Craig hits back at Romney

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Idaho Senator Larry E. Craig is lashing out at Mitt Romney, who unceremoniously dumped Craig from his campaign after Craig's arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom sex sting and called the conduct "disgraceful."

"I'd worked hard for him here in the state," Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview to be aired Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "I was a co-chair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."

The Romney campaign responded to Craig's remarks by issuing a statement that the senator resigned from his campaign positions "because he did not want to be a distraction."

"Governor Romney simply believes that a public office is a public trust," spokesman Kevin Madden said in the statement. "He believes when a public official enters a guilty plea, they have broken that public trust and should step aside for the sake of their constituents. Governor Romney believes that we need to have higher ethical standards in Washington with a very clear line that should not be crossed."

In February, Romney announced that Craig and Senator Robert Bennett of Utah would serve as his Senate liaisons, praising their "strong conservative records" and saying that they had "a unique perspective of the new generation of challenges confronting our nation." In May, Romney's campaign also announced that Craig would be cochairman of the Romney for President Idaho Leadership Team, a group of prominent business and community leaders.

"Our government is in need of a proven leader like Governor Romney, who will put in place benchmarks and streamline our government using proven conservative principles," Craig said in the Romney campaign's announcement.

But immediately after news of Craig's arrest broke in August, Romney severed his connections to Craig and compared the scandal to those involving former President Bill Clinton and former Congressman Mark Foley.

Craig announced plans to resign from the Senate after a guilty plea to disorderly conduct, but has since begun efforts to withdraw that plea and announced plans to serve out his term.