It’s not much of a surprise to learn — as the Review-Journal reported today — that U.S. Sen. John Ensign gave pay raises to the woman with whom he was having an affair, during that affair. (Neither was the news that the campaigns paid her 19-year-old son for consulting, either.) Although it does raise questions for anybody who ever donated money to Ensign, or will in the future: Is that cash flowing into the pocket of a mistress? That might be something that crosses the minds of future donors, too.

But this isn’t the first time Ensign has dipped into private funds to keep a damaging political secret from coming to light. Back in 1998, then-political reporter Jane Ann Morrison penned a piece for the R-J about Ensign secretly paying off the debts of a woman who had committed welfare fraud.

After airing political ad in which Ensign touted his affiliation with Big Brothers-Big Sisters — and his mentoring of then 10-year-old Donzale Butler — it was revealed that Butler’s mother, Rhonda, was wanted in California on welfare fraud charges. She’d apparently received nearly $4,000 in food stamps while living in San Diego, benefits for which she was ineligible. An arrest warrant had been issued.

She initially claimed to Morrison that her mother had loaned her more than $3,500 to pay off the outstanding balance, but later confessed that Ensign gave her the money after the controversy broke. “John paid it off for me,” she said. “We signed an agreement I’d pay him $50 a month.”

Ironically, Rhonda Butler said it was Darlene Ensign, the senator’s longsuffering wife, who insisted she tell the truth about the source of the funds.

Ensign drew fire for the ad, which then-opponent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said exploited Ensign’s participation in Big Brothers-Big Sisters for political gain. At the time, Ensign had been involved in the group for about 18 months.

Reid went on to defeat Ensign by a mere 428 votes in that race. Two years later, Ensign defeated attorney Ed Bernstein for Nevada’s other Senate seat, left open by the retirement of incumbent Richard Bryan. Since then, Reid and Ensign have become fast friends, with an agreement between them that they will not attack each other publicly.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that Ensign made calls to help Doug Hampton find jobs at the same time he was carrying on an affair with Hampton’s wife. One call went to November Inc., a company run by longtime Ensign political consultant Mike Slanker. Another may have gone to Allegiant Air, an Ensign campaign contributor.

UPDATE 2: Ensign’s office defends the payments to his mistress, his mistress’s husband, and their son as totally legitimate and perfectly above-board. She took on additional work responsibilities at Ensign’s campaign and PAC, the statement says. And by “additional work responsibilities,” we’re pretty sure they mean … well, you see where we were going.