The Republican Party’s ongoing Sex Scandal Duel between Erstwhile Presidential Candidates took an uncomfortable turn for John Ensign yesterday, making him the runaway star of the news cycle.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign has acknowledged that his parents paid his mistress and her family $96,000 in April 2008, according to a statement made by his attorney moments ago.

“After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time,” said Paul Coggins, counsel to Ensign.

Look for it to get even more uncomfortable today. That Washington Post story didn’t realize it was omitting a juicy, relevant detail:

In April 2008, Senator John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000.

Why that odd amount of $96,000, you might ask. And if you did, here’s what you might come up with:

$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.

Now, here’s the thing. The Hamptons actually have 3 children, but the eldest is apparently 19. So why weren’t all three children included in the payoff gift? After all, the concern of Ensign’s parents “for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time” presumably doesn’t extend just to 80% of the Hampton family.

The most sensible working hypothesis would seem to be that one child was excluded because a 19-year-old would control their own money. If you’re trying to give Doug and Cindy Hampton a large sum of money through Ensign’s parents that will not have to be reported to the IRS, the best you can do is make two gifts of $12,000 each to each of the Hamptons and their two minor children.

Of course, this awkward arrangement has the drawback of making it rather transparent that this is just a tax dodge. And, as Hilzoy says, if Doug and Cindy Hampton have already “made use of their children’s money”, then things could get a little more uncomfortable for everyone concerned.