Idaho Newspaper Editorials Not Kind to Larry Craig

By: Idaho newspaper editorial writers were not kind to Senator Larry Craig as he announced yesterday that he is going to stay in the Senate for the last 15 months of his term.

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From the Idaho Statesman
At least the mind games are over. Unfortunately, the circus is just beginning.

Sen. Larry Craig, who has danced around his intentions for two months, has finally made clear what he is going to do.

And what a bad decision he made.

Craig said Thursday he will continue to represent Idaho in the U.S. Senate through the end of his term. Fifteen more months. Fifteen more months of fodder for late-night talk show hosts and comics. The term "wide stance" has already become synonymous with Idaho politicians.

Craig had earlier announced he would resign his seat by Sept. 30, but then wavered when he went to court in hopes of withdrawing his plea. A Minnesota judge on Thursday denied Craig's request to rescind that guilty plea in a men's room sex sting.

Craig said he's disappointed and will continue to "explore" legal options while attempting to represent Idaho on issues as important as the war in Iraq, the health care crisis and the federal deficit. He insists his seniority and important committee assignments make him too valuable to Idaho.

But, he and we will be distracted by a Senate Ethics Committee and its hearings, which could be public, in what is certain to be brutally ugly, possibly on live TV, and centered on men having sex with men.

If Craig would have resigned as he had promised, he could have ended this tragic story. Now, members of the media will continue to check rumors, tips and allegations. More stories and editorials will be printed across the country. More witnesses may be forced to come forward.

Does he not recognize the setback this causes his own party? Democrats are cheering today, knowing they will not have to challenge an incumbent in the 2008 election.

But what's most troubling is we believe he's more interested in clearing his name than he is concerned about what's best for Idaho.

He is a lame-duck senator with a tarnished reputation who has been shunned by Senate colleagues and stripped of his leadership positions. Craig himself admitted that he cannot properly serve Idaho under this kind of legal fight.

Remember? On Sept. 1, he told us: "To pursue my legal options as I continue to serve Idaho would be an unwanted and unfair distraction of my job and for my Senate colleagues." What he is doing today is exactly what he said -- unfair.

We don't even know for sure if Craig will retire at the end of his term. He may be playing more games with the statement he made Thursday. "I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee -- something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate."

If the committee does not complete its task before the end of his term, could Craig use these words as a basis to run for re-election?

"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."

Those are Larry Craig's words, not ours. We also deserve a senator who tells us the truth and keeps his promises.

From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

It's over Larry.

It's time to pack the bags, sell the yacht, and move on. All the PR stunts and backpedaling and arguing over toilet paper proved to be pointless, and now Idaho's elder statesman in the U.S. Senate needs to send the note to Gov. Butch Otter and resign.

A Minnesota judge this morning ruled that he wasn't going to allow Republican Sen. Larry Craig to withdraw his guilty plea. That means his conviction on the disorderly conduct charges stands, and his almost three decades in Washington, D.C., need to come to a close.

Craig has spent the last month trying to reshape his image all the while hoping for a legal miracle that would erase his embarrassing arrest during a sting at a Minneapolis airport designed to root out those who troll the toilets for love. It hasn't worked.

But that's not why Craig needs to follow through with his already announced plans to resign.

His credibility with voters and colleagues in the Senate is shot; he's been stripped of his committee leadership positions and members of his own party want his resignation. His ability to represent the people of Idaho has been flushed.

There are no more deals to be made or chits to call in. Craig announced he would resign Sept. 30, and then postponed the move while the judge was deliberating.
That's left Idaho in limbo as the governor patiently defers to the sitting senator. Until Otter receives the official notification from Craig, any talk of a replacement is pushed to the back room and the back burner. Idaho's most significant participation in the national discussion has been on late-night television and YouTube.

Idaho has been through enough in the last month.
Now it's time for Craig to conclude his service and let the state move on.

From the Idaho State Journal
Larry Craig might think he's somehow saving his legacy by vowing to finish his Senate term in defiance of Thursday's court decision upholding his guilty plea in a men's room sex sting. But Craig's decision to stay in office will hurt many, including Craig himself, especially his fellow Republicans and maybe politicians of all parties.

Craig's legacy will never recover from his arrest in the restroom of a Minneapolis airport. The police interrogation tape of Craig, explaining unpersuasively how he wasn't really soliciting gay sex from an undercover cop, is difficult to forget or discount.

Even tougher to brush aside is the fact that Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for his actions in the men's room. Pleading guilty is not how the vast majority of Americans veteran legislators included would react to being falsely accused.

More odd is Craig's reasoning for his guilty plea.
He blames the media, saying the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise had hounded him so much about his alleged homosexuality that when arrested in Minneapolis he admitted to a crime he didn't commit, hoping the matter would just go away.

Craig's a well-known U.S. senator. How could he ever think that word of his arrest for soliciting gay sex would never get out? The miscalculations by Craig in this scandal are many and paint an unsettling picture of our senator. When news broke of Craig's arrest, the senator held a press conference during which he said again and again that he's not gay, as if that's what he was charged with.

After Republicans in many other parts of the country urged Craig to step down, the senator held a second press conference in which he announced his resignation, effective Sept. 30.

But then, word began to trickle from the Craig camp that the senator was going to fight the charges and if his name could be cleared, he would stay in office.
Idaho Republicans, mostly silent prior to Craig's resignation announcement, then began to voice their support for Craig. They encouraged him to fight to rescind his guilty plea. They urged him to stay in office. And that's what Craig's doing.

Despite the court's ruling and his own guilty plea, he says he's innocent. He said he will continue to work to clear his name in the criminal court system and with the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig says it would not be possible for him to prove his innocence to the committee if he did not remain in the Senate.

The good news is that Craig will retire at the end of his term next year. But more than Craig's legacy will suffer from his selfish and futile attempt to save face.
Some Idaho Republicans might think it's a victory for Craig to remain in office, but Republicans elsewhere see Craig's presence in the Senate as a painful, long-term liability.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, knows the toll the Craig scandal will take on the GOP. "(Craig) gave us his word that he would resign," Ensign said. "I'm calling on Senator Craig to keep his word. If he loves the party, and he loves the Senate, the honorable thing to do is to resign."

Who knows what implications the Craig scandal could have on the Republican Party. The senator's decision to stay in office promises to provide more fodder for those who decry politicians of all parties. Such loss of faith in our government is bad for Democrats too.

The Craig scandal has made Idaho the butt of jokes nationwide, from "The Tonight Show" to the Emmys. What a shame that our great state is being so besmirched because of Craig. We implore Craig's fellow lawmakers as well as Idahoans of all political persuasions to encourage him to do what he has promised.

Craig must put his pride aside, take responsibility for this mess and vacate his Senate seat.

Idaho newspaper editorial writers were not kind to Senator Larry Craig as he announced yesterday that he is going to stay in the Senate for the last 15 months of his term.

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From the Twin Falls Times-News
After 27 years on Capitol Hill, Larry Craig has decided that serving Idaho isn't as important as serving himself.
Why else would he announce Thursday that he's decided to stay in the Senate for the remaining 15 months of his term?

Craig's power is gone. His seniority has evaporated. His credibility has disappeared, especially after announcing 35 days ago that he would resign in the wake of his guilty plea for soliciting an undercover policeman in a rest room at the Minneapolis airport.

The senator changed his mind Thursday after a Minnesota judge rejected Craig's request to withdraw that guilty plea. Idaho, he's decided, can't do without Larry Craig in the Senate even though Senate Republican leaders have made it abundantly clear they would rather do without Craig.

But ego is a curious thing. It warps human judgment in ways that confound comprehension.

By his decision Thursday, Craig is headed for an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee that will drag out his indiscretion -- and Idaho's shame -- for weeks. David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jon Stewart will have comedy material until the day Craig leaves the Senate in 2009.

And Idaho will effectively have just one senator, Mike Crapo. Craig's 47 other GOP colleagues -- much less the Democrats who run the Senate -- are unlikely to cut a deal with the lamest of lame ducks in recent memory.
Yet the senator has accomplished one thing: He's single-handedly made next year's Democratic nominee for his Idaho Senate seat a viable candidate.

Larry Craig will be the issue in that election, and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch or whomever the Republicans choose will have to defend his actions from day one of the campaign.

What a sad and sorry turn of events for a man who used to be Idaho's most effective senator since Jim McClure and Frank Church.

Perhaps Craig genuinely feels that he has nothing to lose. That's too bad, because Idaho sure does.