In an ABQJournal opinion piece by Michael Coleman, Sen. Pete Domenici is compared to someone he would rather have no connection to — Sen. Larry Craig from Idaho.
Craig, as you may know, is the Idaho Republican arrested on June 11 by an airport police officer and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Craig, according to police, used “a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct” while in a men’s airport bathroom according to the police report. You can read the full police report here. Craig has since said he would like to rescind his guilty plea.
Crossposted at New Mexico FBIHOP
So what does Craig have to do with Domenici? Coleman lists how they are politically similar; both conservative Republicans. Both supported the “dangerous and irresponsible” Yucca Mountain bill. And both are supporters of President Bush. Oh yeah, and “they’ve each hired a defense attorney to help absolve them of separate problems with the Senate Ethics Committee.”
This is a comparison Domenici — and any politician — will do anything to avoid. He did himself no favors among the Republican base when he urged restraint in late August and asked Republican lawmakers to not rush to kick Craig out of the Senate.
“We cannot rush to judgment here,” Domenici said in a statement provided to the Journal. “The action being taken by the Senate Republican leadership is a good first step toward getting the facts. It’s important that we allow the legal process to run its course and the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct a thorough and fair investigation.”
Of course, the legal process did run its course; Craig pleaded guilty to the offense. It is no surprise Domenici wants to drawn-out Senate Ethics Committee process to run its course as well — Domenici is under preliminary investigation by that same committee for his improper (though improper in a much different way than Craig’s actions) phone calls to David Iglesias.
This was bad timing for Domenici.
A day later, CNN and other news outlets released a tape of Craig’s interrogation by police after his arrest. In an effort to distance himself from Craig, his guilty plea and that squirmingly uncomfortable interrogation tape, Domenici- who is up for re-election- quickly announced that he would shed $2,500 in campaign cash given to him by Craig’s political action committee.
Oops.
Even more troublesome for Domenici, when the various Republican scandals are listed (you can see a selection of them here), Domenici’s name is in the same list as Craig and Ted Stevens. Not exactly a distinguished list.