The Story That Won't Die: News Keeps Sen. Larry Craig in the Hot Seat

Sen. Larry Craig's arrest in the now infamous Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport restroom continues to make news as the senator fights to have his plea withdrawn, clear his name, and, if there's time, possibly keep his seat in the U.S. Senate, at least until the 2008 election. Everyone and everything associated with the incidents surrounding the case have come under scrutiny. Here are some details you may have missed:

The Protests

The American Land Rights Association, based in Battle Ground, Wash., has called for a boycott of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (PDF):

By ambushing Senator Larry Craig, the Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police have effectively declared war on the West. They are primarily responsible for greatly weakening private property rights and Federal land use advocates in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and in Congress. We are urging you to make all your flight arrangements avoiding the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport for at least the next year and probably longer. We'll keep you posted as the boycott develops. Urge your friends, neighbors and fellow workers to try to avoid any flights that take them through Minneapolis St Paul Airport. We must inflict economic pain on the airport authorities to get them to change their behavior. And they must apologize to Senator Larry Craig.

Another protest, however, is targeting Craig himself. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church will picket Craig's Washington, D.C., office this week:

"Sen. Craig used his powerful office--(on loan from God, temporarily)--to oppose [Westboro Baptist Church], to speak against WBC, and to vote against WBC's constitutional rights of free religious exercise and freedom of speech. Now we know why he did that. Every member of Congress is either a fag or a fag-enabler. God Almighty has now drawn back the curtain of hypocrisy and lies for all the world to see how fags and fag-enablers run the government at every level--starting at the top."

The Police

Before bathroom patrol, Sgt. Dave Karsnia had electric cart patrol at the airport, an assignment that earned him his first moment in the spotlight on ABC's "Good Morning America" in February. He was assigned to the carts to enforce a speed limit after one of them struck a young boy, leading to an injury. MSNBC gives a closer look at the officer with the job of policing the airport restrooms:

"Karsnia grew up in International Falls, on the Canadian border, where he received a 2-year degree at a community college. He got a bachelor's degree in 2000 in law enforcement at St. Mary's University in Winona. Last year, he earned a master's degree in criminal justice, leadership and education at Concordia University in St. Paul." MSNBC also says that his record has been that of a rising young officer.

CNN says that Karsnia is known for his high level of discretion in the suspects he arrested. In Craig's case, he kept his end of the bargain.

But actor, writer, actor, game show host, comedian, and law professor Ben Stein called him the Gestapo:

I make of it that it was pure police entrapment and thuggery. I make of it that the fact that the police have real work to do at the airport. It's an airport, hello? There are security problems at airports. Al Qaeda are you listening? Our security people are entrapping perfectly honest U.S. senators in lavatory stalls instead of looking for you terrorists.

This guy went in there, as far as we know, all he did was tap his foot or listen to somebody else tap his foot. He didn't do an illegal act, he didn't do an indecent act. A policeman drags him off, or verbally drags him off, starts browbeating him, essentially threatens he's going to ruin his career if the guy doesn't plead guilty right away.

This is Gestapo tactics in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It's not nice.

The Family

Craig's adopted children went on national television to defend their dad, but it turned out they were the ones needing the defense -- from the media. Both Fox News and ABC News dug up police records on two of Craig's children, including an outstanding warrant for his daughter.

"The criminal records of Michael Craig and his sister, whom Sen. Craig adopted after marrying their mother, Suzanne, in 1983, not only call into question their credibility as character witnesses but may even further undermine Craig's portrayal of himself as a defender of family values."