Senator pleads guilty in conduct case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Sen. Larry E. Craig, Idaho Republican, acknowledged yesterday that he had pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after being arrested in a men’s toilet at the Minneapolis airport.

A Hennepin County court docket showed Mr. Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.

The court docket said the senator was ordered to pay $575 in fines and fees. He was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper that first reported the case, said on its Web site yesterday that Mr. Craig was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of “lewd conduct” in a men’s restroom at the airport.

Mr. Craig said in a statement issued by his office that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

“At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions,” he said. “I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously.”

Sidney Smith, a Craig aide in Boise, Idaho, said yesterday afternoon that the senator was “in the [Boise] area” but was declining to give interviews.

Mr. Craig, 62, is married with three children and in his third term in the Senate. He is up for re-election next year but had not said whether he plans to run. An announcement was expected this fall.

Mr. Smith was not certain whether his boss’s guilty plea would affect his re-election plans, saying “it’s too early to talk about” such matters.

But the plea already was felt in the 2008 Republican presidential race.

Matt Rhoades, a spokesman for the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said Mr. Craig “has stepped down from his role with the campaign. He did not want to be a distraction, and we accept his decision.” Mr. Craig had been one of Mr. Romney’s top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February.

Minneapolis airport police declined to provide a copy of the arrest report after business hours yesterday.

Roll Call, citing the report, said Sgt. Dave Karsnia made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Mr. Craig. Sgt. Karsnia described Mr. Craig tapping his foot, which Sgt. Karsnia said he “recognized as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.”

Roll Call quoted the Aug. 8 police report as saying that Mr. Craig handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a member of the Senate.

“What do you think about that?” Mr. Craig is accused in the report of having said.