John Ensign’s redemption tour hits road but dodges tough questions

Like Punxsutawney Phil with really nice hair, U.S. Sen. John Ensign popped his head out of a burrow Wednesday and stepped directly into the searing media glare of the Fernley Chamber of Commerce.

Oh, the pressure. Oh, the intensity. Oh, the standing ovation.

For newcomers to the state and longtime residents with a poor sense of geography, Fernley is about 40 miles southeast of Reno. Contrary to the belief of some, Fernley is not in the middle of nowhere.

That would be Gerlach. Fernley is south of Gerlach.

Ensign's choice of Fernley for his first public appearance in Nevada since acknowledging his affair with Cindy Hampton falls into the category of good politics, I suppose. He began his speech by uttering a few words of apology in a traditionally conservative community located a tank of gas from Las Vegas and an hour from Reno.

Surely it's smarter for Senator Sanctimony to work on his routine in front of a forgiving, cow county audience before taking his unconvincing shtick to a big city. From the look of things, Ensign's act can use some work.

Instead of receiving a little candor and some answers to tough questions, Nevadans are in for "The John Ensign Redemption Tour '09." Some enterprising entrepreneur will make a killing selling T-shirts.

Through the reporting of the AP's Scott Sonner, we've learned Ensign apologized for his affair with the wife of his former good friend and administrative assistant Doug Hampton, calling it not only "a big mistake in my life," but also a "distraction."

A distraction, indeed.

This distraction has not only ended any fantasies Ensign entertained of rising within the Republican Party, but threatens his Senate status.

Before receiving his standing ovation, Ensign told Sonner, "What we're trying to do is go around to people in the state of Nevada and tell them how sorry I am for what I did," then added, "I haven't done anything legally wrong."

Actually, Senator Sanctimony might have let his parents do that for him.

When Mike and Darlene Ensign gave $96,000 in "gifts" to Cindy and Doug Hampton and a couple of their kids, the senator's attorney assured skeptics that everything was done legally and the neatly bundled contribution was something the compassionate parents had done for many years. See a need; fill a need. That's the Ensign credo.

Except, of course, that the "gifts" reeked of an attempt at delivering hush money to soothe any hurt feelings and quiet the apparently growing anger of Doug Hampton. Washington watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government has asked the Senate Ethics Committee and Federal Elections Commission to investigate Ensign and the money.

Perhaps Ensign really hasn't done anything legally wrong, but the ethics at work are shoddy even by U.S. Senate standards. And Ensign's ethical exposure won't be cured by unconvincing stump speeches in rural Nevada.

If he were genuinely contrite, actually seeking forgiveness, and truly interested in putting this issue behind him, he might arrange to make the checks his parents cut to the Hamptons available without a subpoena. He might actually explain whether the Hampton affair was his first or, as some suspect, part of a pattern of behavior.

Short of that, I guess he can work on the timing of his routine in Fernley, where the chamber of commerce crowd cheers before the first joke is told.

This past week's Review-Journal Mason-Dixon Polling & Research telephone survey of registered Nevada voters gives us a glimpse of Ensign's flagging popularity. Just 30 percent recognize his name favorably, about half the popularity he enjoyed a year ago. And Ensign's negatives are climbing steadily. Although the 2012 election is three years away, 37 percent of voters surveyed would vote to replace him.

Ensign assured his friends in Fernley he had no intention of resigning from office, but what he didn't mention was the harm his crippled career is having on the Republican Party. Add to that the dreary numbers of Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons, and the Nevada GOP faces daunting challenges.

For me, Senator Sanctimony's choice of Fernley to kick off "The John Ensign Redemption Tour '09" is a reminder of just how shallow and mouse-hearted he really is.

Should our shaky junior senator decide the heat of Fernley was too intense, I guess there's always Gerlach.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.