Sen. Tom Coburn roundly dismissed the bombshell ethics report involving former Sen. John Ensign's (R-Nev.) sex scandal, which portrayed the Oklahoma Republican as an intermediary trying to negotiate a seven-figure settlement between Ensign and his mistress's husband.
"That's a totally inaccurate characterization of what happened," Coburn said on a taped interview of C-SPAN's "Newsmakers," which is set to air Sunday. "What the story you hear is not an accurate reflection of what happened."One of the most bewildering questions in recent years is how Tom Coburn came to be considered some sort of wise man and statesman who can be counted upon for good advice and counsel. President Obama always talking about him as if he were some special GOP sage who had real insights to offer.[...]
Coburn and Ensign lived together at a Christian townhouse on Capitol Hill in Feb. 2008 when Doug Hampton — just two months after Ensign’s extramarital affair with his wife Cindy Hampton began — asked Coburn to help bring the relationship to an end. Coburn was unsuccessful in at least two attempts to do so.
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In the C-SPAN interview, Coburn said he simply passed along the message to Ensign. He also said the Ethics Committee has not contacted him since he testified before the panel earlier this year -- and he had no regrets about his role in the episode, saying he would do "exactly" the same thing again.
"We put two families back together with multiple children -- both marriages are stable right now," Coburn said. "I'm proud of what I did and the way I did it. There's nothing unethical about what I did."
Cindy Hampton, however, has recently filed for divorce, the ethics report said, while the Justice Department indicted Doug Hampton for breaking federal lobbying restrictions in the wake of the Ensign scandal.
The Republican Senate candidate in Oklahoma warns of "rampant" lesbianism in some schools in the state in a tape released Monday by his Democratic opponent.I know the standards have been drastically lowered, but this person is a full-fledged nut.The remark by Republican Tom Coburn drew a skeptical response from state educators.
"I don't believe that," said Keith Ballard, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. He said the group's attorneys "haven't said anything to me about that."
In the tape released by the campaign of Brad Carson, the Democratic candidate, Coburn says a campaign worker from Coalgate told him that "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that's happened to us?"
Joe McCulley, school superintendent in Coalgate, chuckled when asked about Coburn's remark.
"He knows something I don't know. We have not identified anything like that. We have not had to deal with any issues on that subject - ever," McCulley said.