From this morning's Earlybird:

• Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., arranged for Douglas Hampton, husband of his mistress, "to join a political consulting firm and lined up several donors as his lobbying clients, according to interviews, e-mail messages and other records. Mr. Ensign and his staff then repeatedly intervened on the companies' behalf with federal agencies, often after urging from Mr. Hampton," the New York Times reports. "Several experts say those activities may have violated an ethics law that bars senior aides from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts."

• "Organized labor is turning to House Democrats to oppose a tax on high-cost insurance plans that is under consideration to help pay for healthcare reform," The Hill reports. "Unions are blasting the idea in the Senate Finance Committee bill, as many union members would be affected because they either have expensive insurance to cover dangerous professions or negotiated for better benefits instead of higher wages."

• "Still jittery that lawmakers might revive a proposal to tax sugary beverages to help offset costs of a healthcare overhaul, a coalition of beverage and food makers vows to continue a multimillion-dollar anti-tax advertising campaign until the bitter end," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "None of the current House or Senate drafts of healthcare legislation contain language that would impose a surcharge on sodas or alcohol to pay for major healthcare initiatives, but an industry alliance, Americans Against Food Taxes, continues to devote resources to maintain public awareness of its opposition."

• "Leaders at smaller trade groups worry they could be particularly hurt by a new White House ban on lobbyists serving on advisory committees," The Hill reports. "They argue that their organizations do not have the staff or the money to hire more employees to get around the new rule. Executives at these associations often do double duty, managing the trade group and lobbying on their industry's behalf."