Via the Associated Press:
MINNEAPOLIS - Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after being arrested at the Minneapolis airport.
A Hennepin County court docket showed Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.
The court docket said the Republican senator was fined $1,000, plus $575 in fees. He was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed.
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which first reported the case, said on its Web site Monday that Craig was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men’s restroom at the airport.
Craig said in a statement issued by his office that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.
“At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions,” he said. “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.”
Craig, 62, is married and in his third term in the Senate. He is up for re-election next year. He was a member of the House for 10 years before winning election to the Senate in 1990.
The Roll Call story was reprinted at Free Republic:
According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men’s public restroom in which Craig was arrested.
Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men’s restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.
Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see “an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall.”
The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.
“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,” the report states.
Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.
“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”
Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.
“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.
Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could … see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”
Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.
“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. … Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”
First things first: Why wasn’t the story picked up back in June when the alleged incident was reported to have taken place? The guy’s a Republican, so it would only stand to reason that we should have already heard about this. The MSM dropped the ball on this one.
Second, Craig, when he was an unmarried Representative, had to deny soliciting for sex from male pages back in the early 80s. Where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire, methinks, and I’m convinced that yes, Craig is gay. I don’t know much about Idaho’s political leanings (I assume they are conservative), but the honest thing to have done would be for Craig to have come out of the closet when he figured out he was gay, rather than deceive his family and the public for years. Eventually, it’s going to catch up with you, and so many people are going to be hurt and feel betrayed.
Third, how disappointing, the two things that are at play here: the fact that in all probability he’s cheated on his wife - or at least attempted to, and on top of that he, according to the police officer in question, solicited for sex in a men’s restroom. The man not only has a wife, but kids and grandkids. What the hell was he thinking? Only of himself, apparently.
Back last October, when the Foley scandal was kicking into high gear, I wrote about attempts by despicable serial outer Mike Rogers to out Larry Craig, and it’s a post I think is worth re-reading in light of all this in terms of the ‘gay’ aspect of the story (not the crime part). There was an interesting discussion in the comments section of that post that is worth reading again as well.
That Craig has turned out to be gay after all in and of itself doesn’t bother me from a legislative perspective, because you can be gay and vote in favor of things like the DOMA, just like you can be black and vote against affirmative action, and just like you can be a woman and vote against abortion - unlike the left, who believes that minorities who don’t vote the way “they’re supposed to” are traitors to their very beings. It’s the personal aspect of this that is bothersome - the deception, the lies, the adultery, the criminal nature of what he was arrested for back in June (is that the tip of the iceberg on Craig’s adulterous behavior?). He’s married. He’s broken his vows of marriage. He hasn’t been practicing what he preaches. He’s deceived his constituency. That’s what’s bothersome.
As I’ve said before, just because people who preach about family values sometimes fall from grace, that doesn’t negate the message itself. But it sure as hell does make it a whole lot more difficult to sell.
This story is getting a ton of play in the blogosphere, as you can imagine. The far left are doing their usual ‘hypocrisy’ chants all in unison, while there is a mixture of reactions from the right, ranging from exasperation - ‘here we go again’ with another Republican sex scandal, to the ‘good riddance’ variety because Craig, after all, supported “shamnesty” - so that means, I guess, that it’s good that this happened, because a “shamnesty” supporter like Craig is no good for the GOP, lewd conduct in the bathroom or not.
Update: The political fall out starts, while David Freddoso at NRO’s The Corner blog speculates on what could be next for Craig’s Senate seat, assuming he steps down.
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Beautiful. Another lowlife who’s going to wind up costing the Republicans the White House. He needs to step down.
Comment by NC Cop @ 8/27/2007 - 8:42 pm
I wonder how long it will take him to do so, NC. Long enough to damage the party, again?
What is it with these idiots? Why do they feel the need to use public restrooms for their sexual escapades? Yech!
Comment by benning @ 8/27/2007 - 8:50 pm
I don’t know benning. You would think with so many other idiots getting busted they might take that to heart. Apparently not.
Comment by NC Cop @ 8/27/2007 - 8:51 pm
As a lifelong Idaho resident, this is very painful and disappointing news, how I wish it wasn’t true. I’ve spoken personally with Senator Craig on innumerable occasions over the years, and always respected and admired him, as much as I could anyone who was a politician.
American gunowners have never had a better friend in Congress than Larry Craig. Without his leadership, our 2nd Amendment rights would be far, far more restricted than they already are. This is not only a great loss for my state and my party, but for the future of gun rights in this county. A very sad day indeed.
Comment by GrayLoess @ 8/28/2007 - 12:06 am
Well, his personal behavior doesn’t preclude him from legislating the way his consituents want either. Much ado about nothing.
Comment by Neil @ 8/28/2007 - 4:03 am
He should have been honest about his sexual preference for its not O.K. for a Republican to be gay but perfectly fine for barney franks to get it on with pages, ect. and NOTHING MUCH is said.
Just wish he had been honest with his poor family and spared them the humiliation of this mega press from the msm this is gonna get.
joe scarborough the one time conservative at msnbc is already flapping about it and GET READY, THIS IS GONNA GET BIG, thanks Larry for the boost we need to keep the White House.
Comment by Drewsmom @ 8/28/2007 - 7:01 am
Am I missing something? With all the legally enforced tolerance of homosexuality and proliferation of gay meeting places, there are still people that want to “cruise” public rest-rooms?
Comment by Tom TB @ 8/28/2007 - 8:48 am
What is it with all these closet case gay Republicans? I think it comes down right from the top, and nobody wants to cover it because it’s “gay bashing.” The issue is not being gay, it’s being a lying, two-faced hypocrite. I don’t want a liar like that in our government, no matter what his politics. And to treat his family that way, basically just using them as a cover, what a f—- sleeze bag.
This goes right to the top of the Republican party. Why, for instance, did a male prostitute visit the White House after hours on more than 50 occasions? Oh, yeah, he was in the press. That explains it. This is all documented: the case of Jeff “Gannon,” a false name. Do a search, check it out. Who was he visiting in the White House? I’m just speculating, but I think it was Karl (”Turd Blossom”) Rove–he’s the typical fat old queen–and I’m a queer myself so I have every right to say that. At lease the Democrats (who generally don’t trash gays) have sex scandals with women! (Kennedy, Clinton) and aren’t complete hypocrites about it. If these Republican gays want to go on with their own gay-bashing agenda, it’s very good that they get caught in the act, and get back a little of their own. Republicans are the ones who put these sex laws on the books in the first place!
The more of them that are OUT and out of office, the better.
Comment by Doug @ 8/28/2007 - 11:41 am
Doug,
The more hate mongers like you that out yourselves, the better.
Now, take your gay agenda elsewhere. No one is buying here, and that is your main point, not Larry Craig.
Comment by PCD @ 8/28/2007 - 12:00 pm
Doug gives Doug’s a bad names by using no logic whatsoever by saying, “This goes right to the top of the Republican party”
alrighty then… let’s see how you back that up.
Doug writes, “I’m just speculating, but I think it was Karl (”Turd Blossom”) Rove–he’s the typical fat old queen–and I’m a queer myself so I have every right to say that. At lease the Democrats (who generally don’t trash gays) have sex scandals with women!”
ok… I guess you are saying there are bad apples in every organization. GM, Ford, Catholics, U.S., Republicans, Democrats, the military, etc. Yet you do it badly because one thing is clear….
Whenever criminal activity is done by a republican we call for his ouster. Yet the Barney Franks can run prostitution rings, William Jefferson can have cold hard cash, Bill Clinton can commit perjury, Democrat after Democrat can commit crimes and still hold leadership positions in Congress or state legislatures…..
Doug then commits a grave mistake saying, “If these Republican gays want to go on with their own gay-bashing agenda”
I’m sorry Doug. Can you point to a “gay bashing” statement of a Republican in office today? Your disagreement with Republican policies is not “gay bashing”. It’s like pulling the “racism” card because we think everyone should be treated “equally” and Democrats think minorities should be granted “preferential treatment”. Seems Democrats are the racist sexist pigs in my mind. ooops. Did I just say that? Why that was so mean !!!
Doug with no understanding of “history” concludes, “Republicans are the ones who put these sex laws on the books in the first place!”
eh. I’ll let that asinine stand without a rebuttal. It needs none.
Comment by Baklava @ 8/28/2007 - 12:13 pm
Wow! What a reaction! However, my point wasn’t really addressed. I’m not for Barney Frank and his sex ring, but he isn’t married with kids and deceiving them, or outright lying to everybody else, including the people who vote for him. He’s gay and we all know it.
As far as Jeff Gannon’s nightly visits to the White House go, I admitted I don’t know who he was visiting. But the fact that he is a male prostitute and that he visited the White House after hours more than 50 times is a little odd, don’t you think? Admittedly I don’t know everyone who might be in the White House at night. But somebody there was hiring a $200 an hour male prostitute. Which is illegal no matter what your sexual orientation.
As far as this being a Republican issue, well we’ve had several in the news lately: Mark Foley, the great anti-gay minister [Haggerty –Haggard–sp?]. Melman on the Republican national committee, there’s plenty of news about it. I haven’t made anything up. Maybe the Dems are like that too, but all I know about are the ones who’ve admitted from the start that they’re gay.
Gay agenda: what a laugh. I’m not pro-gay, in my view everybody can do whatever they want as long as they don’t hurt anybody. BUT if you’re gonna be in a position of power and then lie about your life, cheat on your wife, attack others who are doing exactly what you’re doing, then as I say, The sooner they are OUT–regardless of their political party– the better.
As far as the final note is concerned, it is the conservative states that still have on the books laws that can be used to arrest gays. Here in Michigan, everything except for the missionary position with a man and a woman is illegal. No oral, no anything else. Do you think straights are being prosecuted under these laws? Hardly. But there are plenty of “gays” who are and have been. You will never find a straight man prosecuted under this law, no matter what he does or where he does it. Only a few years ago the Supreme Court made it legal for two men to be in bed together in Texas! Why should that be against the law in the first place? Why should anybody even think about it? Texas does appear to be a conservative Republican place.
I’m not selling any agenda, except the Libertarian one: the government has no business in anybody’s sex life. I’m just really sick of these lying hypocrites. No matter what the party. Unfortunately, the conservative (primarily Republican right now) agenda right now is the more anti-gay. So if a person takes a position that’s anti-gay, and is out in the restroom trying to blow somebody at the same time… well I don’t understand how that can be a person you want to represent you in Congress.
In any event, I appreciate the feedback, even if all negative. Thanks.
Comment by Doug @ 8/28/2007 - 4:06 pm
Oh, I don’t think Larry Craig’s deserved “outing” and soon-to-be-resignation will affect Romney or any other Republican running for President. How many of us think about Mark Foley these days? And he molested PAIGES who were working under him, clear and crisp sexual harrassment of the worst kind.
What is most troubling about the Larry Craig outing is the fact that a REAL conservative, a war vet and a great anti-Invasion candidate Robert Vasquez dropped out of the Senate ‘08 run in Idaho this April due to lack of money. I’m hoping he’ll reconsider and re-enter the race. This guy is solid and one of the toughest against the Invasion since Tancredo.
Comment by levotb @ 8/28/2007 - 5:26 pm
Doug is irrelevant.
Criminals should be prosecuted no matter the party.
Why are Democrat criminals getting a pass and staying in office repeatedly?
Avoidance makes you irrelevant.
We do get it. We recognize the lying/deceiving. We want him out of office. Now it’s time for Doug to get it and become relevant. It’s his/her choice
Comment by Baklava @ 8/28/2007 - 7:31 pm
I am mystified, but will graciously bow out of the conversation.
Comment by Doug @ 8/29/2007 - 1:43 pm
Doug is Mystified by the idea that criminals should be prosecuted and should step out of Congress???
No wonder William Jefferson remains as well as others…
Democrat double standards galore ~!
Comment by Baklava @ 8/29/2007 - 2:27 pm
First I do not agree with what Craig did, and I think it is distasteful and he should resign.
With that out of the way, I find the allegations absurd to be arrested on.
Perhaps NC Cop can shed abit more on the law enforcement side of things, but MAYBE he might be guilty of soliciting - but not of lewdness.
The Captain has a good article on this with What Exactly Is The Crime?
Now he did plead guilty, which I guess is lucky for hte officer, because there is nothing in what Craig did that was illegal in nature to be charged.
While it was distasteful and stupid, and I believe he should resign, I also believe a crime was not committed.
If we can look beyond the distasteful actions Craig displayed, and the fact he tried to intimidate the arresting officer with the ‘you know who I am?’ type of actions, and look at the legality of the complaint instead - I think we will discover that while his actions were distasteful and disgusting, it is no more a criminal act than trying to pick someone up at the bar.
Do I agree with his actions? - No.
Do I agree that they are criminal? - No.
Do I believe he should have been arrested? - No.
Do I believe he should have plead guilty? - No.
Do I think he was complete idiot and stupid in doing this? - Yes.
Comment by sanity @ 8/29/2007 - 2:44 pm
NO, I am mystifed by being characterized as irrelevant.
And I actually do agree with “sanity” that his activity isn’t really a crime, or certainly shouldn’t be. BUT I think it is criminal for this guy to be down on gays (don’t ask, don’t tell; gay marriage; hate crimes legislation) when he is in fact “doing it.” But making hand motions under the stall wall is going a bit far. Then again the officer responded with his own foot taps to enourage him.
Yes it’s entrapment and it happens every day. Only this time it happened to a lying sleeze-bag conservative politician, so it doesn’t bother me as much!
Comment by Doug @ 8/29/2007 - 3:36 pm
Really? What law did he break by doing that? I didn’t realize they had passed a law that you should “practice what you preach”. In that case they need to lock up Clinton (both of them), Edwards, and the rest of the democratic liars.
Comment by NC Cop @ 8/29/2007 - 3:53 pm
Doug wrote, “that his activity isn’t really a crime”
It was a misdemeanor that he plead guilty too.
Doug wrote, “NO, I am mystifed by being characterized as irrelevant.”
You make yourself irrelevant if you call for double-standards. If you aren’t for removing criminals from Congress and want to say irrelevant stupid things like this goes to the top of the republican party or that due to policy disagreements you want to characterize somebody as “anti-gay”. That’s JUST like pro-preferential treatment people calling people who want no-discrimination and no preferential treatment “racist”. Deal with the substance of the debate instead of making statements that make you irrelevant…
It’s not my fault you make stretches of logic that can’t be understood.
Comment by Baklava @ 8/29/2007 - 4:28 pm
1. I’m not defending any Democrat. They’re all f—– as far as I’m concerned, both parties.
2. Nobody has told me why Jeff Gannon, a male prostitute, visited the White House over 50 times after hours. Sure, maybe it wasn’t anybody in the administration that hired him. Maybe it was the janitor. At $200 an hour they must get paid really well to wash the floors! This is well-documented all over the net, but the story disappeared from the regular news. We heard about Clinton’s extremely lame BJ every day for weeks–it was a bore. This Jeff Gannon was into S&M–that’s a lot more kinky and a lot more interesting, whoever in the White House hired him.
3. Practice what you preach? No, there’s no law that says that, other than maybe common decency or the Golden Rule, or just plain expecting some integrity from somebody who is lording it over you.
4. If someone doesn’t understand my logic, mabye they ought to take a class in it, since the tone around here is suprisingly nasty. I’m new at this and wasn’t aware ot the hostility in these venues.
Comment by Doug @ 8/29/2007 - 7:12 pm
Doug full of hate said, “I’m not defending any Democrat. They’re all f—– as far as I’m concerned, both parties.”
I think you need therapy.
Doug went on with speculation and the wrote, “but the story disappeared from the regular news.”
Without due diligence (that would be negligence) you try to do what? Slander? Or make a point?
Doug with a sneering and mean tone then writes, “the tone around here is suprisingly nasty”
I apologize. I wrote about 4 times that all criminals should not be in Congress. My tough approach is directed at all members of Congress who commit crimes. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to apply to Democrats I’ve pointed out. If my daughter was committing crimes I wouldn’t want her to get away with it either. If that is nasty as considered by you then so be it.
Comment by Baklava @ 8/29/2007 - 8:18 pm
Geez. Ok. I give up. Sorry to have unsettled somebody with my remarks.
This was an experiment for me in dialogue, but not a very successful one. Best to all who contribute here, even the apparent Edited-language. –ST.
Comment by Doug @ 8/29/2007 - 8:21 pm
You don’t have the power to unsettle. Your views are pretty irrelevant to the situation.
Hope you can see that all people should be treated equally.
Democrat and Republican criminals alike should be ejected.
Comment by Baklava @ 8/29/2007 - 10:02 pm
OK I am ending the italics run on….
By placing a dang end tag lol
Comment by sanity @ 8/29/2007 - 10:08 pm
Oops - I fixed it just now, sanity, thanks
Comment by Sister Toldjah @ 8/29/2007 - 10:53 pm
Very mature. You will not be missed.
Comment by NC Cop @ 8/29/2007 - 11:06 pm
I tried fixing it without saying it by preceding my post #23 with and end italics. to no avail…
Thanks ST
Comment by Baklava @ 8/29/2007 - 11:12 pm