Senate Ethics Committee: Craig Acted Improper

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

On Wednesday, February 13, in Washington DC, the Senate Ethics Committee had rebuked and dismissed the attempt by Idaho Senator Larry Craig to withdraw his earlier guilty plea of being involved getting a service by a male prostitute in a sex sting taking place in the men’s room at an airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The panel that made up the Ethics Committee comprising of three Democrats and three Republicans had sent a letter to Senator Craig. In that letter, the panel said that Craig’s attempt to withdraw his guilty plea was a means of trying to evade the legal consequences and ramifications of his actions.

All six members had said to the Idaho senator that they believed that he had acted improper to the offense in which he had given the guilty plea. They add that he voluntarily entered the plea with an intelligent state of mine. In addition, they had scolded Craig for showing the arresting officer the business card in which he was identified as a senator for the United States Senate.

In the letter sent to Craig, the committee had written: “You knew or should have known that a reasonable person in the position of the arresting officer could view your action and statement as an improper attempt by you to use your position and status … to receive special and favorable treatment.”

That was the only action taken against Larry Craig at the moment. For the time being, there is no further action being taken against the senator.

Craig had withdrawn the guilty plea once it was made public. Originally, he planned to resign from his position last year in September. He is opting to remain as senator until January of 2009 when his term expires.

The letter sent to Craig cannot be appealed, according to the spokeswoman of the Ethics Committee.

The scandal surrounding Craig was added onto the list of scandals let alone sex-related scandals that have plagued the GOP since 2006 and 2007. Before the sex sting arrest, the other recent sex scandal in the GOP involved Mark Foley, the former US Representative from Florida.