If Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) believed the ethical cloud above him would dissipate, events have proven him wrong. Yesterday's New York Times reported:

Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles.

... [The e-mails] appear to undercut the senator’s assertion that he did not know the work might involve Congressional lobbying, which could violate a federal ban on such activities by staff members for a year after leaving government.

This news has prompted media in Sen. Ensign's home state to renew their examination of the scandal. Yesterday, the CBS-TV affiliate in Las Vegas provided this report (click on video at top right). In this TV story, CREW's Melanie Sloan calls the email messages "further evidence" that Sen. Ensign was engaged in activity that is "completely against the law."

CREW has talked a lot about the mysterious C Street House in Washington, D.C., the house's connection to the shadowy group called "the Fellowship," and its list of ethically tainted ex-residents. In this Sunday editorial, the New York Times reminds us of some of those former residents:

The $1.8 million townhouse came to public notice last year when three recent tenants — Senator John Ensign; Mark Sanford, the South Carolina governor and former congressman; and former Representative Charles Pickering Jr. — were embroiled in marital infidelity scandals. Mr. Pickering was accused by his estranged wife of entertaining a mistress at the house.

Of course, the ethical concerns swirling around Ensign and Sanford go well beyond infidelity itself.

In this TV report last week, CREW's Melanie Sloan was interviewed about C Street House. The Times editorial agrees with CREW and with a group of Ohio clergy that has filed a lawsuit challenging the C Street House's right to have a tax exemption:

The C Street Center does not offer the public services, religious teachings and ecclesiastical structure of a church. It also does not have to reveal its source of income to the I.R.S., including what individuals, corporations or political groups might subsidize the place.

Family values, human frailty and forgiveness are the stuff of spiritual counseling that evangelical tenants claim goes on privately inside the C Street Center. All well and good, but that does not make a church of a boarding house nor require a tithing of taxpayers.

CREW today sent a letter to C-SPAN chairman and CEO Brian Lamb, asking that his network not air tomorrow’s National Prayer Breakfast, or at least properly identify the event’s sponsor as the shadowy religious organization known as “the Fellowship” or “the Family.”

The National Prayer Breakfast is often misconstrued by the public as an official government event, a mistake reinforced by the plethora of presidential seals throughout the room, a yearly presidential address, and an organizing committee of members of Congress. In reality, the event is a recruiting and networking tool for the Family – a cult-like religious organization that has pushed an unorthodox brand of Christianity within powerful political, military and economic circles around the world for 50 years.

The Family is linked – via its infamous C Street House – to highly unethical members of Congress, including Sens. John Ensign (R-NV) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), and former Rep. “Chip” Pickering (R-MS). The organization’s members have also been behind the deplorable Ugandan anti-gay legislation calling for the death penalty for anyone convicted of having gay sex.

CREW’s executive director, Melanie Sloan, said:

“The mere fact that C-SPAN, which is dedicated to political coverage, broadcasts the breakfast contributes to the notion that it is an official government event. Viewers see images of a ballroom filled with presidential paraphernalia and high-ranking government officials, and the words ‘National Prayer Breakfast’ appearing on the bottom of their screens. By airing this, C-SPAN may be unwittingly contributing to the false perception the breakfast is government-sponsored and sanctioned. At a minimum, C-SPAN should label the event as sponsored by the Family and provide some context so viewers can fully appreciate what they are seeing: our top government leaders lending legitimacy to a shadowy, intolerant religious organization.”

Today’s letter follows a letter to the president and congressional leadership on Monday calling for a boycott of the event. Click here to read CREW’s letter to C-SPAN, click here to read CREW’s letter from Monday.

Inside the Beltway, the term "ethics enforcement" has almost become an oxymoron over the past decade. For this reason, it is good news to hear that FBI agents have begun interviewing people connected to the scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).

So begins this blog post by CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. In her remarks at Huffington Post, Ms. Sloan explains why Sen. Ensign's conduct needs to be fully investigated.

Click here to read the entire post -- and feel free to leave a comment if the spirit moves you.

Amid reports that the FBI has started interviewing people connected to him, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) may have welcomed supportive words from just about any elected official. But probably not from Jim Gibbons, his state's deeply unpopular governor.

For starters, Gibbons has been ethically tainted himself. Within months of taking office as Nevada's governor, Gibbons was the subject of an FBI investigation. And accusations of sexual infidelity and sexual assault have swirled around Gov. Gibbons.

Although the FOX News station in Las Vegas described Gov. Gibbons as "quick to come to Ensign's defense," the governor's words were not as bold or encouraging as Sen. Ensign could have hoped for. Instead of saying he felt confident that Ensign would be exonerated of any wrongdoing, Gov. Gibbons offered comments like this:

"We’ll see where the chips come out and end up."

Gibbons added this gem:

"John's a wonderful friend and I believe in his heart he was doing what he thought was right. And it’s unfortunate that it crossed maybe a line or two."

When your so-called defenders say you've "crossed maybe a line or two," that's not very helpful.

Click here to read CREW's statement on the revelation that the FBI is investigating Sen. Ensign.

Politico reports today that the FBI has begun interviewing witnesses in the scandal involving Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).

In light of this revelation, Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), issued a statement:

"It is not surprising that the FBI is investigating because there is reason to believe Sen. Ensign was involved in at least two felonies: conspiring to help former aide Doug Hampton violate the lobbying ban, and failing to report to the FEC the $96,000 severance payment made to Cynthia Hampton.

"The fact that the FBI is investigating makes clear that no one -- not even a powerful United States senator -- is above the law. It is time for him to resign."

For copies of the letters that CREW sent last year raising serious ethics concerns about Ensign, click here.

In this video clip, Sloan tells ABC's "Nightline" why Ensign's behavior is so troubling.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has kept quiet (at least publicly) about the scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). But when asked this week during a TV interview why he had not voiced any outrage about Sen. Ensign's actions, Steele gave a very lame answer to the Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston:

"I don't have any outrage (about the Ensign scandal) because that's not what I'm paid to look at right now. I'm paid to look at winning (election) races."

In other words, the only "E" word that matters to Steele is elections, not ethics.

Click here to view a video clip of Steele's comments, courtesy of TPM and ThinkProgress.

Click here to find out why Sen. Ensign was named by CREW as one of the 15 "most corrupt members of Congress." In case you missed it, the Ensign scandal was also named one of CREW's Top Ten Ethics Scandals in 2009.

According to National Journal, ethically-tainted Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) will try to “reintroduce himself” to Nevadans next week as he hosts the first of two forums on health care reform. Perhaps the senator is hoping that tea-party types will be so focused on denouncing health care reform that they’ll never dream of asking questions about the ethical concerns surrounding him.

Let’s hope that at least some of the people who show up at these forums will be as willing as CNN’s Rick Sanchez was to ask the tough questions about Sen. Ensign’s behavior vis-à-vis the Doug Hampton scandal.

Sen. Ensign's "reintroduction" faces obstacles. According to National Journal:

Ensign's poll numbers in NV are worse than Sen. Harry Reid's (D), and only slightly better than continually-embattled Gov. Jim Gibbons (R).

Click here to hear CREW's Melanie Sloan summarize the serious ethical concerns surrounding Sen. Ensign.

The new year's eve fireworks began hours early -- when CNN's Rick Sanchez conducted a live interview with Senator John Ensign (R-NV) on the afternoon of Dec. 31. Not surprisingly, the senator did his best to dodge Sanchez's questions about Ensign's ethics controversy.

(Click here to listen to CREW's Melanie Sloan summarize on ABC's "Nightline" the serious ethical concerns surrounding Sen. Ensign.)

Sen. Ensign was clearly annoyed at having to field such questions on CNN, but kudos to Sanchez for holding his ground. At one point, Sanchez told the Sen. Ensign that it's "fair for a journalist to ask a standing senator" to respond to these questions.

Sen. Ensign repeatedly ducked Sanchez's questions by stating, "I commented all I was going to comment on that."

Sanchez respectfully pushed back:

"You're saying you've answered all these questions. I'm not sure that's true, senator."

It's nice to see that some corners of the news media are unwilling to sit on their hands and let the Ensign scandal float by them.

Click here to view a lengthy clip of the CNN-Ensign interview.

As 2009 draws to a close, CREW is looking back at what quickly became a busy year for ethical lapses in our federal government. Today, CREW released its list of the Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2009 – a roundup of the year’s most outrageous government scandals.

The unranked list includes:

Believe us – we had a plethora of scandals to choose from.

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, explained CREW’s hopes for the new year:

It would be nice if 2010 proved to be the year politicians put Americans’ interests above their own, but I won’t hold my breath.

Click here (PDF) to read CREW’s Top Ten Ethics Scandals of 2009.