Sen. John Ensign and Daddy's Money

When U.S. Sen. Ensign confessed to his parents that he was having an affair with his best friend's wife -- who was also his wife's best friend -- Mike and Sharon Ensign reportedly wrote checks to their son's mistress and her family totaling $96,000. Ensign Sr.'s involvement surprises no one in Nevada. The billionaire casino mogul has been in the background of his son's political career since the start.

Until 2004, Mike Ensign "was CEO and chairman of the board of Mandalay Resort Group, one of the largest hotel-casino companies in America," Denton writes at The Daily Beast. She says that "under Ensign Sr.'s direction, the empire grew to include the Mandalay, Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus, Monte Carlo, and Four Seasons hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as casinos in the Nevada towns of Reno, Laughlin, Jean, and Henderson, the Gold Strike in Tunica, Miss., a riverboat gambling operation in Illinois, and a casino in Detroit. On behalf of Mandalay's shareholders, Ensign negotiated the landmark sale of the company to MGM Mirage -- creating the largest gambling firm in the world. The sale made multimillionaires of the entire Ensign family, including the senator."

Although the senator -- called "Casino Johnny" in Las Vegas -- has "gone to great lengths to distance himself from his deep and enduring gambling roots," Denton writes that Ensign is "the first Nevada casino baby to ascend to the Senate." He is the stepson of one of the state's leading gambling figures, and has also been in the gambling business most of his life, serving as general manager of his family's casinos, and financing his political campaigns with casino money.

The gifts from his parents to Cindy Hampton and her family "are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family," according to the senator's Texas attorney, but in Las Vegas the payoff is seen for what it is: casino business as usual.