- Craig stood outside Karsnia's stall, more than once peering through the crack and pulling on his fingers in a suggestive way, and also making suggestive motions with his feet;
- After entering the stall on the seated Karsnia's left, Craig sat down, tapped his toes several times and then pushed his right foot under the stall wall and into Karsnia's stall where he bumped his right foot against Karsnia's left foot;
- Craig then reached across his seated body with his left hand (wedding ring showing) in order to run his palm along the bottom of the stall wall between himself and Karsnia from the front towards the rear in a suggestive manner.
It's clear that Sgt. Karsnia did not invent these three crucial facts about what transpired in that restroom. And since Karsnia did not know who Sen. Larry Craig was before all of this transpired, the suggestion that Karsnia did anything other than carefully observe Craig's behavior with the intent of arresting him if he tried to initiate lewd behavior in a public restroom is without merit. Also, the notion that a United States Senator could be browbeaten by a Minneapolis cop into pleading guilty in such an embarrassing case is ludicrous.
Ben Stein's a smart guy, but about this case he's mistaken.
The fact is, the guy can be guilty but the tactics used to expose him can still be denounced as inappropriate. See McCarthyism in the 50s for an example. The Communists ferreted out by McCarthy may have indeed been Communists but most people think the tactics he used to find them (naming names, blacklists, loyalty oaths, etc) were deplorable.
I’ve seen cops in my town carrying out a decoy operation on certain evenings in a certain part of town. A woman dressed not-so-provocatively stands out on a street corner. After a short time a car pulls up and a conversation ensues. The woman is mic’d. The conversation recorded. Unless and until the mark actually talks about the sex act in exchange for money (a firm solicitation), it is nothing more than a conversation. Once money is mentioned - the cops move in and arrest him.
Now, that being said - I did not hear of any incident where Craig and the cop talked money in exchange for a “meeting”. If there was, then THAT would have been cause to arrest him.
From everything I’ve heard and read, this was nothing more than a non-verbal conversation between someone who wanted to meet someone else via sign language.
Nothing in the law books that says two people cannot get together no matter what form of communication they use. Those gestures described could have just as well meant “Hey buddy, wanna go get some coffee at Starbucks?”
Show me where in the statutes it says that you are not allowed to converse either verbally or non-verbally in the mens room and then I’ll believe he’s guilty of a crime.
The man has cracked morals, but he did not commit a crime.