<div> </div>
<div>Tom, Sunil et. al.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Regarding the disorderly conduct misdemeanor charge, and the gross misdemeanor invasion of privacy charge, read the arguments from Craig's attorneys at the pdf link I previously posted. Also read the ACLU's arguments in defense of Craig at the pdf link at the bottom of this post. This level of legal reasoning and referencing of case precedent requires study.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As to the possibility Craig could have gotten the charges dropped without a guilty plea, read the quote I posted from a professor at the University of Minnesota law school. Note though that this option might not have sparred Craig publicity.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It does not matter if Craig pled not guilty, or eventually had the charges dropped, if that tape of his conversation (or any written record of that conversation) with the arresting police officer was make public. Only if that tape was kept "secret" or destroyed could Craig avoid a political scandal. I believe it when Craig said he "panicked" at first over this incident. He should have kept insisting he wanted to talk to a lawyer and remained silent after he was approached by police, though he may have been more "cooperative" to avoid what he thought might be more drastic actions by the police. Why weeks later he pursued the course of action he did is puzzling, unless he reasoned he thought it offered the best chance of avoiding publicity, the absolute worst case outcome for someone in his position. A trial, even if he was found not guilty, would have been a disaster.
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>As to the Republican lambasting of Senator Craig, and the pass given Senator Vitter, you are correct of course that who would replace them, if they were forced out, by the governor in each state, is a critical issue. But if Craig had been linked to an affair with a female prostitute, like Vitter, I still question if he would have been tarred and feathered and ran out of town, as he was, even given Otter would replace him with a Republican. The fact Craig was linked to homosexual advances makes all the difference. How many good'ol boy married politicians in Washington have taken advantage of some extracurricular heterosexual fun? The list would go on and on...So one of them gets caught... It's probably a joke over cocktails in the evening...
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<div> </div>
<div>So who thinks the ACLU's case in defense of Craig has merit, in their friend of the court brief?</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/freespeech/craig_v_minnesota_acluamicus.pdf">http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/freespeech/craig_v_minnesota_acluamicus.pdf</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/31842lgl20070917.html">http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/31842lgl20070917.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Ted Moffett<br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 9/26/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Tom Hansen</b> <<a href="mailto:idahotom@hotmail.com">idahotom@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<div>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Ted Moffett stated:</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">"I think that arresting someone for Craig's conduct in this case is over zealous, and probably unconstitutional.
<span> </span>Craig peered into a stall, bumped someones foot, and his hand came under the stall divider.<span> </span>This is disorderly conduct? <span> </span>Questionable."</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">As stipulated in the police complaint, Senator Craig peered into the neighboring stall for approximately TWO MINUTES (not exactly a "quick glance").
</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">By pleading guilty Senator Craig is admitting that he did, in fact, violate a law of the state of Minnesota and that he is GUILTY of committing that crime.
<span> </span>Senator Craig filed his guilty plea two months after having been charged with a crime. Now, he is not only requesting that his guilty plea be overturned, but that the charges be dismissed since he feels he did not commit a crime (the crime that he plead guilty to).
<span> </span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Mr. Moffett goes on to say:</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">"If Craig had pled not guilty odds are this charge would have been dropped.<span> </span>But avoiding publicity no doubt was uppermost on Craig's mind."
</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">What makes you even imply that "if Craig had pled not guilty odds are this charge would have been dropped"?<span>
</span>Had that been the case, and the charges had been dropped, one can't even begin to imagine the fallout that would have caused.<span> </span>I believe that had Senator Craig pled "Not Guilty" to the original charge, he would have been scheduled for trial (something he was trying to avoid if guilty, and eagerly anticipated if not guilty).
</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">And Mr. Moffett continues . . .</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">"Consider the approach taken to Senator Vitter, linked to affairs with prostitutes.<span> </span>If Craig had faced this problem, would the attacks against him have been so vituperative?
<span> </span>Why should Craig be forced out of the US Senate for his conduct, and Vitter not?<span> </span>A married man having sex with prostitutes is morally superior to a married man having gay sex?"</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font size="3"><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">This is a textbook example of politics in action.<span> </span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"> </font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">The reason why the Republican Party zealously pursued Senator Craig and wanted to avoid pursuing Senator Vitter is found in their respective state capitals.
<span> </span>If/When Senator Craig is forced to step down from his senate seat, it is logically anticipated that Idaho's Republican governor Butch Otter will replace him with another Republican.<span> </span>If Senator Vitter were forced to step down from his senate seat, it is just as likely that Louisiana's Democrat governor Kathleen Blanco
<span> </span>would have appointed a Democrat replacement and the Democrat Party would have gained another US Senate seat without as much as an election.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">------</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Things that make you go "Hmmm."</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Seeya round town, Moscow.</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Tom Hansen</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">Moscow, Idaho</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3"></font> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">"Don't make me come down there."</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="3">- God</font></p></div></blockquote></div><br>