You won't have John Ensign to kick around anymore

I saw a tweet from Roll Call's Shira Toeplitzi, and Senator Ensign made it official on his website:

Press Releases
Media
April 21, 2011
ENSIGN TO RESIGN FROM OFFICE

Washington, D.C. - Senator John Ensign today announced his resignation as the 24th United States Senator from the state of Nevada. In a letter to Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow, Senator Ensign will state that his resignation from office is effective as of May 3, 2011.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years," said Ensign. "The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada. I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life.

So now Governor Brian Sandoval has to appoint someone (re: Dean Heller) to that open Senate seat and a special election for the the now open congressional district 2 seat must be called in 180 days.

Why did this all happen, when only a month ago Senator Ensign said he'd finish his term? No one knows for sure. Ensign says it was to protect his family, but if he really cared for his family, he would've never cheated on his wife then given money and jobs to his mistress and her family.

Maybe Ensign knew the ethics investigation would not go well. If he's no longer a senator, there is no investigation.

Maybe Ensign was pressured by Governor Sandoval (side note: When Harry Reid involves himself in state politics he's called a meddler; when Brian Sandoval does it, he's a strong leader. I hate Nevada politics sometimes.) to get out because Dean Heller knows he can not defeat Congresswoman Shelley Berkley on his own merits. Being an incumbent adds some panache to your campaign, I'm told. Don't know if I believe that.

Now, who will run for #NV02? Sheila Leslie is the best option in my very humble opinion. I hear Debbie Smith is interested. And Jill Derby (two-time #NV02 loser) has been popping up at party events lately. She might want it too.

So much drama.

My dear friend Rhett sums it all up. I hope the Dems are smart enough to use this:

John Ensign resigning is a political stunt for Republicans to try to retain his Senate seat! First you cheat on your wife, now you cheat on Nevadans!

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Laura

Oh, the irony

I've long complained that I have no congressman.

I live in Clark County but have the misfortune of living in Congressional District 2, the seat currently held by Dean Heller.

A CD2 resident since 2008, I've met my congressman exactly zero times. In the past three plus years I've gone to Washington, DC at least a dozen times and each request I've sent to his office to meet with him or to receive gallery passes has been ignored. Going to his constituent office in Las Vegas renders similar results. Usually no one is there. Just a locked office, lights off. Your tax dollars hard at work.

Today I caught Jane Ann Morrison's column in the Las Vegas Review Journal where Heller defends himself against the notion that he's become more conservative and less accessible.

The timing couldn't be more perfect.

I planned on going to Heller's office this morning with some seniors to ask him to stop threatening to kill the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, medicare protections and benefits with it. His office must know this column is coming out today. They surely had a staffer there so as not to prove the columnist's point. Or so I thought.

Waiting at security of Alan Bible building, I browsed the wall of the world's most evil terrorists (why isn't Bin Laden up there anymore?) and I could hear the security guard picking up the phone, dialing, waiting, hanging up, dialing, waiting...for almost a full minute. Finally, he said no one was in the office, so no one was going upstairs.

I really wish I knew who else was in the building so I could have told a little white lie, gone up and taken a picture outside his darkened office, on a weekday, at 10am.

Granted, Ms Morrison was mostly referring to accessibility of Heller to the press (more important than constituent accessibility, right?) in her column, but as I said above, as a constituent, no matter how hard I tried, I've had absolutely no access to my congressman.

Heller says he has a lot of work to do in Clark County if he wants to win Ensign's newly vacated seat (what happens if Ensign retires early and Sandoval appoints himself to that seat? No more election or Heller?) so far, he's off to a really bad start.

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Dean Heller announces he's running for Senate; Clark County licks its chops

I have the misfortune of living in Clark County's 2nd congressional district.

I say misfortune because my congressman, Dean Heller, never comes to this part of the district. His Las Vegas district office is rarely open. Yes Nevada, your tax dollars are paying rent on a congressional office that is supposed to provide constituent services that usually sits empty, doors locked. He lost my assembly district in 2010 to challenger Nancy Price (Price had 63% of the vote in my precinct) and the Nevada Democratic Party didn't even try to win this election (no calling, no canvassing). Jill Derby beat Heller in Clark County in 2008 in an election where NV Dems actually put forth a little bit of effort.

I'm not sure this is going to be a cake walk for Heller. This will be the first time he faces the full force of NV Dems and its activists, including an assist from OFA and President Obama at the top of the ticket. And I know I'm not the only CD2-Clark resident who has been saving up Heller's racist anti-immigrant mailers, fact-less constituent letters and tax payer-funded official congressional correspondence that seem to only come out when he's running for re-election and look a lot like a campaign mailer.

But he's decided to run for US Senate anyway.

Here's the email I received today. The opening line is full of lulz.

Also included a screen print so you know the mangled first sentence was in the actual email.

Laura,

Your past support has meant a lot me and for this reason I wanted you to be among the first to know that I am running for the United States Senate.

It is difficult to see so many people hurting in my home state. As many of you know, I grew up in Nevada and my wife Lynne and I have raised our family here. We see the tough choices our friends, neighbors, and family members are making every day and I see how poor decisions in Washington are impacting their lives.

This is not the first time that Nevadans have endured tough times and it won't be the last, but I know that there are better days ahead.

Our strength as a state and a nation is bigger than the troubles of today. However, it is also incumbent upon us to effect change in difficult times to create a better future.

As families across Nevada struggle to pay their bills and fight to keep their homes, Barack Obama and his beltway allies are proposing record spending that will add to America's job-killing debt from a stratospheric $14 trillion to a staggering $20 trillion.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can change the course we are on by taking action today. The choices we make can lead to big changes in our lives and the lives of our loved ones. This is a crossroad that will not only change Nevada, but significantly change the direction of our nation for years to come.

If we are to turn our economy around, we must remove impediments that have caused economic stagnation and the inability of businesses to create new jobs. Not continue with business as usual.

We cannot ignore our nation's very serious fiscal problems and continue to allow Obama's big government job killing agenda to continue.

I have long been an opponent of reckless government spending and continue to support a balanced budget. In 2008, I stood up to former President Bush, then Senator Obama, and Washington special interests and said no to the Wall Street bailout. In fact, I was the only member of the Nevada delegation to vote against the Wall Street bailout, not once but twice. My view then, just as it is now, is that debt fueled bailouts only hurts long-term economic growth and places taxpayers on the hook for the excesses of Wall Street.

Now I want to take this fight to the United States Senate.

Congress can no longer refuse to make tough fiscal decisions and stick our children and grandchildren with the massive debt that has been allowed to accrue for far too long. We must take control of government spending to instill long-term economic growth in our country.

There are those who believe government spending is not the problem and we should simply raise taxes and treat the American public as an ATM. Let me assure you that I believe Washington has a spending problem—not a revenue problem—and that tax increases are not the answer especially in our current economic environment.

Just like many families across our state, Lynne and I sit around the table and discuss the direction of our country, the future of our children, and the needs of the people of our great state who have endured in this struggling economy for far too long.

It is time to move beyond the failed policies of the past and create real economic growth in Nevada.

I know that the tough times are not yet over. However, I also know that there are better times ahead.

Together we can move our country in a new direction, get Nevadans working again, and create a more prosperous future for us and our children.

It has been an honor to serve you and our great state in the House. I hope I can count on your continued support. With your help, we can bring a new conservative majority to the United States Senate.

Sincerely,
Dean
Dean Heller

UPDATE: Updated to correct Price's winning percentage from 62% to 63%

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Laura
laurakmmartin@gmail.com