[Vision2020] Craig may resign

[Mark Solomon]

Craig May Resign, Republicans Say

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 31, 2007

Filed at 9:42 a.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is considering resigning, 
Republican officials said Friday, after days of public and private 
pressure stemming from his arrest in June in a police undercover 
operation at an airport men's room.

Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Aug. 1, and while he 
has since said he did nothing wrong, the episode has roiled the 
Republican party and produced numerous calls for him to step down.

As a measure of the pressure Craig faces, party officials said a 
statement had been drafted at Republican Party headquarters calling 
for the third-term senator to resign. It was not issued, these 
officials said, in response to concerns that it might complicate 
quiet efforts under way to persuade the 62-year-old lawmaker to give 
up his seat.

Any resignation would clear the way for Gov. C.L. ''Butch'' Otter, a 
Republican, to name a replacement who would serve until the end of 
Craig's current term in 2009. Lt. Gov. James Risch and Rep. Mike 
Simpson were among the possible replacements, according to the GOP 
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not 
authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Craig has not made any public statements about his case since an 
appearance earlier this week in Boise, Idaho, in which he said he had 
done nothing wrong. ''I am not gay. I never have been gay,'' he added 
emphatically.

He said any additional comment would be posted on his official Web 
site, where the only reference to the incident as of Friday morning 
was a text of the statement he read before the television cameras.

Craig, 62, served in the House before winning his first Senate term 
in 1990, and compiled a strongly conservative voting record.

He was arrested on June 11 by an undercover police officer in a 
Minneapolis airport men's room who said the senator had engaged in 
conduct ''often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in 
sexual conduct.''

Minutes after he was arrested for lewd conduct, Craig denied 
soliciting for sex, saying ''I'm not gay. I don't do these kinds of 
things,'' according to an audio tape released by police on Thursday.

He denied that he had used foot and hand gestures to signal interest 
in a sexual encounter. The officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, accused the 
three-term senator of lying and grew exasperated with his denials.

''Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we're going down the 
tubes,'' Karsnia said.

In the police interview, Craig, 62, never admitted doing anything 
wrong and said his actions had been misinterpreted. However, Karsnia 
wrote in his report that the gestures were consistent with efforts to 
find a sexual partner in the men's room.

Craig later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, 
which he now calls a mistake.

More Republicans distanced themselves from Craig on Thursday. Sen. 
John Ensign of Nevada, who chairs the GOP's senatorial campaign 
committee, stopped short of calling on him to resign but suggested 
strongly that he should.

''I wouldn't put myself hopefully in that kind of position, but if I 
was in a position like that, that's what I would do,'' Ensign told 
The Associated Press in his home state. ''He's going to have to 
answer that for himself.''

The party's Senate leadership had previously called for the ethics 
committee to investigate, and on Wednesday took the highly unusual 
measure of asking him to give up his seniority in committee 
positions. Craig complied.

On the tape, Craig and the arresting officer can be heard arguing 
over what happened in the men's room minutes earlier. Craig 
acknowledges that the men's feet bumped but says nothing improper 
happened.

''Did we bump? Yes, I think we did. You said so. I don't disagree 
with that,'' Craig said.

But Craig disputes the officer's account that he swept his hand under 
the stall next to him in an apparent effort to advance the encounter. 
They even disagree whether Craig used his right hand or his left hand.

Craig said he was merely trying to pick up a piece of paper -- an 
account the officer disputes.

''I'm telling you that I could see, so I know that's your left hand. 
Also I could see a gold ring on this finger, so that's obvious it was 
the left hand,'' Karsnia tells Craig.

''Well we can dispute that,'' Craig says. ''I'm not going to fight 
you in court. I reached down with my right hand to pick up the 
paper.''

Karsnia said in a police report that he recognized Craig's hand 
gesture as a signal aimed at initiating sex. ''It should be noted 
that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did 
Craig pick up a piece of paper,'' he said in the report.

Karsnia, 29, joined the airport police department just out of college 
in 2000 and was promoted to sergeant in 2005. Last year, he earned a 
master's degree in criminal justice, leadership and education.

------

Associated Press writers Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., Joshua Freed in 
Minneapolis, Todd Dvorak in Idaho and Liz Sidoti in Washington 
contributed to this report.
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