GOP Senator arrested in men's room for trying to be the head man

[Bill 213]

Apparently L-Dog Craig will be resigning this next week.




By JOHN MILLER and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writers
1 hour, 2 minutes ago
 


BOISE, Idaho - Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men's room, Republican officials said Friday.

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Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, four state GOP officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Word of the resignation came four days after the disclosure that Craig had pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his June 11 arrest during a lewd-conduct investigation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The three-term Republican senator had maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.

Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter appeared Friday to have already settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

Craig's spokesman, Dan Whiting, had said earlier that the senator would announce his career plans Saturday. The spokesman would not say whether Craig intended to resign.

Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, when he declared defiantly at a Boise news conference: "I am not gay. I never have been gay." But Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support.

There has been virtually none publicly.

Asked Friday at the White House if the senator should resign, President Bush said nothing and walked off stage.

Republican officeholders and party leaders maintained a steady drumbeat of actions and words aimed at persuading Craig to vacate his Senate seat.

GOP lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts on Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig's actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig complied with the request.

With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, Craig said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty "in hopes of making it go away."

Craig, 62, has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and was up for re-election next year.

Republican officeholders and party leaders wanted Craig to give up his seat in the Senate as soon as possible. Their preference, according to several officials, was for a successor to be selected and ready to take the oath of office when the Senate returns from its summer vacation next week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Craig's conduct "unforgivable" and acknowledged that many in the rank and file thought Craig should resign.

Republicans, worried about the scandal's effect on next year's election, suffered a further setback Friday when veteran Virginia Sen. John Warner announced he will retire rather than seek a sixth term. Democrats captured Virginia's other Senate seat from the GOP in the 2006 election and have sought to line up former Gov. Mark Warner to run if the seat became open.

The contest for control of the next Senate was already tilted against Republicans, who must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot next year, before the Craig scandal and Warner's announcement.

With a GOP candidate other than Craig, Republicans would stand a much better chance of keeping his Idaho seat in 2008. Idaho is one of the nation's most reliably Republican states. The GOP controls the statehouse and all four seats in Congress, and Bush carried the state in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote.

Risch, the lieutenant governor, served for seven months as governor last year after former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was named interior secretary. Risch had said earlier he was interested in Craig's Senate seat if Craig did not seek re-election in 2008.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, also had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Craig, but the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because Craig has not resigned, said Otter would choose Risch.

Mark Warbis, a spokesman for Otter, said the governor would not comment until he hears from Craig.

Craig served in the House before winning his first Senate term in 1990 and compiled a strongly conservative voting record.

On Thursday, the Minneapolis airport authorities released a tape recording of Craig's interrogation minutes after he encountered a plainclothes officer in an adjacent stall in an airport restroom.

Craig and airport police Sgt. Dave Karsnia disagreed about virtually everything that had occurred ? including whether there was a piece of paper on the floor of the stall and the meaning of the senator's hand gestures.

Craig denied that he had used foot and hand gestures to signal interest in a sexual encounter.

"I'm not gay. I don't do these kinds of things," Craig told the officer. "You shouldn't be out to entrap people."

Karsnia accused Craig of lying and grew exasperated with his denials.

"Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we're going down the tubes," Karsnia said.

[SLCPUNK]

Larry Craig Police Interrogation Audio

The officer really reads him the riot act around 7:00 or so.

[GeraldFord]

Being gay is about the worst possible offense you can commit as a Republican. Police could have found cut up bodies in his freezer and his support in the GOP wouldn't have eroded as quickly as it did for trying to score some cock in a bathroom. 

[fuckin crazy]

Being gay is about the worst possible offense you can commit as a Republican. Police could have found cut up bodies in his freezer and his support in the GOP wouldn't have eroded as quickly as it did for trying to score some cock in a bathroom.

I don't know, one could be a closet commie.

[GeraldFord]

Being gay is about the worst possible offense you can commit as a Republican. Police could have found cut up bodies in his freezer and his support in the GOP wouldn't have eroded as quickly as it did for trying to score some cock in a bathroom.

I don't know, one could be a closet commie.

That is like sooooooo 1953.

[FunkyMonkey]

Craig rethinking resignation, spokesman says

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman, in Idaho's capital.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign September 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight -- and stay in the Senate."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/04/craig.reconsider.ap/index.html

[fuckin crazy]

Being gay is about the worst possible offense you can commit as a Republican. Police could have found cut up bodies in his freezer and his support in the GOP wouldn't have eroded as quickly as it did for trying to score some cock in a bathroom.

I don't know, one could be a closet commie.

That is like sooooooo 1953.

I should have put a smiley afterward. what I meant was that some Repubs would be more upset  if one of their own were discovered to be communist, than if one were found to have "cut up bodies in his freezer".

[The Dog]

Craig rethinking resignation, spokesman says

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman, in Idaho's capital.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign September 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight -- and stay in the Senate."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/04/craig.reconsider.ap/index.html

Craig is doing a great job of keeping this story alive.

[GeraldFord]

Craig reversal angers GOP colleagues

By: Carrie Budoff Brown and Jim VandeHei
Sep 4, 2007 09:53 PM EST
 


Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) stunned Senate colleagues with his decision to reconsider.
Photo by AP
 
Just when Republicans thought things could not get much worse for their scandal-stained party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig leaked word Tuesday night that he is reconsidering his abrupt plan to resign from the Senate in the wake of his arrest in a police sex sting operation.

Top Republican strategists were neither delighted nor amused by the senator's decision to rethink retirement after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct following his arrest in a Minnesota airport men's bathroom.

GOP Senate sources said Tuesday night that Craig's staff was trying to tamp down the story because Craig still intends to resign but wants to retain the option of fighting the charges with a newly assembled, high-powered legal team.

On Saturday, Craig said he would resign at the end of this month.

A senior GOP Senate strategist said Republican leaders want him gone now and will press for him to keep his promise to resign. The strategist warned Craig is "losing any goodwill built up among his colleagues," adding, "He is simply a fish out of water, floundering right now to get his last gasp of political air."

"It simply defies reality," said a Senate GOP aide. "You can't make this up even if you are heavily medicated. The American people heard from Larry Craig that he would resign, and using the word 'intent' as a back door doesn't work with them."

But Tuesday night, spokesman Dan Whiting said Craig might not resign if he is cleared of the charges before Sept. 30. Legal experts said it is doubtful Craig will be cleared because he pleaded guilty to the charge.

The unexpected announcement caught fellow GOP senators ? and members of Craig's own crisis management team ? mostly by surprise and threatened to draw negative attention to the party at a time when it is preparing for big fights over the budget and the Iraq war.

"I think the episode is over," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said during a press conference earlier in the day. "We will have a new senator from Idaho at some point in the next month or so, and we are going to move on."

McConnell wasn't the only one left in the dark about Craig's apparent new strategy. Craig has hired a team of lawyers and crisis experts to push ahead with a strategy aimed at repairing the three-term senator's reputation.

Washington attorney Stanley Brand said Tuesday that the Senate Ethics Committee would receive a letter arguing that it should drop any plans to pursue an investigation into Craig's arrest in a men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"I don't think the Senate ought to be policing misdemeanor offenses that don't have anything to do with their office," Brand said. "They would be very busy."

Senate Republican leaders called for an ethics investigation last Tuesday into Craig's June 11 arrest and Aug. 8 guilty plea.

But Craig has since announced his resignation, making a probe moot, Brand said.

"I am taking it as part of the good-faith exchange of his having resigned and sparing everybody the difficult questions I am raising," Brand said. But now the resignation might be moot, too.

The GOP Senate strategist said senators are frustrated they will now spend another day or more deflecting questions about Craig and his bathroom behavior. McConnell got a taste of what's to come at a press conference he held Tuesday.

Why, he was asked, did the GOP leadership seek an ethics investigation of Craig while giving a pass to Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) after he acknowledged in July that his phone number was among those on the
client list of an alleged prostitution ring?

"No charges have been made," McConnell said of Vitter. "And it appears whatever might have occurred, occurred before this individual came to the Senate, therefore raising serious questions as to whether the Senate has jurisdiction over it.

"The situation last week was, there was something admitted to; the legal case was, in effect, over," McConnell continued. "The only question was what the attitude was going to be in the Senate regarding
the admission that was made. It is clearly distinguishable."

McConnell was pressed again: Were the responses different because the Craig incident involved alleged homosexual activity?

"This had to do with the admission of responsibility as opposed to charges or suggestions," McConnell said.

He rejected suggestions that the Craig and Vitter incidents, coupled with the FBI raid of the home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in late July as part of a federal corruption probe, have contributed to Congress' sub-basement approval ratings or soiled the Republican Party brand.

"The overwhelming majority of members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat, are honorable people," McConnell said.

But the honorable thing for Craig to do, the strategist said, is simply disappear.
 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5652.html

[SLCPUNK]

LOL, leave it to this guys to keep his hat in the ring. I hope he stays in, it will represent the underlying problem with this group (Although the remainder of his party are wishing he would go away)...hubris.

[fuckin crazy]

I don't think he will stay in. He will be shown how damaging it will be to the party. If he does, it demonstrates his contempt for the party that he has for so long, been a part.

[SLCPUNK]

The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans will be at least resign when they're caught.

 

[GeraldFord]

Craig supporters call for boycott of Minneapolis airport
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. -- Supporters of Sen. Larry Craig with the American Land Rights Association are calling for a boycott of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport.

The Battle Ground (Washington) based association says airport police who arrested the senator in a men's room sex sting are responsible for weakening private property rights in the West. Craig is a Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The American Land Rights Association, which has an office in Washington, D-C, advocates for the use of federal lands and against what it calls federal "land grabs."

The association says the airport should apologize to Craig for what it calls "ambushing" the senator.

Craig is trying to withdraw his guilty plea in the Minnesota case, and if he can do that he would change his mind about resigning.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Craig_Land_Rights.html

[JMack]

Hey Hey All He's doing is trying to keep his seat or perhaps he's just....stalling.? There's no reason to start stomping your feet over it because we know where that will lead.? Now that's a mouth full.

[fuckin crazy]

advocates for the use of federal lands
 

I wonder for what purpose they want to use the lands?

[SLCPUNK]

Craig supporters call for boycott of Minneapolis airport
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. -- Supporters of Sen. Larry Craig with the American Land Rights Association are calling for a boycott of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport.

The Battle Ground (Washington) based association says airport police who arrested the senator in a men's room sex sting are responsible for weakening private property rights in the West. Craig is a Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The American Land Rights Association, which has an office in Washington, D-C, advocates for the use of federal lands and against what it calls federal "land grabs."

The association says the airport should apologize to Craig for what it calls "ambushing" the senator.

Craig is trying to withdraw his guilty plea in the Minnesota case, and if he can do that he would change his mind about resigning.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Craig_Land_Rights.html

Protesters rush to support Craig...

[JMack]

advocates for the use of federal lands
 

I wonder for what purpose they want to use the lands?

I can't even figure out the associations real purpose because of the spintering, let alone why the group is in the fore front standing up for the Senator?? It's a real whirling dervish of a group...Whatever suits their needs I guess.? How much funding do these groups get from the govt. and do they really serve a purpose?? Whatever the political action or advocating may be how many really deserve funding?  Maybe none of them do?

[fuckin crazy]

Really if one takes Sen. Craig's hypocrisy out of the equation, he was/is being treated very poorly. There are a lot of Congressmen who have done a lot worse and suffered far less.

[freedom78]

Really if one takes Sen. Craig's hypocrisy out of the equation, he was/is being treated very poorly. There are a lot of Congressmen who have done a lot worse and suffered far less.

I agree, and I'm still uncertain as to how they know he was trying to get some IN the bathroom, versus trying to pick up AT the bathroom, to go elsewhere.  How is that established? 

[GeorgeSteele]

I'm still uncertain as to how they know he was trying to get some IN the bathroom, versus trying to pick up AT the bathroom, to go elsewhere.? How is that established??

They couldn't establish that, they only got him on disorderly conduct.