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Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, saying he wanted to spare his family the emotional “wear and tear” of an ongoing ethics investigation into an extramarital affair, announced today that he would resign his office.

The resignation will take effect May 3, according to a statement on his website.

Ensign, 53, a veterinarian first elected to the Senate in 2000, said in March that he wouldn’t seek a third term next year.

He had disclosed in June 2009 that he had had an affair with a campaign worker, Cindy Hampton, whose husband, Doug, was an aide on Ensign’s Senate staff. The Justice Department last December said Ensign was no longer a target of a probe into whether a severance payment he made to Cindy Hampton was an illegal campaign contribution.

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics, though, continued looking into allegations stemming from the matter. In February, the ethics panel signaled it was intensifying its probe by hiring an outside counsel to assist in the investigation, which could have led to public hearings. With Ensign’s resignation, the committee will lose its jurisdiction over him.

“While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings,” Ensign said on his website. “For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.”

Ensign’s Parents’ Payment
After the senator acknowledged the affair, Ensign’s parents paid $96,000 to Cindy and Doug Hampton and two of their children. A lawyer for Ensign, Paul Coggins, said in July 2009 that the payment was made “out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time.”

“Given his outrageous conduct, it is unbelievable Senator Ensign was allowed to linger for so long,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “At least the senator will finally be gone and Americans can put this latest politician- behaving-badly behind us.”

Ensign resigned his fourth-ranking post in the Senate Republican leadership after he confirmed the affair.

U.S. Representatives Dean Heller, a Republican, and Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, have already announced their candidacies for the Senate seat.

Appointment Possible
Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican, can name a successor to fill the seat through the end of Ensign’s term and could select Heller, making him the incumbent in next year’s election.

Ensign served two terms in the U.S. House before losing a 1998 Senate race to incumbent Harry Reid, a Democrat, by fewer than 500 votes. He ran successfully for the Senate two years later and was re-elected in 2006.

Reid, now the Senate majority leader, said in a statement that he has “appreciated John’s partnership in working with me to address our state’s needs. He was a strong advocate for Nevada, and worked for many years to improve our state.”

Reid also said, “I know this is a difficult time for the family and I wish them all well as they work through it.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at [e-mail].

To contact the editor responsible for this story: [url]Mark Silva at [e-mail] [url]