The Daily Background

Okay, so remember when Bob Allen, the Florida state lawmaker who is a state co-chair for John McCain’s presidential bid, got arrested in a bathroom for offering oral sex to an undercover police officer for money?

Yeah, well another Republican is in trouble for something similar, it appears. Sorta, kinda, maybe. Roll Call:

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.

Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.

My, my. Lewd sexual conduct in a bathroom. Plus tries to intimidate a police officer by making a big deal out of the fact that he’s a Senator.

Worthy of note: Craig is up for re-election in 2008, though his seat was ranked as “currently safe” by election-guru Stu Rothenberg in his latest rankings, published July 27th.

Update: Okay, a few more thoughts. If this was all just “a misunderstanding” as his spokespeople say, then why did he plead guilty to lewd conduct and agree to pay a fine and be on probation for a full year? Also, from the details of the case as told by the undercover police officer involved, it sure doesn’t sound like a misunderstanding to me:

“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,” the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door. “My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”
[…]
“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog