If you're like me, you may have been wondering why the payout to Sen. Ensign's mistress's family was $96,000. It seems like such an odd number--why not just round it up to $100K?
It turns out that Sen. Ensign's parents (the payors of the payout) are frugal people, and well-advised by their tax folks. Under IRS law, gifts of up to $12,000 per person can be given annually tax-free (http://turbotax.intuit.com/...). So both Mr. and Mrs. Ensign gave $12K each to each of Mr. and Mrs. Hampton and two of their children = $12K + $12K + $12K + $12K = $48K x 2 = $96K.
On the one hand, it provides cover for Ensign's argument that
... his parents made the gifts "out of concern of the well-being of the longtime family friends during a difficult time." http://www.lasvegassun.com/...
On the other hand, given that Doug Hampton claims that Sen. Coburn was suggesting a number as high as $1MM to make this go away (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...), the Ensign family's penny-wise ways may have been just a bit too clever for their own good...