Toe-tapping Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, filed an appeal Oct. 15 to the ruling by a Minnesota judge that did not allow the Senator to withdraw a guilty plea to lewd conduct in an airport restroom in June. Craig maintains he is innocent, despite having agreed to the guilty plea.
Two weeks ago, trial judge Charles A. Potter, Jr., had ruled that Craig's guilty plea was 'accurate, voluntary and intelligent because the conviction is supported by the evidence.' He did not allow the Senator to withdraw that plea.
In order to succeed, Craig's attorneys must convince the Minnesota Court of Appeals that the trial judge abused his discretion in the case. It is a high burden of proof that is challenging to meet and most legal observers say Craig faces long odds in doing so. The process is likely to continue into the spring of 2008.
The Senate's Select Committee on Ethics is investigating the incident to see if there are grounds for prosecuting Craig under their rules of conduct.
In his first extended television appearance since the incident broke in August, Craig spoke with NBC News' Matt Lauer in an interview that aired on Oct. 16. 'I don't just walk away from a fight…This is the roughest fight of my political life,' Craig said.
He again denied that he is gay, saying of his wife, 'The day I found her I fell in love, deeply in love. And that's lastedwe're heading toward our 25th anniversary.'
Suzanne Craig said her husband did not tell her of the incident and guilty plea until it was about to become public. 'I felt like the floor was falling out from under me' when she first learned of it.
The senator said he withheld the information to avoid embarrassment. 'I should have told my wife, I should have told my kids. And most importantly, I should have told [ legal ] counsel.'
Craig resigned from his voluntary position with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign as soon as news of the restroom incident broke. He said he did not want to be a distraction for the campaign.
He told Lauer, 'I was very proud of m association with Mitt Romney. I'd worked hard for him here in the state. I was cochair of his campaign on Capitol Hill. And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again.'