LARRY CRAIG CAUGHT IN THE ACT-- IN A PUBLIC TOILET-- ARRESTED-- PLEADS GUILTY

Apparently Bob Allen (R-FL) isn't the only homophobic right-wing loon addicted to furtive sex in public men's rooms. Idaho reactionary and well-known closet queen, Larry Craig, was arrested in a public toilet for misbehaving in a way closeted Republicans often do. So apparently it isn't just train stations' rest rooms that turn Senator Craig on. In June he was preying on unsuspecting men in the restroom of the Minneapolis Airport. It was hushed up-- until today.

According to a report in today's Roll Call the ultra conservative Idaho senator was arrested and plead guilty. He was taken into custody by a plainclothes policeman investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom.

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.

Craig was detained for approximately 45 minutes, interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released, and police prepared a formal complaint for interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig was arrested.

Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men's restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.

"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."

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

"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.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, 'No!' I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn't want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom."

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig "either disagreed with me or 'didn't recall' the events as they happened," the report states.

Craig stated "that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine," the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

"It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," the arresting officer said in the report.

On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the Minnesota court, Craig appeared via satellite at a ceremony that took place in Idaho in which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In October 2006, Craig's office publicly denied allegations that he was a homosexual made on a gay activist Web site--BlogActive. Craig's office told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the charge was "completely ridiculous," saying that the allegations had "no basis in fact."

Craig, who has the third most reactionary voting record in the entire United States Senate-- only John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) are (slightly) more extremist in their voting-- is likely to announce that he is not running for re-election in 2008, although it will be to spend more time with his "wife" and her (though not his) children in Chicago-- which isn't in Washington, DC or Idaho-- or anywhere near him and his boyfriends.

My friend Larry reminded me that when Tim Russert asked Senator Craig in 1999 if President should be acquitted he kept talking about what a "naughty boy" the president was.

Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure resolution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy. The question issue now is simply this: Did he lie under oath? Did he perjure himself and did he obstruct justice? And that's where we're trying to go now in this truth-seeking process.

Pam's got Larry Craig's homophobic voting record. This is how he was casting his ballots while prowling around looking for anonymous sex in public restrooms:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
  * Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
  * Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
  * Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
  * Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

Maybe the Republican Party should start a fund to help their incumbent closet cases with psychological care. Larry Craig is obviously screaming for help. The other hypocritical Republican senators denying they are gay while voting against equality for gay men and women and their families are Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). There are even more in the House but we're saving the names of most of them-- not the ones everyone knows about like David Dreier and Jim McCrery-- until a little closer to the election.


UPDATE: LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE IS GETTING OUT TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME

Everyone inside the Beltway knows about Senator's Craig's little eccentricities. Back in Idaho... not so much. But that seems to be changing. Here's coverage in the local paper and on the local TV station-- oops, two local TV stations.


UPDATE: LOOKS LIKE LARRY CRAIG WAS MESSIN' WITH THE PAGES TOO

But he was just a congressman then (early 80's) and, of course, he denied everything. Now he's a senator-- and, like many closeted congressional Republicans, a Mitt Romney backer. I guess he likes the chin. INSTANT UPDATE: CNN just reported that Senator Craig-- who still claims he wasn't cruising in the boy's room when he was arrested-- resigned from Flip Flop Mitt's campaign. (Romney already scrubbed the Larry Craig endorsement from his website and removed it from YouTube. I guess Romney doesn't believe Craig's lies.) This was the Larry Craig endorsement of Flip Flop Mitt. Romney's gonna be pissed but MyDD rescued the political love letter Craig recorded for his Mitt.