September 5, 2007
Posted: 10:31 AM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Congress returned from its summer recess Tuesday, journalists captured the last lingering moments of embattled former Sen. Larry Craig's term in office: the final page of his constituent sign-in book. Constituents signed and dated the book during their numerous visits to the Republican senator’s D.C. office. The last entry is from August 31, the day before Craig announced his resignation. A staffer who declined to give his name then brought the book and table into the lawmaker's office area. The fall-out from Craig’s sex scandal continued to reverberate in the Capitol as Senate leaders answered questions about their colleague's sudden downfall. In his first comments about the situation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid strongly suggested Republican leaders judged the Idaho senator, who was arrested in a homosexual sex sting, more harshly than Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, whose phone number was recently linked to a heterosexual prostitution service. "Everyone can see what they did with Vitter and what they did with Craig and draw their own conclusion," Reid told CNN when asked if GOP leaders had employed a "double standard." But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell disputed that notion, telling reporters there is a "substantial difference" between the Vitter matter which took place before Vitter was in the Senate and the Craig matter in which, "the legal case was, in effect, over. And the only question was what was the attitude going to be of the Senate with regard to the admission that had been made."
McConnell was asked about the spate of GOP scandals in recent weeks including an FBI raid on the home of long-serving Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens as part of a corruption probe. McConnell said most lawmakers are "honorable," but occasionally members from both parties get in trouble. Reid disagreed. "This is an issue the American people are looking at, "Reid said. "But it's a Republican problem, a Republican Senate problem." McConnell also said he expects Craig's decision to resign is final, despite a suggestion over the weekend from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, that Craig ought to withdraw his guilty plea and potentially stay in office. "I think the episode is over," McConnell said. "We'll have a new senator from Idaho at some point in the next month or so and we're going to move on." Meantime, camera crews and reporters staked-out Craig's office in the Hart Senate Office Building in hopes of catching a glimpse of the senator returning to close up shop. Craig's aides refuse to say when or if he'll return but there was no sign of him Tuesday. –CNN’s Ted Barrett and Paul Courson Filed under: Larry Craig
|
The latest political news from CNN's Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7. Sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails. Got a news tip or feedback? For complete political coverage, bookmark CNNPolitics.com. CNNPolitics.com Headlines
CNN=Politics Screensaver
New in the Ticker
Follow us on Twitter
Categories
Archive
Popular Posts
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CNN Comment Policy: CNN encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. All comments should be relevant to the topic and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. You are solely responsible for your own comments, the consequences of posting those comments, and the consequences of any reliance by you on the comments of others. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNN the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying and other information you provide via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNN Privacy Statement.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||