CREW Files Ethics Complaint against CraigTPMmuckraker
By Paul Kiel
August 28, 2007, 1:15 PM
The D.C. watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint (pdf) with the Senate ethics committee against Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for his lewd conduct / restroom-signaling conviction.
The Senate ethics manual warns against "improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate," and CREW argues in their complaint that Sen. Craig clearly crossed the line. As Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, put it, "If pleading guilty to charges stemming from an attempt to solicit an undercover officer in a public restroom is not conduct that reflects poorly upon the Senate, what is?"
The group has also filed complaints against Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) (for pressuring a U.S. attorney about a prosecution of a state Democrat) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) (for paying for sex). It's unclear what's happening with Domenici, who has reportedly faced a preliminary investigation, and there's been no word on the Vitter complaint. "The ethics committee doesn't do anything about anything," was Sloan's summary of its recent activity.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004021.php - So, whomever the lawyer was that advised the Senator when all this happened, probably sought to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible before it got out. And the fact that it happened in MN with Repuke Gov. Pawlenty at the helm, it didn't get out. Right away. And I'm sure they rejoiced when the Vitter mess hit the news since it took attention away from Idaho.
And the Vitter mess at least put the Repukes once again back on the rock-solid foundation of heterosexuality. Weird diaper-wearing heterosexuality, but heterosexuality nonetheless. This was (from their perspective I'm sure), probably seen as a great improvement over their "other sex scandals."
But once "it" did get out, its apparent now that they hadn't considered that his admission, and conviction of a lewd crime is also a violation of Senate ethics rules. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we peak into a man's restroom stall and play footsy with him.....