Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

After admitting to an affair with a campaign worker, Nevada Senator John Ensign has vacated his post as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.

The resignation was accepted last Wednesday, June 17th by Senate Republican Leader Mitch Connell of Kentucy, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Saying it was the "worst thing I’ve ever done in my life", the senator confessed to having an affair with a woman who worked for his Senate campaign, the report said. The woman was also married to one of Ensign’s aides. The affair had ended last year and the couple is no longer employed in the senator’s office.

Though Ensign gave up the number 4 slot in the GOP leadership, he said he will not resign from his Senate seat and is committed to serving his Nevada constituents, the report also said.

The senator recently caught the ire of Filipino American groups in Las Vegas after saying refusing to support a move to increase the federal benefits of Filipino World War II veterans. He said he does not want to raise the standard of living of war veterans living in the Philippines.

Ensign’s paternal grandfather was born in the Philippines and is half-Filipino, making the Republican Senator one-eighth Filipino.

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published on June 19, 2009 in Asian Journal Las Vegas p. A1 )