News Story - Idaho State Journal

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig was arrested and has pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from a June arrest in a Minnesota airport men's restroom.

A plainclothes police officer was investigating complaints of lewd conduct when, according to a police report, he saw Craig making inappropriate sexual gestures.

Craig pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in a Hennepin County, Minn., court on Aug. 8 and was fined $1,000, plus $575 in fees. He is currently on unsupervised probation.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, first reported on Craig's arrest Monday, and according to the report published on its Web site, a spokesman for Craig described the incident as a ''he said/he said misunderstanding.''

In a statement issued by his office Monday afternoon, Craig said, ''At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct. 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.''

tary to Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said Simpson had heard the news and is withholding judgment until he gets all the facts.

''We're learning about this as you are,'' Watts said. ''We're just trying to gather more information on it.''

Richard Stallings, head of Idaho's Democratic Party, first heard of Craig's arrest Monday afternoon.

''Obviously, like all Idahoans, I'm shocked,'' Stallings said. ''It's unfortunate and it's embarrassing to the state.''

When informed of Craig's claim of innocence - in the wake of his guilty plea - Stallings added, ''That raises another question. Why would you plead guilty? We're all under the assumption of innocence until proven guilty.''

Craig, who has a history of voting against gay-rights legislation, has faced allegations of hypocritical gay-bashing in the past.

He voted no on a bill in 1996 that would have outlawed job discrimination based on sexual orientation and voted in 2000 against broadening the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation. He also supported an amendment to the United States Constitution that would have defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

In October 2006, gay-rights blogger Mike Rogers - who appeared on the nationally syndicated Ed Schultz show to report on his 2 1/2 years of research into Craig's background - claimed to have ''multiple sources in multiple cities'' that have corroborated claims of Craig having homosexual relationships.

Craig is married with three children and has consistently denied those allegations.

Rogers, who is gay, told the Journal last fall that he was working on exposing Craig's alleged homosexual activities in order to fight ''gay-bashing'' in Washington.

''It's not his personal habits I'm reporting on, it's his gross hypocrisy,'' Rogers told the Journal.

The splash of Craig's guilty plea had already rippled into the Republican presidential campaign by Monday evening, when a spokesman for Mitt Romney reported that Craig would no longer participate in Romney's bid for the nomination.

''Senator Craig has stepped down from his role with the campaign. He did not want to be a distraction, and we accept his decision,'' said Matt Rhoades communications director with Romney for President, Inc.

The AP wire contributed to this report.

By Chris Merrill

This document was originally published online on Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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