<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Craig going down fast</title></head><body>
<div><font color="#000000">Party Leaders Strip Idaho Senator of
Leadership Posts</font><br>
<font color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">By DAVID STOUT<br>
Published: August 29, 2007</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">NYTimes<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - The political career of Senator Larry Craig of
Idaho appeared to be collapsing today as fellow Republicans called for
his resignation and party leaders ousted him from his committee
leadership posts amid the fallout over his arrest and guilty plea in
connection with an incident in an airport restroom.<br>
<br>
A statement by the Senate Republican leadership said Mr. Craig "has
agreed to comply" with a request to step down as the top Republican
on the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Appropriations subcommittee on
the Interior and the Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on
public lands and forests.<br>
<br>
"This is not a decision we take lightly, but we believe this is in
the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by
the Ethics Committee," the statement said. It was issued by Senators
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the party leader; Trent Lott of
Mississippi, the whip; Jon Kyl of Arizona, the conference chairman,
and other prominent Republicans.<br>
<br>
Mr. Craig will still retain membership on the committees, but he will
have no more power than a freshman senator, even though he is nearing
the end of his third term and was himself in the party leadership not
so long ago.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of
Minnesota and Representative Pete Hoekstra called on their fellow
Republican to resign.<br>
<br>
"My position is that when you plead guilty to a crime, you
shouldn't serve," Mr. McCain said in an interview on CNN.
"That's not a moral stand. That's not holier-than-thou. It's just
a factual situation."<br>
<br>
Mr. Coleman issued a statement saying that Mr. Craig had pleaded
guilty to "a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator. He should
resign."<br>
<br>
And Mr. Hoekstra, who was apparently the first Republican in Congress
to call for Mr. Craig's resignation, said the senator should quit
because he "represents the Republican Party."<br>
<br>
"It's not a judgment on gay rights or anything like that," Mr.
Hoekstra said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This is
about leadership and setting a standard that the American people and
your colleagues in the Republican Party can feel good about."<br>
<br>
Mr. Craig was arrested on June 11 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport by an undercover police officer investigating
sexual activity in a men's room. He denied any sexual intent and on
Aug. 8 pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. A second charge, of
interference with privacy, was dismissed. The senator was fined more
than $500, given a suspended 10-day jail sentence and placed on
unsupervised probation for a year.<br>
<br>
On Tuesday, Mr. Craig said he regretted having pleaded guilty and had
done so because his judgment had been clouded by a "witch hunt"
being carried out by Idaho newspaper reporters looking into his
personal life.</font><br>
<font color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Today, Mr. Hoekstra called that explanation
"not credible."</font></div>
</body>
</html>