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Craig Reconsidering Senate Resignation

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The Associated Press

Published: September 5, 2007

BOISE, Idaho - Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

'It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign,' said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho's capital.

'We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight - and stay in the Senate.'

Craig, a Republican who has represented Idaho in Congress for 27 years, announced Saturday that he intends to resign from the Senate on Sept. 30. Since then, he's hired a prominent lawyer to investigate the possibility of reversing his plea, his spokesman said.

Craig was a no-show Tuesday as Congress reconvened after a summer break, and it wasn't clear whether he will return at all since deciding to resign over his guilty plea to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Another spokesman, Dan Whiting in Washington, said Tuesday that Craig was expected to spend the week in Idaho as the Senate votes on spending bills for veterans and other programs. Whiting did not rule out Craig's returning to Washington before the month's end.

A telephone call Craig received last week from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., urging him to consider fighting for his seat is affecting Craig's decision to reconsider his resignation, Smith said.

'It was a little more cut and dried a few days ago,' Smith said. 'There weren't many options. He was basically going to have to step aside. Now there's a little more to it.'

On Tuesday, Specter, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested Craig's GOP colleagues who pressured him last week to resign should re-examine the facts of his arrest June 11.

'The more people take a look at the situation, there may well be second thoughts,' said Specter, a former prosecutor. If Craig had not pleaded guilty in August to a reduced charge and instead demanded a trial, 'I believe he would have been exonerated,' Specter said.

Craig gave up his senior positions on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the Appropriations veterans subcommittee last week at the request of Senate Republican leaders.

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