from staff reports
Aug 27 2007, 8:15 PM |
|  | 
News surfaced today that U.S.
Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June in an investigation into lewd
conduct conducted by Minnesota police in a men’s restroom there.
Craig pleaded guilty
earlier this month to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct following a
June 11 incident in a Minnesota airport men’s room where police said he was
giving hand and foot signals to a man in the next stall who was an undercover
officer according to a report published today in Roll Call, which broke the
story.
Craig’s arrest occurred at
the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the report said. It said the
senator paid more than $500 in fines and fees, avoiding a 10-day jail sentence.
He’ll be on probation for a year, Roll Call said.
Airport police handled the
investigation but were closed Monday evening when the Blade tried to reach its
office to confirm the report. A representative told the Blade the arrest report
would be available Tuesday. Check back to the Blade’s web site for updates on
this breaking story.
The Roll Call account also
said Craig, who is married and has claimed to be straight, was detained for
about 45 minutes, interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released after
police filed a formal complaint for interference with privacy and disorderly
conduct.
Police were there, the
paper said, to investigate complaints of sexual activity in that particular
restroom. Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11,
when Craig allegedly gestured to him from a neighboring stall.
Craig told police he may
have accidentally touched the foot of the person in the next stall and that he
only reached down to pick a piece of paper off the floor. Karsnia discounted
Craig’s story in the Roll Call report.
Gay blogger Mike Rogers
last year outed Craig, claiming to know of men with whom Craig allegedly had some kind of sexual activity, but Craig denied the allegations
and Rogers wouldn’t name his source.
The Blade was approached in
December by the Idaho Statesman, an Idaho daily newspaper, which had a reporter
on assignment in Washington to investigate reports that Craig was gay.
Craig supported both the
Federal Marriage Amendment and a constitutional amendment against same-sex
marriage in Idaho. He has stated previously that he doesn’t support
non-discrimination and hate crimes legislation and would not pledge that his
office would not discriminate against gays.
Some gay rights activists
spoke out Monday against Craig. Matt Foreman, executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force called Craig an “infuriating pathetic
hypocrite.”
Craig's arrest and guilty plea has already had repercussions for
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of
Massachusetts.
Craig was an
early supporter of Romney's presidential bid, and the Romney campaign recently
posted a video of Craig praising Romney on YouTube, the widely viewed online
video site. Today, shortly after news about Craig's arrest surfaced, the Romney
campaign withdrew the Craig video from YouTube.
|
