GOP Senators Want Craig to Resign

After Larry Craig said he would serve out the rest of his term—which ends after 2008—GOP senators responded today with renewed calls for Craig's immediate resignation.

"I'm calling on Sen. Craig to keep his word," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who is in charge of the GOP's 2008 Senate election fundraising. "If he loves his party, and he loves the Senate, the honorable thing to do is to resign."

Minnesota republican senator Norm Coleman, who previously called for Craig's resignation, said he respected Craig's right to defend himself in court, but that Craig was duty-bound to resign.

"I would hope that he would live up to what he said he would do," Coleman said.

Craig's surprise decision to stay in the Senate brings on the full pressure and intrigue of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. Craig pleaded guilty on August 1 to a charge of disorderly conduct after he was alleged to have solicited sex from an undercover policeman in a Minneapolis airport bathroom using a bizarre series of toe taps and under-the-stall hand waves. Craig said as recently as last weekend that he would resign from the Senate if a Minnesota judge would not allow Craig to withdraw the guilty plea. The Judge denied Craig's request yesterday but Craig said he felt the need to stay on.

Craig has at least one supporter remaining in the Senate, fellow Idaho senator Mike Crapo, who urged Craig to fight calls for his resignation.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune had this account of the June 11 airport incident:

It all started on June 11 when Craig, on a layover between flights, entered a restroom at the airport. He stood outside the door of [undercover cop Dave Karsnia's] stall peering in, then entered the adjacent stall when it was vacated and placed his roller bag in front of the door. He then tapped his foot, slid it closer to Karsnia's and moved it up and down slowly, according to court documents.

Craig then swiped his left palm up along the bottom of the stall, exposing more of his fingers each time. Karsnia then placed his badge under the divider and Craig yelled, "No!"

Craig refused to come out of the stall, leaving only when he was told by Karsnia he was under arrest. He did not flush the toilet. He explained the foot-tapping by saying he has a "wide stance." He said his hand was near the floor to pick up a piece of paper.

Porter said the facts support a conviction. Craig "knew or should have known his entrance into Sgt. Karsnia's stall with his eyes, foot and hand are the type of acts that would tend reasonably to arouse alarm, anger, or resentment in others," the judge wrote.