Craig launches fight to stay on
Says he won't resign Senate if plea is reversed
WASHINGTON - Senator Larry Craig launched a campaign to save his political career yesterday, dismaying fellow Republicans with his determination to stay in the Senate if he successfully overturns the guilty plea he made last month after being arrested in a sex sting in an airport men's room.
The Idaho lawmaker told Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell that he plans to finish his term through 2008 if he manages to have the charges against him dismissed by Sept. 30. Meanwhile, his lawyers sought to quash an ethics committee investigation, prompting a public rebuff from the panel's leadership, who said that their probe will continue.
Craig pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after his arrest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, paid a fine, and was sentenced to a year's probation. He said on Saturday that he intended to resign at the end of the month.
But his new determination to fight surprised his colleagues and prompted a new round of calls that he step down.
"If he is able to get the case favorably disposed of in Minneapolis, it would be his intention to come back to the Senate . . . and to try to finish his term," McConnell told reporters after his discussion with Craig. He said he stood by his earlier comments that Craig should step down.
"Any reconsideration would be a mistake," said Senator Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican and an ally of the leadership, referring to Craig's earlier decision to resign.
The White House also pressed Craig to stick to his plan to resign. Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten noted on last night's PBS "News Hour" that President Bush called Craig after his announcement last weekend and considered it "the right decision for himself and for Idaho." Bolten added, "I think Senator Craig is going to conclude that that remains the right decision."
Craig's only outspoken supporter is his home-state colleague, Senator Michael Crapo, who told reporters, "I'll support whatever Larry does."
Craig's attorneys yesterday asked the Senate ethics committee not to pursue a complaint filed against him by GOP leaders, including McConnell. One of them, Stanley Brand, contended in a letter to the committee that it has not sanctioned senators for low-level offenses such as misdemeanors, and that it does not have the jurisdiction to investigate personal conduct not involved with official actions.
In letter released by the Senate GOP leadership, the committee said it will go forward with its inquiry as long as Craig continues to serve. The letter - cosigned by Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, who head the evenly divided bipartisan panel - quoted the chamber's ethics manual as saying that senators can be reprimanded for "any misconduct, including conduct or activity which does not directly relate to official duties, when such conduct unfavorably reflects on the institution as a whole."
In a statement last night, Craig responded, "It is my intent to fight the case before the ethics committee while I am a sitting senator, so that I can have my name cleared."
What is unclear from Craig's statements, and his comments to McConnell, are his intentions if his effort to overturn the Minnesota plea is successful and results in a judge scheduling a full trial on the charges against him. Aides and legal advisers declined to say whether Craig would then return to the Senate and battle both the criminal case in Minnesota and the ethics inquiry on Capitol Hill beyond the end of September.
According to legal analysts, a full public trial is about the best outcome Craig could hope for in his legal case. Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer Jon Hopeman said it is "almost impossible" to withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing without showing that "the person did not understand the nature of the legal proceeding." 