Craig loses, but won’t quit

BOISE – Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said he will stay in the Senate and serve out his 15-month term despite Thursday’s decision by a Minnesota judge denying Craig’s bid to withdraw his guilty plea in a restroom sex-solicitation sting.

While “extremely disappointed” with the judge’s ruling, Craig said in a statement that he maintains his innocence and will “continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options.” Craig said his experience the past three weeks has shown him he can still serve effectively, despite the scandal. Plus, he said he wants to fight a Senate ethics investigation into his conduct – which he can’t do unless he’s still in the Senate.

Craig did say he won’t seek re-election when his term expires next year. “I hope this provides the certainty Idaho needs and deserves,” he said.

Hennepin County District Judge Charles Porter found that Craig’s guilty plea to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for his restroom conduct was “accurate, voluntary and intelligent,” and “supported by the evidence.”

“The defendant knew or should have known his entrance into Sgt. (Dave) Karsnia’s stall with his eyes, foot and hand are the type of acts that would ‘tend reasonably to arouse alarm, anger, or resentment in others,’ ” the judge wrote in his order.

Craig was arrested June 11 in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport men’s room. He pleaded guilty by mail in August and kept the incident quiet until news reports came out Aug. 27.

Craig first said he’d step down from the Senate on Sept. 30, after intense pressure from Senate GOP leaders to resign. But he backtracked and said he might remain in office if he could clear his name by that date. He stayed in Idaho for more than two weeks as his case became a punchline on late-night television, then returned to the Senate in mid-September.

His own party, after stripping him of key leadership posts on three committees, called for a Senate ethics investigation into his conduct.

Craig sought to have the investigation called off, arguing that the criminal case wasn’t related to his Senate duties, but the ethics committee rejected that argument. The panel instead put the matter on hold pending Craig’s expected resignation, noting that it doesn’t conduct ethics investigations of former senators.This week, the Washington Post reported that GOP Senate leaders are pushing for potentially embarrassing open hearings in the case.

Craig pleaded guilty to a reduced charge after an undercover officer said the senator peered into his stall in a busy airport men’s room, then entered the next stall, tapped his foot, slid his foot over to touch the officer’s foot, and made repeated hand gestures under the stall divider wall – all recognized signals of soliciting sex, according to the arresting officer. The officer’s stakeout was part of a four-month undercover operation that netted more than 40 lewd-conduct arrests.

After the incident became public, Craig said the officer had misconstrued his actions and that his guilty plea had been a mistake. He hired a high-powered legal team to try to withdraw his guilty plea – a rarely granted legal maneuver requiring the showing of a “manifest injustice.”

In his order, the judge called Craig’s arguments for withdrawing his guilty plea “illogical” and “circular.”

“It is not a manifest injustice to force the defendant to be bound by his plea bargain and the waivers and admissions which he made in conjunction with the execution of that bargain,” the judge wrote.

The judge added, “The defendant, a career politician with a college education, is of, at least, above-average intelligence. He knew what he was saying, reading and signing.”

He also discounted arguments that pressure from a newspaper investigation into his sexual past forced Craig to act involuntarily, for fear of publicity.

A more serious gross misdemeanor charge against Craig, interference with privacy, was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Craig paid $575 in fines and received a year of probation.

The judge said the disorderly conduct statute, which Craig’s attorneys challenged as vague, is an important one that is “necessary to preserve order in a civilized society.”

Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said the commission was pleased with the judge’s decision. “The ruling continues to hold Senator Craig accountable for his conduct. … (T)he court ensures the plea negotiation process can continue to serve as an effective, efficient tool in the criminal justice system.”

University of Minnesota law professor Stephen Simon said Craig could appeal Porter’s ruling to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, a process that likely would take eight to 10 months just to reach oral arguments. If Craig failed there, he could appeal to the state Supreme Court, which would take months longer. “This easily could get into the end of 2008,” Simon said.

But he said Craig would be unlikely to succeed on appeal. “It’s even more of an uphill battle than he had before Judge Porter – a very, very slim chance of succeeding,” Simon said.