Ensign could also be vulnerable to questions

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(Free-Press-Release.com) April 22, 2011 -- The Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission investigated and then dropped cases against Ensign with little explanation. The ethics committee, however, named a special counsel in February to look into the matter.In his resignation notice Thursday, Ensign said that appointment shook him because he had hoped the investigation would end with the Justice Department.

"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.Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Ethics Committee, and GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson, the committee's vice chairman, said in a statement Thursday that Ensign "made the appropriate decision" in stepping down."The Senate Ethics Committee has worked diligently for 22 months on this matter and will complete its work in a timely fashion," the senators said.

Embattled Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada announced Thursday that he will resign amid an ongoing ethics investigation, a move that could spare him from the continued embarrassment of the closely watched probe.Ensign insisted he's done nothing wrong, but said he could no longer expose his family and constituents to the intense focus on his extramarital affair with a former staffer and the ethical allegations clouding that relationship."For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great," he said in a statement.Ensign said he will send an official resignation letter to Vice President Joe Biden who like to visit http://www.onlinenewshop.com/jackets-barbour-jackets-c-71_99.html on Friday. The resignation would be effective May 3.

john Ensign     statement