LAS VEGAS - It was the unsaid said.
After Doug Hampton learned his best friend and boss, U.S. Senator John Ensign (Nevada-R), had an affair with Hampton's wife Cindy Hampton, Doug Hampton made demands to be made whole.
Hampton stopped working for the senator and wanted a high paying lobbying job in exchange for his silence about the affair.
In e-mails obtained by the I-Team and later confirmed by the senator, Ensign directly aided in getting Hampton lobbying positions with Allegiant Airlines and NV Energy.
The federal government now says Hampton broke the law by turning right around and lobbying Ensign. A federal grand jury indicted Hampton this week.
The I-Team wanted to know why the senator would help Hampton, knowing the one year ban was in place.
"I recommend a lot of different people for jobs, and every senator does that. It's a perfectly normal thing to do," Ensign said last year. "There is a lobbying ban on everybody who's a highly compensated employee for one year. It's up to the employee to honor that. I expected him to honor that. I operated in what I believed was an ethical fashion, followed the laws, and I expected him to do the same."
"It is up to him. That's the law. The law talks about the person who is leaving," Ensign said.
Ensign's defense may stand. While the senator helped Hampton secure the positions, it's unclear if the senator encouraged him to break the lobbying ban.
In interviews, e-mails and in his actions, Hampton showed little concern for the ban or the legal implications.
Ensign has been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission, however, the Senate Ethics Committee continues to investigate his actions. The senator announced his retirement earlier this month, ending speculation he would run for re-election in 2012.
Now, the man who broke the news of the scandal may end up going to prison.
Neither Hampton's attorney nor the senator's office responded to requests for comment. If convicted, Hampton could face 35 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Doug Hampton
