Senator Craig tries to get laid

Yet another "family values" Republican is caught in a gay sex scandal - he was arrested in June for soliciting sex in an airport restroom and plead guilty to reduced charges. Now the story has come out (pun intended), and the story is all over the news today (he also withdrew as Idaho campaign co-chairman for Romney). He claims it was a "misunderstanding," but I doubt it, from the description of what went down (the police report is available online). Sounds like most people are more upset about the solicitation attempt then they are about his orientation or "preference." Whatever. As a cable news commentator said this morning, there's clearly a lot of pressue in the GOP to remain on the DL (which, IMO, almost inevitably leads to this sort of sordid activity coming to light).

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/28/ap4059405.html

Arrest Clouds Idaho Senator's Future
By MATTHEW DALY
08.28.07

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who has voted against gay marriage and opposes extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims, finds his political future in doubt after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room.

The conservative three-term senator, who has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century, is up for re-election next year. He hasn't said if he will run for a fourth term in 2008 and was expected to announce his plans this fall.
[. . .]
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, which first reported the case, said on its Web site Monday that Craig was arrested June 11 by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the airport.

Roll Call reported that Sgt. Dave Karsnia made the arrest after an encounter in which he was seated in a stall next to a stall occupied by Craig. Karsnia described Craig tapping his foot, which Karsnia said he "recognized as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."

Roll Call quoted the Aug. 8 police report as saying that Craig had handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a member of the Senate. "What do you think about that?" Craig is alleged to have said, according to the report.

ADDENDUM 8/31/2007

Why are we still hearing about this guy? I already know so much more about him, and what he did in that bathroom, than I ever wanted to know. Is it the gay angle, or because the story has sex in it (implied sex, that's certainly all) or is it just because there's nothing else to talk about in the Dog Days of summer? I thought this would be a One Day Wonder, but it just goes on and on. I actually turned the news off last night for the first time in ages because I just didn't want to hear about it anymore.

ADDENDUM 9/19/2007

Despite the endless news cycles devoted to Larry Craig's bathroom shenanigans, I never heard a word about this State Rep in Florida, snagged for the same thing around the same time (no sting this time, though, just very bad luck). By the by, he has a similar "Family Values" (i.e., anti-gay) voting record as Sen Craig, and "92 percent rating from the Christian Coalition of Florida" . . .

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-allen1307jul13,0,5667267.story

State Rep. Bob Allen insists he's innocent, will not quit

July 13, 2007

Allen was arrested outside the men's restroom at a Titusville park after offering to perform a sex act on a plainclothes police officer, authorities said. He was later released after posting $500 bail.

Titusville Officer Danny Kavanaugh, who was staking out a nearby condo hoping to catch a burglar, said Allen approached him in the men's bathroom at Veterans Memorial Park about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. In an arrest affidavit, Kavanaugh said he had washed his hands and, finding the sink's paper-towel dispenser empty, had walked into a stall for the disabled to dry his hands. Allen first peeked over the door and then stepped inside, he said.

Allen proposed the two go across a nearby bridge because "it's quiet over there" and he would perform a sex act on the officer for $20, the affidavit said. They walked to Allen's car, where the officer identified himself and arrested Allen.

ADDENDUM 10/31/07

Yet another bible-thumping Republican (state) legislator is embroiled in a gay sex scandal, this one in Washington State. His evasions are really pathetic . . .

http://www.spokesman.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=12164

October 31, 2007
The Spokesman-Review
Curtis allegedly had encounter at bookstore
by Bill Morlin and Nick Eaton

Cody Castagna, a waiter and porn model, met state Rep. Richard Curtis, a Republican from the Vancouver, Wash., area, at Hollywood Erotic Boutique on East Sprague Avenue at 12:45 a.m. Friday before the two went to Curtis’ room at the Davenport Tower, according to court documents.

On Monday, Curtis told the Columbian newspaper in Vancouver that he is not gay and did not engage in sex with the man while staying in a Spokane hotel last week. [However] when the 48-year-old lawmaker was interviewed by detectives, their reports say, he said he'd engaged in a sex act in the hotel room with a man he'd met that evening at Hollywood Erotic Boutique in Spokane Valley.
[. . .]
Before hiring Seattle attorney John Wolfe and declining to answer further questions from detectives, Curtis told them "he believed he had been slipped some type of drug because he does not have a clear recollection of the activities that evening."