October 15, 2007

Larry Craig Appeals Decision On Guilty Plea

UPDATED.

Despite his ongoing legal troubles and calls for his resignation by members of his own party, Sen. Larry Craig refuses to go quietly. The Idaho Republican filed a motion with the Minnesota Court of Appeals today asking the judge to overrule a lower court's decision refusing to allow Craig to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from a sex sting operation in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

"From the outset Senator Craig has maintained that he is innocent of any illegal conduct at the Minneapolis airport. Senator Craig has a right to appeal and we believe that it was a manifest injustice not to allow Senator Craig to withdraw his guilty plea entered in August," said Billy Martin, Craig's high-powered attorney. "Like every other citizen, Senator Craig has the constitutional right to make every effort to clear his name."

Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter ruled two weeks ago that Craig "knew what he was saying, reading and signing," when he agreed to plead guilty to those charges in June and therefore should not be able to withdraw the plea now.

The motion does not detail the grounds for Craig's appeal. In an interview with a Boise TV station on Sunday, Craig said, "It is my right to do what I'm doing. I've already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed. I'm not running for re-election. I'm no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights." He reiterated that he does not intend to resign his Senate seat and will complete the last year of his current term.

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October 04, 2007

Larry Craig Not Resigning After Judge Rejects Motion

UPDATED.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has announced that he will remain in office, despite having had his motion to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct rejected earlier today.

"I am extremely disappointed with the ruling issued today. I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options," the Republican lawmaker said in a written statement.

Craig had gone back and forth on whether to resign following revelations in August that he had been arrested in a gay-cruising sting in June. After pressure from the GOP, Craig announced that he would step down on Sept. 30, but backed away from that commitment after he decided to challenge his guilty plea. After an appearance in a Minnesota court last week, he appeared to hang his resignation on the outcome of his motion to withdraw.

Craig was clearly hoping to be one of a small minority who are able to persuade a judge to clear their guilty pleas. The married senator has vehemently denied that he was seeking sexual relations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on June 11, and he also denies he is gay.

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Posted to: Campaigns, Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 26, 2007

Craig Changes Mind Again About Resigning

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is apparently backtracking on his decision to resign on Sept. 30. In a statement from his office, he said, "Today was a major step in the legal effort to clear my name. The court has not issued a ruling on my motion to withdraw my guilty plea. For now, I will continue my work in the United States Senate for Idaho."

Craig appeared before a Minnesota court today to request judicial review of his guilty plea to disorderly conduct following a sex sting in an airport restroom. The judge adjourned the case until at least next week, citing his caseload.

See The Gate's previous posts on why Craig may win his bid to reverse his plea here and here.

Posted at 5:01 PM
Posted to: Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 18, 2007

Craig Returns To The Capitol

Sen. Larry Craig is back on the job today for the first time since news of his bathroom sex sting broke, leading to a back-and-forth struggle over whether he will retire next year. For now, Craig is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges in a Minnesota court. He's already resigned from his committee posts, and says he will stick to his original plan to retire on Sept. 30.

Late-night talk show hosts and political pundits are having fun [fast-forward to 1:48] at the Idaho Republican's expense. But, today Craig reminded reporters that "I'm a serving United States senator from Idaho" who is back to do his job.

Following news of Craig's guilty plea, his GOP colleagues quickly distanced themselves from the accused philanderer. Today, most ducked questions about the prodigal senator, although one, John Thune, remarked that Craig was showing "moxie." Craig attended the GOP lunch today, putting to bed earlier reports indicating he might be shut out.

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Posted to: Congress, Crime, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 11, 2007

Craig Files To Withdraw Guilty Plea

It's not over until the lawyers say so: Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, will appeal his guilty plea to charges of disorderly conduct during a sex sting in a Minnesota airport restroom. His attorneys turned in the 50-page court filing in Minnesota's Hennepin County District Court yesterday.

According to the papers, Craig says he "panicked" at the thought of the story coming out in the media after he was arrested and "felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer, namely that if he were to submit to an interview and plead guilty, then none of the officer's allegations would be made public." Craig was stripped of his committee assignments and, under pressure from the GOP leadership, said he would resign effective Sept. 30.

The Gate has details on Craig's legal options, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the New York Times have more on yesterday's court filings.

Posted at 7:49 AM
Posted to: Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 06, 2007

Winning Back GOP Was Losing Battle For Craig

The Gate doesn't care if Larry Craig is in the closet. But last we checked, being closeted isn't grounds for stripping a senator of his committee assignments or forcing his resignation.

It's become clear that while the Republican leadership may have overreacted -- as Sens. Arlen Specter, Ted Stevens, Jim Bunning and Mike Enzi believe -- there is little desire to reach out to the 27-year congressman. The GOP would pack and ship Craig's belongings back to Idaho themselves if they could, and the threat of total isolation may have compelled Craig to agree yesterday that he would stick by his Sept. 30 resignation date if his legal battle isn't resolved by then.

Spokesman Dan Whiting basically stated the obvious to AP today, that legal cases like the one Craig's about to pursue tend to be lengthy affairs. The cable networks jumped all over Whiting's comments as if they were breaking news, but the prospect that a judge or jury won't decide Craig's legal petition by the end of the month isn't necessarily an admission of guilt. He remains determined to battle a Senate Ethics Committee probe, and his attorneys will challenge his misdemeanor plea before a Minnesota court.

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Posted to: Congress, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Senate
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September 05, 2007

Could Larry Craig Really Reverse His Plea? Jiminy!

After a week of being the target of assorted scatological and sexual jokes, Idaho Republican Larry Craig is embarking on a damage-control offensive to clear his name and keep his job.

The senator appears to have realized -- about a month too late -- that he had a pretty good shot at beating that disorderly conduct charge. Ditto the fact that attorneys are generally good to have around when you're tussling with the police. Under the recently retained advisement of top-flight legal eagles Stanley Brand and Andrew Herman, Craig is fighting a Senate Ethics Committee complaint and reconsidering his announced resignation.

"Stunning" is a word being bandied about a lot today. Even though Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter was one of the first to pick up on the bailout clause in Craig's resignation speech, hardly anyone else believed Craig might try to finish out his term. Craig's already suffered enough embarrassment for a lifetime; it may now be his turn to shame the Republicans who abandoned him.

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Posted to: Arlen Specter, Congress, Larry Craig, Senate
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Craig Reconsidering Decision To Resign From Senate

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight to keep his Senate seat, a spokesman said yesterday.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 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," Smith added.

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September 04, 2007

While You Were In Nantucket...

Welcome back, Beltway! Summer in the swamp is officially over, and the 2008 campaign season is, well, still under way, it having gone official months ago. It's less than 15 months until Election Day, a little longer than that before President Bush U-Hauls himself back to Texas. There's a lot of work ahead and a fast-diminishing amount of time to get it done. Let's take a quick look at what you missed over the long Labor Day weekend, and what to watch for in the weeks ahead.

Don't be gay, or get out of the way. The Republican Party dispensed with problem senator Larry Craig like so much used Kleenex. On Saturday, the Idaho legislator announced he would step down on Sept. 30. Craig conceded defeat just days after vehemently denying he had solicited sex in a men's bathroom and that he was gay.

The GOP knows that its brand is in trouble, and the last thing it needs is another Mark Foley-type scandal -- lack of evidence notwithstanding. The ever-judicious Arlen Specter is one of the few, if not only, fellow Republicans to point out that there's no proof beyond anonymous accounts that Craig's wide-stance toe-tapping was definitely a come-hither invite to the undercover officer in the stall next door.

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Posted to: Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Iraq, Larry Craig, Middle East, President Bush, Senate
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August 29, 2007

Craig Steps Down From Committees As Colleagues Scatter

UPDATED.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has agreed to temporarily step down from his committee posts in the wake of revelations about his recent arrest and guilty plea to charges of lewd conduct.

The move comes as an ever-growing chorus of Craig's GOP colleagues demands his resignation. This afternoon, Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan became the first Republican member of Congress to suggest Craig should resign, a call that was soon echoed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

The White House did not join the resignation bandwagon, but spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters following the president in Mississippi today, "We are disappointed in the matter."

Just before Craig's press conference yesterday, during which he denied any wrongdoing, the Republican leadership in the Senate requested an ethics committee investigation into the three-term senator's arrest in June. Craig pleaded guilty (a move he now says he regrets) to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men's bathroom of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig didn't tell anyone, including the Senate GOP leadership, about his arrest.

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August 28, 2007

Sen. Larry Craig: I Did Nothing Wrong, And I Am Not Gay

UPDATED.

In a brief but fiery press conference, Sen. Larry Craig sought to put to rest rumors that he is gay.

"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I have never been gay," the Idaho Republican said with his wife at his side.

Craig called reporters to the outdoor plaza in Boise to explain why he pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge after a plainclothes officer accused him of soliciting sex in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Roll Call broke the news of Craig's June arrest and plea yesterday.

"I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport," Craig said. "I did nothing wrong, and I regret the decision to plead guilty."

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Posted to: Congress, Crime, Larry Craig, Senate
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