Idaho Reporter: Craig's Alleged Sex Partners Approached Paper

By: Joe Strupp The reporter who broke the story Sunday that five more men had come forward to claim sexual encounters with Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) says the claims of such trysts began within days of his previous story alleging the embattled senator's secret gay lifestyle.

Even so, reporter Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman in Boise told E&P today, the paper had no interest in seeking other examples of Craig's gay lifestyle, especially after he announced on Sept. 30 he was stepping down. "If he was out of office, it wasn't really relevant," Popkey said. "But then he decided to stay."

Although he was glad for the chance to back up his previous story with more proof of Craig's actions, Popkey admitted, "I don't like writing about anal sex for people who don?t want to read about it over their corn flakes."

During the week of Aug. 27, after the first bombshell broke, "I had at least two of the calls and they were from two men [whose stories] we eventually published [on Sunday]," said Popkey, a reporter/columnist for the Statesman. "We started getting calls after the first story ran and his denials and we checked them out."

That first story, on Aug. 28, was Popkey's account of Craig's alleged secret gay lifestyle and claims from three unidentified men of gay encounters with the senator, including one in a Washington, D.C., train station restroom. The story was published a day after revelations that Craig had pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his alleged attempt to have a sexual encounter in a Minneapolis airport men's room in June.

Popkey had begun investigating Craig's secret relationships in early 2007 after claims were made in late 2006 on a Web site that Craig had been living a secret lifestyle of sex with other men. The Statesman drew both support and criticism after it ran his August story, which Editor Vickie Gowler said at the time was only published once word of the guilty plea was reported.

But, unlike with the August story, Popkey contends that this time he did not go looking for more men claiming sex with Craig. In addition to the two men who contacted him within days of the first story, Popkey says a third eventually approached the paper with a gay sex story involving Craig and the friend of a fourth also got in touch with Popkey about an incident.

Popkey only contacted one of the five on his own, David Phillips, whose story was previously reported on Wonkette.com.

After Craig said in October that he had changed his mind and would remain in office, Popkey believed the other incidents became more newsworthy: "When he reversed himself, the issue became the senator's integrity and honesty."

Popkey said at least two of the five men were reluctant to be identified until Craig changed his mind about resigning: "That is when they agreed to be identified."

Although the majority of the story is based only on the five men's claims against Craig's denial, Popkey believes it was worth reporting and was properly reviewed. "There was a lot of [newsroom] discussion and I did a lot of verification," he says. "I did background checks on all of the five sources, it took a long time for the one unnamed source to be willing to do this."

Editor Vickie Gowler did not return calls seeking comment Monday.

Popkey stressed that the five new accounts were from men who did not know each other, but included enough similarities in the sexual acts to make them seem believable. "We checked out the stories," he said, adding that he even confirmed that Craig owned a Washington, D.C., home where one of the men claimed an encounter occurred.

The paper did not receive nearly the same volume of reaction on Sunday as it had for the August story, Popkey says, confirming, "e-mails and telephone calls haven't been as intense" -- this despite the fact that the story graphically described various sex acts. The Sunday story had received 147 online comments as of Monday afternoon.

Popkey said the paper's decision to post several audio interviews with the sources online "gives the listener the chance to decide."

Asked if the paper would seek more accounts of sexual encounters with Craig, Popkey said, "I don't know; the bar is set a little higher now. If someone has photos or voice mail or a love letter, that is different. After eight of them, I don't know what else you need."