Craig Worded Announcement to Give Room for Reversal

Spokesman: Larry Craig Might Not Actually Resign

By Courtney Lowery, 9-05-07

Sen. Larry Craig is quoted in a Roll Call story as saying in a voicemail that he worded his resignation speech Saturday so he could still reverse the decision if he can challenge the guilty plea to disorderly conduct he entered in Minnesota in August.

After Roll Call story ran, Craig’s spokesman Dan Whiting told several news organizations, including the local Idaho Statesman that indeed, his boss may not resign at the end of the month as planned if he is cleared.

“As he stated on Saturday, Senator Craig intends to resign on Sept. 30,”Whiting said in a statement. “However, he is fighting these charges, and should he be cleared before then, he may, and I emphasize may, not resign.”

The Roll Call story is accessible to subscribers only, but the Statesman has the full transcript of the voicemail Craig apparently meant to leave Saturday with a man named “Billy” but inadvertently left on a stranger’s phone and Roll Call got a hold of it. Whiting confirmed that it is Craig on the voicemail, saying:

“Arlen Specter is now willing to come out in my defense, arguing that it appears by all that he knows that I have been railroaded and all that. Having all of that, we have reshaped my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on Sept. 30.” Later, he goes on to say, “I think it would help drive the story that I’m willing to fight, that I’ve got quality people out there fighting in my defense, and that this thing could take a new turn or a new shape; it has that potential.”

As the Statesman points out, Craig has said he hired Billy Martin, who also recently defended Atlanta Falcons football player Michael Vick, as a defense lawyer to help him challenge the guilty plea. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August after being arrested in the Minneapolis airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating sex solicitation in a men’s bathroom in the airport.

When news of the arrest broke last week, top Republicans quickly distanced themselves from Craig, some calling for his resignation. Friday, GOP leaders were supposedly drafting an official letter demanding a resignation and Craig made his announcement to resign Saturday morning.

Update: Gov. Butch Otter would make the appointment to replace Craig and the word is the frontrunner is Lt. Gov. Jim Risch. But, with no official letter of resignation on the table, Otter says he will not make an appointment.

“Unless there is a vacancy, the governor has no role to play,” said Otter’s spokesman Jon Hanian.

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