Larry Craig

Larry Craig

Larry Edwin Craig (born July 20, 1945 in Council , Adams County , Idaho ) is an American politician ( Republican Party ) who represented the state of Idaho in both houses of Congress .

Early career and House of Representatives

Craig grew up in Idaho and received his BA from the University of Idaho in 1969 . He began postgraduate studies before returning to the family ranch in 1971. He is married and has adopted the three children of his wife Suzanne from his first marriage; the couple has nine grandchildren. Craig is a Methodist .

From 1974 to 1980, Craig sat for the Republican Party in the Idaho Senate . In the 1980 election, he successfully ran for an open seat in the US House of Representatives , which he held until 1991.

senate

In the 1990 Senate elections , long-time Republican US Senator Jim McClure no longer ran. Craig competed for the succession, and sat in the election against the members of the House of Representatives from Idaho , Ron J. Twilegar through. He was able to defend his seat in the 1996 and 2002 elections.

In the Senate, he served as Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee from 1997 to 2003 . After that, he was Chairman of the Temporary Committee on Aging and Committee Chairman in the Committee on Veterans Affairs . He was a candidate for Secretary of the Interior before President George W. Bush named Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne .

On November 4, 2008 he did not stand for election and Jim Risch was able to hold the Senatorial seat for the Republicans. The term of office ended in January 2009.

Political positions

Craig is an advocate of classic, conservative values, he advocates free gun ownership . He fights both homosexual marriages and registered partnerships , since marriage can only be "the community of one man and one woman". He was also against the admission of gays and lesbians to military service.

Craig supports a constitutional amendment that would force the federal government to have a balanced budget. He supports efforts to give farm workers who have previously immigrated illegally a legal status. With regard to the USA PATRIOT Act , he tries to mediate, but advocates the law in principle. He also sits on the board of the National Rifle Association .

Accusation of double standards

Craig voted several times during his tenure against gender equality efforts and relied on the support of the “value voters” in Idaho. In 1982 he denied the rumors that he had had sex with youth helpers in Congress and that he was involved in a scandal that was going on at the time. A short time later he married his wife. In the summer of 2004, activist Michael Rogers first met a man who claimed to have had sex with Craig. In the course of time, further information was added. Rogers asked Craig about the available information; this denied them. In October 2006, Rogers published the information on BlogActive and on a radio show. Due to the hype surrounding Mark Foley , the information went largely unnoticed. Only the Idaho Statesman newspaper - from Larry Craig's homeland - did further research and came across three other men who claimed to have had sex with Craig. Thereupon Rogers confronted the MP with the allegations again in early June 2007 and received another denial.

On 11 June 2007 Craig was an undercover police officer on a known gay flap of the airport Minneapolis-Saint Paul because he is like someone behaved according to the unwritten laws of the scene that wants to find the contact, to have sex (→ Cruising ). He was then arrested for "invasion of privacy" and "improper behavior" and subjected to identification services . During the questioning, he defended himself, among other things, by saying that he had a “wide stance” and therefore touched the policeman's foot. On August 8, 2007, Craig pleaded guilty to "improper conduct" in court and was sentenced to ten days' imprisonment with a one-year probation and a fine of US $ 575.

On August 27, 2007, the congress newspaper Roll Call reported on the incident. A day later the scandal started; Craig retracted his confession in front of the press, saying that it was just a misunderstanding and that he had only accepted the punishment to get the matter out of the world quickly. The attempt to have the admission of guilt retrospectively classified as invalid by a court failed because the judge classified him as a politician with above-average intelligence who knew what he was doing. After the case attracted public interest, Craig announced that he would step down from his senatorial post on September 30, 2007. However, on October 4, 2007, he confirmed that he would remain in his seat until the end of his regular term in January 2009. Due to the publicity surrounding the case, the men's room where the incident occurred became a kind of tourist attraction for some time.

In public, the excuse "wide stance" became synonymous with the affair, was often used in cartoons and jokes, and was mentioned in articles. On October 1, 2007, it was voted “Urban Word of the Day” in the Urban dictionary . There it is considered a euphemism for a homosexual, especially a non-outed one (for example: "wide stance Republican"). Sometimes it was used as an excuse for all kinds of things.

On February 13, 2008, the Senate Ethics Committee sent a harsh warning. His "improper behavior" discredited the Senate. The six committee members believe that he "committed the crime for which he pleaded guilty" and that he "knowingly, voluntarily, and reasonably pleaded guilty." The attempt to withdraw his admission of guilt was an effort to examine the consequences of his own actions to evade. The fact that he flashed his Senator business card when he was arrested was seen by the committee as an attempt to obtain special and cheaper treatment. The committee also criticized him for spending $ 213,000 from his campaign fund on fees and publicity on the case without first consulting the committee. The money may only be used for expenses related to official duties as a senator without your own consent. They also warned that any further unauthorized use of campaign funds would be deemed "conduct that demonstrates continued disregard for ethical conditions". In order to get money for attorneys' bills, Craig opened a donation account, which he called "Fund for Justice". The disclosure documents showed that it had only received $ 4,600 as of November 2008, mostly from the immediate area.

In June 2008, he sat down with Senator David Vitter from Louisiana , who was accused of earlier use of prostitution services in 2007, and eight other politicians for a nationwide "constitutional amendment on the protection of marriage" that has failed repeatedly and forbids any possibility of same-sex partnerships.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Marc Pitzke: "Pick up on the airport toilet: Sex accusation against US Senator puts Republicans under pressure", Spiegel online report from August 29, 2007 ( [1] ).
2. ↑ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/nra-board-members-selleck-nugent?page=2
3. ↑ ^{a b} Lou Chibbaro Jr .: Sen. Craig's arrest puts spotlight on bathroom sex , Washington Blade , August 31, 2007
4. ↑ Marc Pitzke: Schwulen-Outer Rogers - Blogger gegen die Bigotten , Spiegel Online, September 17, 2007
5. ^ Lewd conduct: Report of Sgt. Dave Karsnia # 4211, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Police Department. (June 12, 2007; PDF file; 1.47 MB). The Washington Post . Retrieved August 28, 2007 (Adobe Acrobat Reader required for viewing). See also U.S. senator gets flushed: Republican Larry Craig sought Minnesota airport toilet tryst. (August 28, 2007). The smoking gun. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
6. ↑ Eva C. Schweitzer: Die Zeit: The hand under the toilet door , Die Zeit, September 1, 2007
7. ^ Reymer Klüver: US Senator Craig: Retreat of a Hypocrite , Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 2, 2007
8. ↑ AFP, AP: Senator Craig wants to stay in office despite toilet affair , Spiegel Online, October 5, 2007
9. ↑ Craig-Klappe is a new tourist attraction , queer.de, September 18, 2007
10. ↑ wide stance , wide stance Republican , Urban Dictionary
11. ↑ Associated Press: Larry Craig's 'Wide Stance' Excuse Gains Prominence in Lexicon ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , foxnews.com, October 10, 2007 
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Senate panel to Sen. Craig: You discredited the chamber , CNN, February 13, 2008
13. ↑ AP: Panel rebukes Craig in men's room case , The Boston Globe, February 14, 2008
14. ↑ Patrick O'Connor: Senate Ethics Committee Admonishes Craig , CBS News, Feb. 14, 2008
15. ↑ Hardly any donations for Klappen-Senator , queer.de, November 14, 2008
16. ↑ "Immoral" Senators Want to "Protect" marriage , queer.de, June 30, 2008

Web links

• Larry Craig in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Commons : Larry Craig  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Wikisource: Larry Craig  - Sources and full texts (English)

• Voting behavior