ggoose25
08-30-2007, 08:00 AM
In Idaho, Sen. Craig’s Future Looks Grim
In Idaho, some GOP officials and voters have doubts about Sen. Larry Craig’s explanation for his arrest in an airport restroom.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Kevin Taylor
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 7:46 p.m. CT Aug 29, 2007
Aug. 29, 2007 - Only hours after conservative Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s Tuesday press conference in Boise to defend himself against allegations that he’s secretly had sex with men, members of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee gathered upstate in Coeur D’Alene for their regular monthly meeting. Committee chairman Brad Corkill was bracing for a possibly raucous gathering, given the media frenzy about Craig’s June arrest for lewd behavior in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Corkill managed to keep the meeting focused mostly on local elections. But he allowed a local Craig aide, Sandy Patano, to make a statement in defense of her boss. She insisted on his innocence, apologized on his behalf to Idahoans and attacked the Idaho Statesman newspaper for its investigation of Craig. “When [Patano] finished, she got a round of applause,” said Corkill. But after the meeting was over, Corkill added, “I had an individual come up to me and just rip me apart. Wow. Wow. He was spitting mad and said I didn’t let the other side talk.”
In the wake of Craig’s arrest, opinions about the senator are divided and often inflamed in his home state. With his third Senate term coming to a close, Craig reiterated Tuesday that he would decide whether to seek re-election by next month. Already, national Republicans appear to be abandoning him in droves. Party leaders in Washington called for an Ethics Committee review of his case, four GOP lawmakers (and counting) have called on him to resign and presidential candidate Mitt Romney—for whose campaign Craig served as a Senate liaison—severed ties to him. But it’s back home in Idaho, where his constituents are, that attitudes matter most. And judging from the reaction there so far, Craig’s future looks grim.
Plenty of rank-and-file Republicans sound outraged. “Nobody that I know wants to defend Larry Craig on this,” said one GOP member, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions from the party leadership. “It is apparent that he lied to us.” This individual lamented the blow the GOP took from Florida Rep. Mark Foley, who became embroiled in a scandal last year involving congressional pages. The Craig controversy threatens to further tarnish the party’s image. “This is just not acceptable to the common man in Idaho,” the party member said. “I don’t think it’s acceptable behavior anywhere.”
On the state’s political blogs and newspaper Web sites, many Idahoans fumed at their senior senator and called for his head. “Larry, it’s time to fall on your sword,” read one posting. “He is a disgrace to Idaho,” read another. “I suggest each of you go to his Web site and request him to resign.” True, there were some who defended Craig, like “John,” who wrote on the Coeur D’Alene Press Web site that the senator “is an honorable and dignified man. He is certainly not gay. It is really sad to see his good name dragged through the mud by the liberal media.” (Yet the prevailing mood online seemed unforgiving.
Faced with grass-roots disgruntlement, the state party leadership responded largely with silence. Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter, a Republican, and his wife, Lori, had a chance to sit down with Craig and Craig's wife, Suzanne, said Otter press aide Jon Hanian on Wednesday. "Basically [the governor] talked about his own mistakes in private life [notably a DUI arrest in the early 1990s] and said Craig will find out who his friends are, and that [Otter] was not a fair-weather friend," Hanian said. Otter would not discuss whether Craig should resign, saying that decision belongs to the senator.
Over in Coeur D’Alene, the party leaders who emerged from the Kootenai County gathering argued that voters should withhold judgment until more information comes out. Craig “has been good for Idaho for a long time,” said Corkill, the committee chairman, citing examples like the senator’s work on behalf of struggling timber-dependent counties in the western part of the state. “This is just sad,” added Duane Rasmussen, a local attorney.
With local media in overdrive, the controversy is likely to continue growing. On Tuesday, the Idaho Statesman published the results of a five-month investigation into allegations that Craig was gay and had made advances on other men in public places. The report describes how writer Dan Popkey confronted the senator in May with an audio recording by a man who described an alleged sexual encounter with someone he believed to be Craig in a bathroom in Washington’s Union Station. Craig responded with vehement denials similar to those he made at his press conference Tuesday where he also attacked the newspaper.
But many Idahoans appear to be having a hard time swallowing Craig’s story. Dave Oliveria, who heads up the Huckleberries Online blog for the Spokesman-Review newspaper’s Coeur D’Alene bureau, says he conducted an unscientific online poll asking readers if they believed Craig’s denial. Within two hours, he had 87 responses; 22 were No, and 49 were “Hell No.” Craig will have quite a bit more explaining to do if he hopes to hold on to his job.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20502875/site/newsweek/page/0/
In Idaho, some GOP officials and voters have doubts about Sen. Larry Craig’s explanation for his arrest in an airport restroom.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Kevin Taylor
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 7:46 p.m. CT Aug 29, 2007
Aug. 29, 2007 - Only hours after conservative Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s Tuesday press conference in Boise to defend himself against allegations that he’s secretly had sex with men, members of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee gathered upstate in Coeur D’Alene for their regular monthly meeting. Committee chairman Brad Corkill was bracing for a possibly raucous gathering, given the media frenzy about Craig’s June arrest for lewd behavior in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Corkill managed to keep the meeting focused mostly on local elections. But he allowed a local Craig aide, Sandy Patano, to make a statement in defense of her boss. She insisted on his innocence, apologized on his behalf to Idahoans and attacked the Idaho Statesman newspaper for its investigation of Craig. “When [Patano] finished, she got a round of applause,” said Corkill. But after the meeting was over, Corkill added, “I had an individual come up to me and just rip me apart. Wow. Wow. He was spitting mad and said I didn’t let the other side talk.”
In the wake of Craig’s arrest, opinions about the senator are divided and often inflamed in his home state. With his third Senate term coming to a close, Craig reiterated Tuesday that he would decide whether to seek re-election by next month. Already, national Republicans appear to be abandoning him in droves. Party leaders in Washington called for an Ethics Committee review of his case, four GOP lawmakers (and counting) have called on him to resign and presidential candidate Mitt Romney—for whose campaign Craig served as a Senate liaison—severed ties to him. But it’s back home in Idaho, where his constituents are, that attitudes matter most. And judging from the reaction there so far, Craig’s future looks grim.
Plenty of rank-and-file Republicans sound outraged. “Nobody that I know wants to defend Larry Craig on this,” said one GOP member, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions from the party leadership. “It is apparent that he lied to us.” This individual lamented the blow the GOP took from Florida Rep. Mark Foley, who became embroiled in a scandal last year involving congressional pages. The Craig controversy threatens to further tarnish the party’s image. “This is just not acceptable to the common man in Idaho,” the party member said. “I don’t think it’s acceptable behavior anywhere.”
On the state’s political blogs and newspaper Web sites, many Idahoans fumed at their senior senator and called for his head. “Larry, it’s time to fall on your sword,” read one posting. “He is a disgrace to Idaho,” read another. “I suggest each of you go to his Web site and request him to resign.” True, there were some who defended Craig, like “John,” who wrote on the Coeur D’Alene Press Web site that the senator “is an honorable and dignified man. He is certainly not gay. It is really sad to see his good name dragged through the mud by the liberal media.” (Yet the prevailing mood online seemed unforgiving.
Faced with grass-roots disgruntlement, the state party leadership responded largely with silence. Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter, a Republican, and his wife, Lori, had a chance to sit down with Craig and Craig's wife, Suzanne, said Otter press aide Jon Hanian on Wednesday. "Basically [the governor] talked about his own mistakes in private life [notably a DUI arrest in the early 1990s] and said Craig will find out who his friends are, and that [Otter] was not a fair-weather friend," Hanian said. Otter would not discuss whether Craig should resign, saying that decision belongs to the senator.
Over in Coeur D’Alene, the party leaders who emerged from the Kootenai County gathering argued that voters should withhold judgment until more information comes out. Craig “has been good for Idaho for a long time,” said Corkill, the committee chairman, citing examples like the senator’s work on behalf of struggling timber-dependent counties in the western part of the state. “This is just sad,” added Duane Rasmussen, a local attorney.
With local media in overdrive, the controversy is likely to continue growing. On Tuesday, the Idaho Statesman published the results of a five-month investigation into allegations that Craig was gay and had made advances on other men in public places. The report describes how writer Dan Popkey confronted the senator in May with an audio recording by a man who described an alleged sexual encounter with someone he believed to be Craig in a bathroom in Washington’s Union Station. Craig responded with vehement denials similar to those he made at his press conference Tuesday where he also attacked the newspaper.
But many Idahoans appear to be having a hard time swallowing Craig’s story. Dave Oliveria, who heads up the Huckleberries Online blog for the Spokesman-Review newspaper’s Coeur D’Alene bureau, says he conducted an unscientific online poll asking readers if they believed Craig’s denial. Within two hours, he had 87 responses; 22 were No, and 49 were “Hell No.” Craig will have quite a bit more explaining to do if he hopes to hold on to his job.
© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20502875/site/newsweek/page/0/