Ensign apologizes to colleagues in farewell address
By Karoun Demirjian, Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON — When John Ensign came to Congress in 1994, he did so in a rowdy season of Republican renaissance so fraught with bombast that it came to be known as a revolution. Two years ago, when he announced that he’d been having an affair with his campaign staffer and best friend’s wife, the shock waves reverberated so violently that they eventually caused his political career to collapse.
But Monday afternoon, when Ensign took to the Senate floor to say his official farewell, suggest his legacy and offer an apology, his words caused no commotion. Ensign was addressing an almost-empty room.
“The more power and prestige a person achieves, the more arrogant a person can become,” Ensign said from the back row of desks to a few security guards and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, the Senate’s presiding officer. “I was blind to how arrogant and self-centered that I had become … unfortunately, the urge to believe in it was stronger than the power to fight it.”
