Idaho senator quits in scandal
Successor likely to be Republican
WASHINGTON - Under heavy pressure from fellow Republicans, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho yesterday resigned from office, saying the embarrassment of his guilty plea in a gay sex sting operation at a Minneapolis airport had become too much of a distraction for him to continue his job.
"I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry," the veteran Washington lawmaker, surrounded by his family and state GOP officials, said at a press conference in Boise.
Craig, a three-term incumbent, had appeared headed for easy reelection next year in his conservative state. Now Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, a Republican, is expected to name another Republican to fill the remainder of Craig's term, leaving the party breakdown in the Senate at 51-49, with Democrats in control.
Idaho is a reliably Republican state, and while Democrats had a surprisingly strong showing last year in an open congressional race, winning the Senate seat next year would be an extremely difficult quest for the Democrats.
Craig's resignation came after an uncharacteristically swift and harsh series of condemnations by Republican lawmakers. Some party leaders had blamed the party's 2006 electoral losses on not moving quickly enough to oust scandal-tinged Republicans.
"These are serious times of war and of conflict," Craig said yesterday, in a short press conference in which he did not refer to the specifics of the incident that ended his political career. "The people of Idaho deserve a senator who can devote 100 percent of his time and effort to the critical issues of our state and of our nation."
He said he would step down effective Sept. 30.
Otter said he had made no decision on a replacement for Craig, but Idaho's Republican lieutenant governor, Jim Risch, is widely considered to be a top candidate.
While several lawmakers - including Democratic Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana - are battling charges of illegality, the suggestion that Craig was engaged in gay sex created a more complicated political problem for the GOP. The party is already at odds with the social conservative wing, which is unhappy with the records of several of the GOP's leading presidential contenders.
Some activist groups contrasted the effort to purge Craig, who was accused of soliciting gay sex, with the comparative silence surrounding Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter's admission of "a serious sin" in connection with a Washington call-girl ring.
But Craig, 62 and married, found himself with few political allies after a Capitol Hill newspaper reported last week that he had pleaded guilty in early August to disorderly conduct in a men's airport restroom. The arresting officer - conducting a sting to catch gay men having sex in the public bathroom - said Craig had engaged in behavior commonly used to solicit sex, such as tapping his foot in the bathroom stall and touching the arresting officer's foot with his own.
The senator last week emphatically denied that he is gay, and yesterday he said he would pursue his legal options.
"I have little control over what people choose to believe, but clearly my name is important to me," Craig said yesterday. Craig last week said he had erred in pleading guilty after his arrest in June, saying he hoped his plea would make the episode "go away" and spare him a court appearance.
It is not clear what recourse is available to Craig, who signed a statement Aug. 8 that said, "I make no claim that I am innocent of the charge to which I am entering a plea of guilty."
The embarrassment of the details of the arrest - lampooned on websites that recreated the episode as described in the police report - left Craig in a politically isolated position.
Gay rights organizations did not rush to the defense of the conservative senator, who has consistently voted against gay rights measures and who opposes gay marriage. His party, too, largely abandoned the longtime GOP member.
Republican leaders said they would refer the matter to the Senate Ethics Committee. Senator minority leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Missouri, called Craig's behavior "unforgivable," and several GOP senators suggested Craig should resign - a stunning rebuke by colleagues normally reluctant to criticize a fellow senator.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney denounced Craig's behavior, and Craig quickly stepped down as the Romney campaign's Idaho director.
Republicans have focused on Craig's guilty plea - and his subsequent failure to reveal it to his family or his colleagues - as the basis for their condemnation. But others denounced the "hypocrisy" of a party that has not pressured Vitter to step down.
"I'm struck by the appalling double standard," said Marc Stanley, vice president of the national Jewish Democratic Council, suggesting that Vitter remained in office because a replacement would probably have been from the Democratic Party.
"It's clearly politics - Idaho has a Republican governor, and Louisiana has a Democratic governor," he said.
Republican relief yesterday over Craig's resignation was swift. McConnell issued a statement moments after Craig's press conference saying the Idaho lawmaker "made a difficult decision, but the right one. It is my hope he will be remembered not for this, but for his three decades of dedicated public service."
The White House - which last week opined that it was disappointed in Craig's arrest record - speedily issued a statement welcoming Craig's move as "the right decision." President Bush also called the senator, said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.
The scandal has presented another headache for Republicans, who are already dealing with Vitter's case and corruption allegations against veteran Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.
The party also lost a respected Senate statesman on Friday, when Senator John Warner, 80, of Virginia announced he would not seek another term.
Warner's departure creates a newly competitive Senate race in the Old Dominion State, making it harder for the GOP to regain control of the US Senate next year.
While Democrats such as Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and the late Gerry Studds could survive revelations of their past gay relationships - Frank's, with a gay prostitute, and Studds's, with an underage congressional page - Craig's guilty plea did not sit well with Republicans.
The Log Cabin Republicans, which supports gay rights, said Craig had lost his credibility by his handling of the June episode at the Minneapolis airport.
"His actions in Minnesota and the way he handled this situation showed terrible judgment," said Patrick Sammon, president of the group. "His explanation for pleading guilty was absurd, and his denial was not believable." 