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The Clown Show Forges On
It's hard for a Republican to compete with Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin in the weirdness sweepstakes these days, but Sen. John Ensign is working hard to grab the spotlight back.
Yesterday, I thought that Ensign was doing pretty well on the comic relief front when his pal Sen. Tom Coburn, who has apparently been counseling him about how to handle his messy private life, informed reporters that he would refuse to testify about what he told Ensign. "I was counseling him as a physician and as an ordained deacon," he said. "That is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody." Coburn, of course, is an Ob/Gyn.
But then it got better — and less comic. As we all know, Ensign was having an affair with Cindy Hampton, the wife of one of his former aides, and yesterday we learned that Ensign got his parents to pay $96,000 in hush money to the Hamptons. Why $96,000? According to Ensign's lawyer, his mother and father gave $12,000 apiece to Cindy Hampton, her husband, Doug, and two of their children in the form of a single check. Hilzoy piles on:
$96,000 is a lot of money. Interestingly, it is precisely the amount you can give as a gift without having to report it to the IRS, multiplied by eight: one gift of $12,000 from each parent to Ensign's lover, her husband, and two of their children. I wonder what the IRS will make of that? I certainly hope that neither of the parents has made use of their children's money, or done anything else to suggest that this was all one big gift split up to avoid paying gift tax, or (more likely) having to report the gift. It's bad enough asking your parents to cough up $96,000 to cover up your indiscretions; asking them to violate the tax code and risk prison is a whole lot worse.
On the other hand, if the $96,000 was all one big gift, then I don't have to feel so bad for the one Hampton child who mysteriously got no gift at all. (There are three. I believe the oldest is 19.) If the gifts were genuine, it might be hard to explain to that third child why his or her siblings just got $24,000 from Mommy's lover's parents while s/he got nothing at all, not to mention why Mommy's lover's parents suddenly started feeling so generous.
Obviously Sarah Palin is now going to have to do something even more bizarre than last week's lakeside press conference if she wants people to start paying attention to her again. I wonder what she'll dream up?
Interesting Point
Hilzoy's point is interesting. Wonder if there's an argument to be made for structuring? Probably not as they didn't give more than 96K in the aggregate.
That would be a hypothetical.
Posing in fetching, come-hither ads for thermal underwear and fluffy sleeping bags in Guns and Ammo?
Chaining herself to the door of a women's-health clinic?
An international fact-finding tour to Honduras and Myanmar?
Jeez, there are so many opportunities, it's no wonder she had to quit her day job!
How about?
Levi's sudden disappearance.
Encore?
I dunno. There's not much short of hiking into Dinali to choke eagles bare-handed that's gonna knock Ensign from his perch now.
I don't know about that
It wasn't that long ago we thought nothing could be nuttier than a governor vanishing for a week so that he could canoodle with his mistress in Argentine wine bars.
Can you please get some
Can you please get some better talking points. While it's funny that an ob/gyn could be counseling Ensign, it is of course the truth that ob/gyns are doctors as are family physicians as are psychiatrists as are cardiothoracic surgeons.
Which sort of fucking doctor would you allow to be counseling Ensign in order to receive confidentiality without your being a hackass about it?
Personally I give the
Personally I give the benefit of the doubt to all doctors who aren't Coburn. Read a little bit about the guy. That said, his specialty concerning the birds and the bees might be particularly helpful to senators who aren't sure when to unzip their pants.
what kind of doctor?
Maybe the kind who actually, you know, counsels in his capacity as a doctor. Do you think that's what Tom Coburn was doing -- offering counseling and advice *as a physician* rather than as a Senate colleague and fellow Republican? Or do you think that his association with Ensign through their joint membership in the Senate was irrelevant to the case at hand, and that he was offering him purely medical advice -- on his affair??
hackass, indeed.
Palin
Obviously Sarah Palin is now going to have to do something even more bizarre than last week's lakeside press conference if she wants people to start paying attention to her again. I wonder what she'll dream up?
The tart will probably get caught ogling the ass of some 16 year old at a public function.
Even if we assume there's a
Even if we assume there's a reasonable argument that Sen. Coburn was acting as a doctor and clergyman, he's really stretching here. Any claim to legal privilege--whether it's attorney-client, doctor-patient, priest-penitent, whatever--relies on certain well-established elements, one of which is that the advice given was done so in actual confidence. The presence of folks outside the privileged relationship during a particular exchange renders any communication in that context unprivileged.
Mr. Hampton has contended that he was personally present at least once when Coburn advised Ensign to set the Hamptons up. Any advice that Ensign received under those circumstances is simply not privileged by any judicially-recognized standard. If Coburn claims he was acting as doctor and spiritual advisor to Hampton as well, he's still got a problem because Hampton is free to waive whatever privilege might arguably exist whenever he wants.
Privilege can also be compromised when it's abused to protect instructions to commit unlawful activities (as opposed to discussing or confessing such activities that have already taken place). So to the extent any of Coburn's guidance consisted of instructions to take steps in violation of FEC regs, tax laws, etc., privilege shouldn't apply.
Now, whether the Senate Ethics Committee has the stones to press this issue is a different question. But just as a matter of law, Coburn's claim of complete, I-don't-ever-have-to-testify privilege is dubious.
STDs? Menopause? Pregnancy?
STDs? Menopause? Pregnancy? - 'Do you think that's what Tom Coburn was doing -- offering counseling and advice *as a physician* rather than as a Senate colleague and fellow Republican?'
I'll be honest - I doubt very much the conversation(s) weren't political, and yet - I talk to my doctors about a number of things, and when it comes to sex, even the thought that a senator is receiving some sort of hopefully empirically based medical advice is better than trying to imagine former senator Craig actually having condoms in his pocket in the men's room. Though a much stronger public health argument could be made for Coburn to discuss this point with his former colleague or many of his current colleagues, can anyone here imagine that?
Where is Dr. Koop and his condom classes for the young - I yearn for the almost mythical days of the Reagan administration, when taxes were raised and sexual issues were treated with the seriousness that a then invariably fatal disease caused. And where the rules for medical confidentiality were strengthened, after raging battles over the issue, strengthened in a manner designed to provide a better public health result than the alternatives.
Besides, maybe Ensign has a need for confidential medical advice or a second opinion - for example, liquid nitrogen is most definitely contra-indicated for certain wart locations, and trying to avoid shedding viral loads to one's sexual partner is a minimal courtesy, at least among decent people. Some gifts should be declared before they are shared, after all.
100% Innocent
Lest we forget, Fox news had nothing to do with tipping of Ensign that his affair was about to be exposed.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/19/aide-fox-news-did-tip-ensign-...
"A senior aide to Sen. John Ensign confirmed late Friday that FOX News had no contact with the senator's office prior to Tuesday's revelation that Ensign had an affair with a former campaign worker."
See? 100% Innocent. Proof positive, case closed.
I dunno, a shrink?
Well, maybe the OB/GYN friend was giving him medical advice on birth control, or possibly abortion?
And does one have to report giving gifts over $12K per year, or is it the recipient who is responsible for reporting it?
For some reason this is a situation that hasn't come up yet in my personal life, but if anyone wants to give me the money I'd be happy to research the legal requirements . . . I'm just saying.
Tripp
'And does one have to report
'And does one have to report giving gifts over $12K per year, or is it the recipient who is responsible for reporting it?'
Actually, there is a gift tax and there is income tax - it all gets a bit confusing, to put it mildly - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_tax_in_the_United_States
Let's just say that Ensign undoubtedly had discussions with various professionals which also fall under a rubric of fiduciary confidentiality - a term I just made up, but which is available for anyone to use (and no, I'm not searching for prior use).
Can you please get some
Can you please get some better talking points. [...] Which sort of fucking doctor would you allow to be counseling Ensign in order to receive confidentiality without your being a hackass about it?
Trolls are so cute when they try to post arguments on left/liberal blogs using the same sort of language leftists/liberals use on right-wing blogs, as though somehow the two can be treated equivalently, that the left uses the same sort of Fox News-inspired astroturf, or that the two have equally legitimate points of view.
Just makes you want to squeeze their cubby, pus-laden, blood-smeared cheeks.
HTML Idiocy
Oh, and what the fuck kind of comments section allows HTML links, lists, and blockquotes but not bleeding italics?
If It Were In The Form
of many $12000 gifts, you would have to involve two tax years to make reporting avoidance legal. It might be legal.
One big gift would require filing a Gift tax return, and it would count toward the $1 million or so exclusion, basically coming out of Ensign's inheritance.
she's a Thai transsexual named Dolly
Sarah Palin needs to give a press conference to address whether she's a Thai transsexual named Dolly.
Fast, before this gets out of control.
Sarah's Turn
Maybe Sarah will take it upon herself to go "hiking the IdidaRod Trail." And you know there is more to the LuvGuv Sanford tail. Keep the three ring circus going.
gift estate tax
The amount of estate or gift tax one can give to an individual before they have to pay taxes has gone up to $13,000. http://tiny.cc/lRrkQ