The Truth Might Sting a Little

Larry Craig should not resign from the Senate.

He should force the Senate to expel him, which the Constitution provides for, but which the Senate has not done to any of its members since 1862.

If he can, Craig also should withdraw his guilty plea to what police say was "lewd conduct" in a public restroom at the Minneapolis airport in June.

I have no doubt that Craig, an Idaho Republican, did what a cop says he did.

But I have a big doubt as to whether any of it was a crime. And I think a jury would have a reasonable doubt that he is guilty as charged.

Larry Craig committed a lewd act in that restroom? Larry Craig committed disorderly conduct in that restroom?

Let the prosecutors prove it in court.

Just because Craig is a jerk doesn't mean he shouldn't get civil rights in this country.

Cops have been busting gay men for decades without any legal basis. It is scandalous that the practice is still going on.

Do law enforcement officers in Minneapolis have nothing better to do? How about checking the bridges for cracks? Think that might be a better use of manpower?

Sting operations and "disorderly conduct" charges are not designed to get convictions. They are designed to give the police the ability to "roust" people, move them along and satisfy citizen complaints.

The people who get charged are almost always too embarrassed or frightened to fight the charges in court.

Let me stipulate that sex in public restrooms fails the yuck test for any number of reasons.

I don't like going into public restrooms even for the purposes for which they were intended. And I cannot imagine people having sex in them.

Let me also stipulate that children have to use these restrooms, too, and they should not have to hear or see anybody using restrooms for sex.

And if Larry Craig had assaulted anybody in that restroom, or initiated sex with a child, I would be the first to say Craig should be arrested, charged, convicted and sent away.

But Craig didn't do that.

At most, Craig was guilty of tapping his foot, waving his hand and touching the shoe of a policeman in a nonviolent manner.

I don't think prosecutors will be able to find a jury that would convict Craig of those "crimes."

And neither does Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who is not only the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but, more importantly, a former district attorney from Philadelphia. So Specter knows a thing or two about what it takes to get a conviction from a jury.

And Specter said Sunday that if Craig went to trial, "he wouldn't be convicted of anything."

On Saturday, Craig said he intended to resign from the Senate at the end of this month. Immediately, some of his fellow Republicans began bragging that they had forced him out and that this showed that their party was still the party of "family values."

But on Tuesday, Craig's spokesman said Craig might not resign.

And why should he? The Senate wants him out to prove what an upstanding body it is? Let the Senate kick him out. Let his fellow senators put up or shut up.

Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution provides that "Each House (of Congress) may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member."

According to the Senate Website: "Since 1789, the Senate has expelled only 15 of its entire membership. Of that number, 14 were charged with support of the Confederacy during the Civil War."

The non-Civil War expulsion was that of William Blount of Tennessee, a Democratic Republican, who was expelled in 1797 for "a plan to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to aid the British in conquering the Spanish territory of West Florida."

Larry Craig is no William Blount.

Larry Craig is a hypocrite, a liar and a fool.

But if we kicked people out of the Senate for that, how many senators would we have left?

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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