Montandon says Ensign recruited, endorsed Sandoval for governor

Sen. John Ensign's name was dragged through the mud this summer, and now it's getting dragged into the campaign for Governor of Nevada in the fall.

On Wednesday Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Montandon sent out a statement blasting Ensign, R-Nev., for claiming credit for recruiting federal judge Brian Sandoval into the race.

Ensign, who is already embroiled in a scandal over an extramarital affair with an employee and subsequent payments from his family to the employee's family, is said to have boasted of recruiting Sandoval into the race during a private meeting of Republicans in the office of former Gov. Bob List, Montandon said.

"U.S. Sen. John Ensign displayed bad judgment when he had an affair with his best friend’s wife and now he’s displaying more bad judgment in his endorsement and recruitment of Brian Sandoval for Governor," Montandon said in a statement.

In a phone interview Montandon said he was told by people who attended the meeting that Ensign had claimed credit for recruiting Sandoval and of his intention to endorse him.

Montandon said he called Ensign to confront him on the issue: "He said he wouldn't take full credit for it, but that he had been part of the process to recruit him," Montandon said.

Messages left with an Ensign staff member have not yet been returned.

Sandoval isn't officially in the race for governor, but he recently announced he would step down from his lifetime appointment as a federal judge.

But according to a poll last month, Sandoval would be the strongest candidate in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Montandon received support from just 3 percent of potential Republican primary voters, behind incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons who 17 percent favored and Sandoval who 33 percent preferred.

A source close to Sandoval says no matter who said what, it is incorrect to suggest Ensign played a significant role in Sandoval's decision to step down from the federal bench to return to politics.

"No one recruited Brian Sandoval," the source said. "He made the decision on his own with his family."