[Vision2020] Senator Larry Craig Challenges Guilty Plea

[Sunil Ramalingam]

Ted,

While I agree with many of your points, I disagree with your statement that 
if he had contested the charges, they would have been dropped.  I haven't 
seen anything suggesting that these cases were being dismissed.  I'm not 
saying such a story isn't out there, just that I've not seen it.

I agree that the different treatment of Vitter is hypocritical; if the 
governor of Louisiana were a Republican, perhaps he would have been forced 
out too, but I doubt it.  Having used homophobia as an election tool, they 
weren't going to let Craig stay in office.

Sunil


>From: "Ted Moffett" <starbliss at gmail.com>
>To: vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Senator Larry Craig Challenges Guilty Plea
>Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:41:17 -0700
>
>All:
>
>In Minnesota, Larry Craig's attorney argued today before a judge to 
>withdraw
>his guilty plea for the "disorderly conduct" misdemeanor charge that has
>hounded Craig.  They argued, if I have this correct, that Craig pled guilty
>to conduct that is not a crime.  It's like being charged with (my example)
>raping a manikin, and pleading guilty.  The guilty plea can be withdrawn,
>because there is no law making it illegal to rape a manikin.  The ACLU has
>filed a friend of the court brief alleging unconstitutional aspects of this
>case:
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/17/aclu.craig/index.html
>
>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/09/craig_hearing_set_for_sept_26.html
>---------------
>I think that arresting someone for Craig's conduct in this case is over
>zealous, and probably unconstitutional.  Craig peered into a stall, bumped
>someones foot, and his hand came under the stall divider.  This is
>disorderly conduct?  Questionable.  As to whether these actions implied a
>sexual advance, they probably did.  But this is making inferences as to
>state of mind that are also highly questionable.  There was no discussion 
>of
>sex, in fact no discussion at all, no physical contact except bumping shoes
>(how often does this occur accidentally?), no notes passed under the stall.
>There are serious constitutional issues regarding making his conduct a
>crime, as the ACLU asserts, even if these actions implied a sexual advance.
>If Craig had pled not guilty odds are this charge would have been dropped.
>But avoiding publicity no doubt was uppermost on Craig's mind.
>
>The political and ethical charges of Craig's hypocrisy in promoting a
>"family values" agenda, while allegedly engaging in gay activity, are
>separate from the legal issues in this case.  It could be argued that Craig
>is representing his constituency, which is his job, even if the agenda he
>promotes contradicts the ethical implications of his personal behavior.
>Almost all politicians face this ethical compromise.  Craig did not force
>the voters of Idaho to vote overwhelmingly for a Super DOMA in 2006.
>
>Nonetheless, the shameless manipulation by the Republican Party of the
>sexual hysteria of the public regarding Gay behavior is a major issue that
>impacts this case politically.  The Republican's didn't just throw Craig 
>off
>the bus, they threw him under the bus, after his "disorderly conduct"
>charges became public.  They want Craig to just go away quietly, no doubt.
>The threat of a Senate ethics investigation prompted by a misdemeanor
>disorderly conduct charge has almost no precedent, and might be an attempt
>to bully Craig into resigning:
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/washington/05cnd-craig.html
>
>Investigating such a complaint, they warned, would draw the Senate into
>"reviewing and adjudging a host of minor misdemeanors and transgressions"
>even if "minor or professionally irrelevant."
>
>---------
>
>Consider the approach taken to Senator Vitter, linked to affairs with
>prostitutes.  If Craig had faced this problem, would the attacks against 
>him
>have been so vituperative?  Why should Craig be forced out of the US Senate
>for his conduct, and Vitter not?  A married man having sex with prostitutes
>is morally superior to a married man having gay sex?
>
>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296359,00.html
>
>Vitter, 46, apologized in July for committing a "very serious sin" and
>acknowledged his Washington phone number was among those called several
>years ago by an escort service run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. The admission
>came after Flynt's Hustler magazine told the senator that his telephone
>number was linked to Palfrey's escort service.
>
>------------------
>I hope Craig stays in the senate for the remainder of his current term, and
>resolves the case in Minnesota in his favor.  The case in Minnesota 
>involved
>over zealous police entrapment, possibly unconstitutional, as the ACLU
>alleges.  And Craig remaining in the senate might temper the Republicans'
>manipulation of the public regarding Gay issues, while serving as a 
>reminder
>to the public that the anti-Gay agenda of the Republican Party is shameless
>manipulation of the public's fears and anxieties.
>
>Ted Moffett


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