Breaking News
Larry Craig: ‘I Am Not Gay,’ Guilty Plea Was ‘Overreaction’
By Jill Kuraitis, 8-28-07
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| Larry Craig at a Veteran's Affairs Committee hearing. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Senate. | |
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Idaho Sen. Larry Craig told a crowd of reporters gathered in Boise Tuesday that his guilty plea after a June arrest outside a men’s bathroom in Minneapolis was a mistake he made after eight months of speculation and “harassment” about his sexuality.
“I overreacted and made a poor decision,” Craig said with his wife by his side. “I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I regret the decision to plead guilty.”
News broke Monday that in June, Craig was arrested by a plainclothes police officer who was investigating sexual activity in a men’s bathroom in the airport. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct Aug. 8.
Craig said he made the decision to plead in the case, without seeking counsel from “an attorney staff, friends or family. That was a mistake and I deeply regret it.”
“While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away,” he said.
To put his “state of mind into context,” Craig told reporters that for the eight months leading up to June, he and his family have been “relentlessly and visciously harrassed by the Idaho Statesman.”
“I am not gay and never have been gay,” Craig said. “Still, without a shred of truth or evidence to the contrary, the Statesman has engaged in this witch hunt.”
Craig is referring to the paper’s months-long investigation into allegations, brought to light in the news including at NewWest.Net, that Craig has had same-sex affairs. The Statesman story, written by long-time political writer Dan Popkey, ran in Tuesday’s paper after news broke Monday of Craig’s arrest.
Roll Call first reported the story. Since then, the Idaho Statesman followed up with its extensive report on Craig.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican leaders in D.C. immediately asked for a review of the Minneapolis incident with the ethics committee, the Associated Press reported. “In the meantime, the leadership is examining other aspects of the case to see if additional action is required,” Sen. Mitch McConnell and GOP lawmakers said in a written statement.
Earlier Tuesday, an ethics group, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, asked for a committee investigation as well to find out if the disorderly conduct charge violated Senate rules.
According to the arrest report, which you can read here, Craig, in the stall next to the police officer, allegedly “tapped his right foot,” and the police officer “recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.”
Then, according to Sgt. Dave Karsnia in the arrest report, “Craig tapped his toes several times and moved his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly… 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.”
According to the report, Craig stated, “He has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched (Karsnia’s).”
Eleven days after the arrest, Craig returned to question officers, according to the report, saying he was there to talk about an incident in which he was “drug down to this office.” The officer on duty noted “Craig appeared agitated and demaning” on his return visit, the report stated.
Craig said his guilty plea and “overreaction” during the case was “because of the stress of the Idaho Statesman’s investigation and the rumors it has fueled around Idaho,” he said.
Craig said he will, as scheduled, make an announcement in the next month as to whether he will seek reelection in 2008. “There are still goals I can accomplish,” he said.
For the time being, he said he wanted to apologize to his family, friends, staff and Idahaons for the “cloud placed over Idaho” after the arrest.
“I should not have kept this arrest to myself. I wasn’t eager to share this failure, but I should have done so anyway,” he said.
Craig said he has retained counsel to examine the case.
Both political parties have issued statements. Idaho Democratic Party chair, former Congressman Richard Stallings, said: “This matter is between Larry Craig, his family, the police investigators and other people around the senator.”
“This is not a partisan battle. Therefore, The Idaho Democratic Party has nothing to add to the public conversation at this time.”
Idaho Republican Party Chairman, J. Kirk Sullivan, said:
“United States Senator Larry Craig has been a stalwart in supporting Idaho and ensuring that the needs of Idaho citizens have been well-represented at the highest levels of our nation’s government. Until the facts of this situation are made clear, I would encourage all Idahoans to avoid rushing to judgment and making brash statements about a man who has dedicated his life to public service.”
The full text of Craig’s speech has been published on his Website, here.
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Comments
If it is true, then it is another example of perverted behavior that would be accepted in many states. Take a look at Fort Lauderdale, NYC Greenwich Village, etc.
The interesting thing about this story is that he is a Republican so you see the true feelings of the left and how so many really hate gay people.
If this guy were a Republican, The news media would have ignored it or called it an anti gay witch hunt.
In Bozeman, I was walking down Main Street and was called a fagot by a carload of guys. Also again on college road while i was walking, i had a bottle thrown at me. In a so called Liberal town. Which further demonstrates the truth of how many liberals feel about people they perceive to be gay
The reason this story is newsworthy is because of the hypocrisy of Sen. Craig regarding so-called "gay" issues. I suspect that you meant to say "If this guy were a Democrat..." If he were a Democrat and a supporter of gay-rights, then his sexual preferences would indeed be a non-issue to everyone except for the extreme homophobic wing of the Regressive party.
However, part of the issue here is the public location where the alleged incident occurred and the fact that the man pleaded guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct. He is a US Senator and he now has a criminal record in the state of Minnesota.
What two (or more) consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home is their own business. If they behave that way in public and get caught, then they should expect to own up to the consequences of their actions.
This article also left out another detail that officer Karsnia stated, 'Craig then passed his left hand under the stall divider into Karsnia's stall with his palms up and guided it along the divider toward the front of the stall three times, the complaint said.
The officer then showed his police identification under the divider and pointed toward the exit "at which time the defendant exclaimed 'No!"' the complaint said. '
A wide stance indeed, that is creepy!
You see, it's like a bully who gains popularity by picking on smaller kids and justifies his behavior by claiming he was told to hurt smaller kids by God. The bully makes fun of the smaller kids and excludes them from games at school. Then it turns out, in secret he takes off his bully suit and he himself is a smaller kid. No one likes bullies and even worse no one likes liars.
The late Mass. Rep Gerry Studds, an openly gay pediophile, had a Federal building named for him this year. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Visitors Center building. He was once censured by the House for soliciting sex from Capitol pages, but he had seniority on fisheries committees, and was re-elected time and again because his district is commercial fishermen. He was ably defended by Mass. Rep Barney Frank, he of the male prostitute roommate in his home. If you are Democrat you get a pass. Republicans don't. It is just the way it works. If a Republican solicits sex he is a criminal. If a Democrat solicits sex, he or she is expressing their diversity. Senator Craig has yet to learn that, thus exposing chinks in his intellectual armor. Being gay is not evil. Being a closeted gay Republican is. And, even if Craig was out, the Democrats would still not embrace him because, after all, only they have the Democrat Diversity Card, the official permission slip. Sort of like having a Race Card (which a Democrat Attorney General under fire would have played).
The good part of the Republican minority situation is that they now can go after Democrat jugulars like jackals. The Democrats have written the rules, and when you become a back bencher, you have no real legislative agenda because the other party will never let your bill have so much as a hearing. Therefore, you can spend your time digging for improprieties on the part of the Majority, and you have staff to do that with. As a legislator, you are now no longer a part of the process and are free to become a character assassin. I am hoping that the Republicans have members as shrill as Pelosi, as crooked as Reid, and the process gets much uglier than it has been for the last seven years. We must have just the government we want, because we continue to elect these dolts, on both sides of the aisle.
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/memorable-quote-senator-larry-craig.html#links
Craig's been good for the farmers and ranchers and timber barons. Obviously he hasn't been good for the marginalized parts of the population—I mean, he's a repugnican. Has he been good for the fundamentalists? You betcha.
Just what Idaho needs is more hypocritical closeted gay fundamentalist politicians. We've got some in Oregon I'd like to see shipped over...