistress, Cynthia Hampton.

On June 24th, CREW filed a complaint asking the FEC to investigate whether Sen. Ensign’s campaign committee and leadership PAC had failed to report in-kind contributions made to them by the senator when Cynthia Hampton was paid severance after being terminated from her positions with both committees. New information released by Sen. Ensign suggests the senator’s parents, Michael and Sharon Ensign, may have paid Ms. Hampton severance, each providing her with checks for $12,000. Such payments would exceed the contribution limits for campaign committees ($2,400 per election) and PACS ($5,000 per year). In addition, neither the campaign committee nor the PAC reported receiving any in-kind contributions from either of Sen. Ensign’s parents.

Click here to read CREW's supplementary letter to the FEC.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact David Merchant at 202.408.5565 or dmerchant@citizensforethics.org