Washington – To the dismay of fellow Republicans, Sen. Larry Craig launched a determined drive to save his seat on Wednesday, vowing to stay in office if allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in a men’s room sex sting.
Craig’s campaign suffered an instant setback, however, when the ethics committee refused to set aside a complaint lodged against him. “Pending Sen. Craig’s resignation, the committee will continue to review this matter,” the committee’s senior senators wrote.
The decision to deploy his legal team marked a reversal of his pledge to resign on Sept. 30, and raised the possibility of a protracted legal and political struggle, much of it playing out in public, with gay sex at its core.
“I thought he made the correct decision, the difficult but correct decision to resign” over the weekend, said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky after he and Craig spoke by telephone. “That would still be my view today.”
Craig made no public statements during the day, although he met privately in Boise with Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, who has the authority to fill any vacancy in the state’s Senate delegation.
“We are proceeding based on the assumption that there is going to be a transition at the end of the month,” said Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman.
McConnell spoke hours after Craig’s attorney, Stanley Brand, asked the ethics committee not to investigate the complaint because events were “wholly unrelated” to official duties.
