Sen. Larry Craig Tries Again

Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig will argue that the Minnesota district court who denied his move to have his guilty plea withdrawn erred, according to documents filed Tuesday. Craig was arrested in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport restroom in June of last year for allegedly soliciting an undercover officer for sex. He was charged with disorderly conduct and pled guilty.

The brief argues that Craig pled guilty to an erroneous charge. "Appellant's alleged conduct in this case affected only a single individual - Sergeant Karsnia," the brief says. "It did not - and could not affect 'others' as the disorderly conduct statute requires, and therefore, does not satisfy that element of the statute." In other words, because Craig's behavior only affected Karsnia, singular, and not "others," plural, he did not violate the statute. The brief argues that a "single person is not enough."

Lawyers for Craig also argue that Craig's actions could not have affected Karsnia, because "Karsnia invited the alleged intrusion" of Craig's hand under the stall divider when Karsnia tapped his foot in response to Craig's.

Craig's lawyers also argue that his actions do not rise to the level of "offensive" as outlines in the statute, and that his toe-tapping and hand swiping were all constitutionally protected free speech.

"Facts are resilient, and Sen. Craig's continued, transparent efforts to escape them don't change the truth of his behavior in an airport restroom or the fact that he admitted guilt last August," Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission told the Associated Press.

WCCO anchor Don Shelby said Tuesday, "I'm tired of talking about Larry Craig, but I can't resist his latest attempt to get out of his guilty plea. We're going to have a court case that will parse the word 'others,'" Shelby said, comparing it to a notable sex scandal of the 1990s. It's "reminiscent of Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony, when we couldn't figure out what the meaning of 'is' was."

Shelby won't have to worry about a repeat of Craig's arrest; he's been avoiding Minneapolis and opting for flights through Denver between Washington, D.C., and Idaho.