[Jack.Kerr]

August 28, 2007
Idaho Senator Says He Did Nothing Wrong
By DAVID STOUT and CARL HULSE
With additional reporting by Jack.Kerr

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 — Senator Larry Craig said today that he regretted his guilty plea in connection with an airport bathroom incident, and accused an Idaho newspaper of hounding him mercilessly in recent months. In a separate but related development, Dallas-Mavs.com political forum followers called for an investigation into charges that Janett_Reno was derelict in his/her duty to report any and all negative stories (of whatever magnitude) regarding Republican politicians. Janett_Reno was unavailable for comment and was rumored to have checked into a rehabilitation facility for an undisclosed gossip addiction, a political objectivity disorder, and to spend more time with his/her family.

“I am not gay, I never have been gay,” Mr. Craig, an Idaho Republican, declared at a brief appearance in Boise with his wife, Suzanne Craig, at his side.

Mr. Craig, 62, apologized for “the cloud placed over Idaho” by his arrest and guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge. But his deepest regret, he said, is that he pleaded guilty when he had done nothing wrong.

The senator said he had chosen to plead guilty without consulting a lawyer, and before telling his family, in the hope that the incident would just “go away” somehow.

“That was a mistake, and I deeply regret it,” he said.

Now, he said, he has retained counsel to decide what to do next. Mr. Craig said he would announce soon whether he will seek a fourth term next year.

Meanwhile, the Senate Republican leadership sought to quarantine the possible political damage arising from Mr. Craig’s troubles, putting out a statement recommending that the Senate Ethics Committee review the incident.

“In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required,” said the statement issued by Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader; Trent Lott of Mississippi, the assistant leader; Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Rerpublican conference leader; Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the policy committee chairwoman, and John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the party’s Senate campaign committee.

Mr. Craig said today that The Idaho Statesman, a daily newspaper based in Boise, had been relentlessly pursuing rumors about his personal life for months, and he implied that the paper’s efforts might have clouded his judgment.

Otherwise, he offered no detailed explanation today for the embarrassing events that began with his arrest in June by an undercover police officer in a men’s bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

On Aug. 8, Mr. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with the incident. A second charge against Mr. Craig, interference with privacy, was dismissed.

He was given a 10-day jail sentence that was suspended; was fined more than $500; and was placed on unsupervised probation for one year, according to a copy of a court document in the case.According to a police report obtained by Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper that disclosed the episode and the guilty plea on Monday, a plainclothes police officer who was investigating complaints of sexual activity in the airport bathroom arrested the senator on June 11 after what the officer described as sexual advances made by Mr. Craig from an adjoining stall.

Roll Call reported that the officer said Mr. Craig tapped his foot as a signal to engage in lewd conduct, brushed his foot against the investigator’s and waved his hand under the stall divider several times before the officer showed him his badge.

After his arrest, the senator denied any sexual intent. He said in a statement issued Monday afternoon that the whole matter came down to a misunderstanding.

“At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions,” Mr. Craig said in the statement. “I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

“I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously.”

Mr. Craig, whose seat is up for election next year, is the second Republican senator in recent weeks to find his personal behavior under scrutiny. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana was implicated in a separate case in the Washington area when his phone number turned up in the records of an escort service. He made a public apology for what he described as “a very serious sin in my past,” but he has not been charged with any crime.

In the Senate, Mr. Craig has been known for his advocacy for the rights of gun owners, and he has a close association with the National Rifle Association. When Republicans controlled the Senate in the last Congress, Mr. Craig was chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. He is a former member of the party’s Senate leadership. He represented Idaho in the House before first winning election to an open Senate seat in 1990, and he was easily re-elected in 1996 and 2002.

In 2006, Mr. Craig publicly rejected allegations by a gay rights advocate that he had engaged in a homosexual behavior, calling the claims “completely ridiculous.”