The Washington Post editorializes in support of CREW's call for an ethics investigation of Senator John Ensign (R-NV). The challenge lies with the Senate Ethics Committee:

[T]here should be further investigation of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ensign's acknowledgment that he had an affair with his one-time campaign treasurer. Aside from the appropriateness of having a sexual relationship with a subordinate (a firing offense in much of the private sector), questions exist about whether Mr. Ensign violated the Senate's rules of conduct and federal election law.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group, filed complaints Wednesday with the Senate ethics committee and the Federal Elections Commission, seeking the appropriate inquiries. Among the issues are whether the dismissals of the woman and her husband, once a top Ensign aide, were tied to the affair and, if so, could constitute sexual harassment; whether improper severance payments were paid to the woman or her husband; and what the circumstances were behind the hiring of the couple's son by the National Republican Senatorial Committee chaired by Mr. Ensign. CREW also questions Mr. Ensign's conduct if, as some media reported, he told people close to him that he was being extorted for money by the husband. Mr. Ensign never publicly said he was being blackmailed; his spokesman said the husband, through an attorney, made exorbitant demands for "cash and other financial benefits."

Mr. Ensign may have apologized, and another misbehaving politician may be in the headlines, but that doesn't mean these troubling questions should go unanswered.