Mark Levin on Senator Larry Craig Resigning

So, Larry Craig is gone. He solicited sex without actually soliciting sex or having sex. He pled guilty, but not to lewd behavior — to disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor). He is said to have a secret life involving same sex partners, but where are all these partners? According to one report, a guy in college believes Craig hit on him in 1967. Another says he “believes” he performed oral sex on the senator in a restroom at Union Station. He’s not 100-percent sure. If Craig has been living this secret life since 1967, you’d think others would come forward at some point. Maybe they will. So far, they haven’t. Indeed, where is all the evidence of Craig’s seedy life? Where are the photos, the video, the audio, the solid witnesses, and the rest of the evidence? And if the case against Craig in that airport restroom was so compelling, if it was so sleazy, if authorities wanted to send a message to others, why didn’t prosecutors take Craig to trial? Why let him go with a disorderly conduct misdemeanor? Were they doing him a favor? I don’t think so. They conducted a sting operation without any sting. Let me suggest not only couldn’t they make a gross misdemeanor charge stick, they would have lost the disorderly conduct charge, too. Read the statute. But the law is an ass, as they say. This is an issue of morality. . . .

I think that Mark is right on. As I noted last Thursday, The biggest problem that I have is that sexual relations in a restroom should be punished. I don't think that simple foot tapping or even having one's shoe briefly touch another person's shoe should be a criminal offense.

Transcript of Senator Larry Craig's Police Interview

A copy of Senator Craig's police interview is available here. After reading this, I am not exactly sure what to make of this case. Could I see someone dropping a piece of paper and having their foot briefly move up to the side of the stall divider? Sure. I guess that I would want to have something a lot more definitive about someone than that. This seems like awfully weak evidence. The thing that worries me the most is that I had no clue that this type of action could get you arrested. I could just imagine myself wiggling around in a stall sometime and accidentally creating this "signal." Is it possible that Craig knew what he was doing and it happened exactly as the officer describes with the intent that the officer attributes to the events? Sure. But while I am inclined to believe the police officer, I would like something more here as evidence. Apparently the officer knew Craig was a Senator before this interview took place and that could introduce all sorts of biases.

The biggest problem that I have is that sexual relations in a restroom should be punished. I don't think that simple foot tapping or even having one's shoe briefly touch another person's shoe should be a criminal offense.

UPDATE: After reading the transcript again, especially the beginning, I have become more convinced that Craig did something wrong. What convinces me of that is Craig's claim that the officer had tried to entrap him. At the very least that implies that Craig positively responded to some advance by the officer. Possibly Craig simply mispoke, but it would have been better if he had simply said that the police offiicer was inaccurate, which is what he says later on in the discussion.

Senator Larry Craig Arrested for disorderly conduct in June

Larry Craig has probably been the most important single Senator on the gun issue. This seems like very bad news. It appears as if he pleaded guilty to the charges. If this is true and it is truly very sad, it appears that Craig should resign from the Senate.

Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in June in Minnesota and paid $575 in fines and fees for a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, FOX News learned Monday.

A Hennepin County (Minn.) District Court spokesperson said Craig's case was put off and could be dismissed after one year of unsupervised probation. A 10-day prison sentence was stayed. . . . .