John Ensign has announced that he will be resigning from the US Senate in May:

Embattled Sen. John Ensign announced this afternoon he will resign from office, effective May 3. The move opens the door for Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to appoint Rep. Dean Heller to finish out the term.

“It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years,” Ensign said in a statement. “The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada. I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life.”

Sun columnist Jon Ralston first reported earlier in the afternoon that Ensign would step down.

Ralston was on Maddow just now and said that the Ethics Committee had just held a secret vote to open a public investigation of his activities, basically f%$#ing his best friend’s wife (both staffers) and paying them off, and this is what precipitated his exit.

I’m going to call my Senators, and ask them to continue the investigation even though he is leaving, he shouldn’t skate, and given that the DoJ under Eric “Place” Holder has dropped their investigation of him.