Well, we’ve learned quite a bit about Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) arrest since late yesterday afternoon, and all of it suggests the senator is in a very unfortunate place. For example, Craig was not only charged with soliciting sex in an airport men’s room; he pleaded guilty.
Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, was arrested in June by an undercover police officer in a men’s bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the case three weeks ago.
Mr. Craig, 62, was fined more than $500 and placed on unsupervised probation for a year. A 10-day jail sentence was suspended, according to a copy of a court document in the case. A second charge, interference with privacy, was dismissed.
The arresting officer explained in his report that Craig tapped his foot, “in what the officer called a known signal to engage in lewd conduct,” brushed his foot against the officer’s, and waved his hand under the stall divider “several times.” In a statement, Craig said his actions had been “misconstrued.”
As for pleading guilty, Craig 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.”
I realize the circumstances of the arrest must be humiliating for the senator, but fabricating a ridiculous defense only exacerbates the political problem here. Why did he rub his foot against the police officer’s? Because, he said, he “has a wide stance when going to the bathroom.” Why did he wave his hand repeatedly under the stall divider? Because he was reaching for a piece of paper (that did not apparently exist). Why did he plead guilty to criminal charges? Because he was in a hurry.
This was bound to be a disaster for Craig either way, but Crisis Management 101 tells us to come clean immediately, apologize, get the facts out, hunker down, and hope for the story to blow over. Bizarre fabrications are only going to make this worse.
This is a political scandal with multiple angles.
* Potential abuse of power: Roll Call reported, “After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, ‘What do you think about that?’ the report states.” Was Craig trying to intimidate or pressure investigators?
* Craig’s personal history: About a year ago, blogactive.com outed Craig as being gay, though the senator dismissed the report as “completely ridiculous,” and having “no basis in fact.” After the charges surfaced, the Idaho Statesman investigated and spoke to a man, on the record, who claimed to have had sex with Craig in a Union Station restroom. Craig denied the man’s account and said, “I am not gay and I have never been in a restroom in Union Station having sex with anybody.” (A month later, Craig was arrested in Minneapolis.) Craig also had to deny playing a role in the congressional page sex scandal in the 1980s.
* Presidential politics: Craig has been a major supporter of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign — he cited the governor’s “family values” as the basis for his endorsement — and the Romney campaign is now distancing itself from Craig as quickly as humanly possible, including removing the endorsement video from the campign’s site and from YouTube.
* Who knew what, when?: The arrest and guilty plea came over two months ago. Did the Senate GOP leadership know about this? The Minority Leader’s office says it did not. “We just found out about this incident late this afternoon,” said Josh Holmes, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
* Next stop, Ethics Committee?: Whenever a senator is convicted of a crime, the matter is supposed to be referred to the Ethics Committee for a review. Yesterday, the committee’s chairperson, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), declined to comment.
* Losing support: Hugh Hewitt has already called for Craig’s resignation, and it’s safe to assume he won’t be the last.
* The hypocrisy: The LAT reported, “But the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a statement calling attention to Craig’s support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and his opposition to legislation that would expand the federal hate crime law to cover violent acts based on a victim’s sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity or disability.” (He also opposes civil unions and gays serving in the military.)
John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College, said, “The incident is bad enough, but the contrast with his stand on family values is appalling. In the culture of Washington, political hypocrisy is just as hurtful as anything that happened in a lavatory.”