BOISE, IDAHO - Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate in the midst of his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.
Through intermediaries and unusually harsh public statements and actions, party officials made it clear they wanted Craig to quit before Congress returns from its summer recess next week, hoping to quickly conclude an embarrassing episode that threatened to complicate an already difficult election cycle for Senate Republicans.
The three-term Republican senator had maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.
Although several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations said Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter favored Lt. Gov. Jim Risch as a replacement, both Otter aides and Risch said no decision had been made.
Despite such unusual steps against a Senate colleague, Republicans took no punitive action against Sen. David Vitter, R-La., after his acknowledgement this summer of involvement with an escort service that police have described as a prostitution front.
“I have not been promised the job of U.S. senator, nor has there even been a hint that the governor would appoint me to that position,” Risch told the AP. “At this point in time, that discussion is very premature.”
Mark Warbis, a spokesman for Otter, said the governor would not comment until he hears from Craig.
Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, had said earlier that the senator would announce his career plans Saturday. The spokesman would not say whether Craig intended to resign.
For four days, Republican officials engaged in an almost unprecedented campaign to persuade Craig to step down. Speaking to reporters in his home state of Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, on Thursday called Craig’s conduct “unforgivable.”
GOP lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts on Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig’s actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig complied with the request.
With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, Craig said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty “in hopes of making it go away.”
President Bush yesterday ignored a shouted question on whether Craig should quit, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated Craig, 62, would be forced out if he refused to take the increasingly unsubtle hints to go.
to line up former Gov. Mark Warner to run if the seat became open.
The contest for control of the next Senate was already tilted against Republicans, who must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot next year, before the Craig scandal and Warner’s announcement.
Craig and airport police Sgt. Dave Karsnia disagreed about virtually everything that had occurred - including
whether there was a piece of paper on the floor of the stall and the meaning of the senator’s hand gestures.
Craig denied that he had used foot and hand gestures to signal interest in a sexual encounter.
“I’m not gay. I don’t do these kinds of things,” Craig told the officer. “You shouldn’t be out to entrap people.”
Craig said earlier this week he would try to retract his guilty plea. But the Minnesota airport police’s releaseThursday of the tape of his arrest made that move unlikely.
“The absence of indignation in Craig’s voice was most telling,” Fordham University law Prof. Jim Cohen said.
“It would be astonishing to me if he could find a judge who would take back the guilty plea,” Cohen said.