From Baja Arizona on the Coburn from Oklahoma:
Senator Tom Coburn (OK) was at the center of Senator Ensign's negotiations for payments to his mistress and her family, and merits an ethics determination of his own. Much of the investigation is already completed in the course of the Ensign investigation. It is simply a matter of the Senate Ethics Committee making a recommendation regarding Senator Coburn.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) — which filed the initial complaint with the Ethics Committee against Ensign — said Coburn still has some explaining to do. Tom Coburn gets new scrutiny in Ensign scandal - POLITICO.com
http://www.blogforarizona.com/...
And from CREW:
CREW has filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee against Coburn in a bid to find out whether Coburn violated Senate rules when he became involved in negotiations between Ensign and the Hamptons over a potential multi-million-dollar payment from the senator once the affair with Cindy Hampton was over.
Coburn has downplayed his role in those discussions, but several witnesses told the Ethics Committee under oath that Coburn was heavily engaged in those ultimately fruitless talks.
“Contrary to Sen. Coburn’s previous public statements – and even his statements to the ethics committee during the investigation – the senator was centrally involved in the negotiations regarding restitution to the Hamptons,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, in a statement.
http://www.citizensforethics.org/...
And, Oh my! from 2010:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
But I'm sure that Coburn, as dolled up by WaPo, will emerge unscathed:
Tom Coburn is a Southern Baptist deacon, a family man married to a former Miss Oklahoma, a white-coated physician back in Muskogee who has delivered more than 4,000 babies and sees patients free of charge every Monday.
Hmmm, a Southern Baptist Senator, obviously, can do no wrong.
Footnote: Don't forget the two volumns by Jeff Sharlet:
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, 2009, and his latest book, C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy, 2010.
Rachel Maddow Footnote (detailed rundown of the Ensign Affair:
http://www.americablog.com/...