Craig keeps promise to retire

The Hill ^ | 03/21/08 | Jeffrey Young

[kingattax]

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state’s deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career.

Craig’s political future has been in doubt since his arrest and guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges filed after an incident in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last June.

The three-term senator, who previously served five terms in the House, denied the charges that he solicited sex from an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation to crack down on alleged gay sexual liaisons in the airport’s bathrooms. Craig said he pleaded guilty in hopes of quelling a scandal, a decision he said he regretted.

The passing of Friday’s 5:00 p.m. deadline brings to a close a career in elected office that began with Craig’s election to the Idaho state Senate in 1974 and all but clears the way for Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (R) to take his seat next year in the strongly Republican state where President Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) 68 percent to 30 percent in the last presidential contest.

[CottShop]

I heard Craig is going to be semi retired, as He’s now got a part time job as a restroom attendant

[Content Provider]

Hey Larry,

Thanks for making yourself a liability all the way through the election. We really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Harry Reid

[johnthebaptistmoore]

I just wished that Senator Craig quickly resigned his seat instead and let Lt. Governor Jim Risch take over that seat for Craig.

[GOP_Raider]

That would have been an awesome comparison: Who had more liberal policies, Romney as governor of Massachusetts or FDR as governor of NY?

(And how come I’m always thinking of these things about two months too late?)

[EternalVigilance]

The point is to remember who endorsed him.

I’ll never trust one of them again.

I’ll also never forget who gets behind John McCain.

If a person can self-justify that, they can justify almost anything.

[shadeaud]

Who did Mc Cain pick as his campagin manager? Wasn't it a liberal republican( now that's an oxymoron) We are in deep dooo dooo who ever gets to be el Presidente is a lose-lose result for our country

[EternalVigilance]

Meet the open borders family: McCain, Hernandez, Soros, and the “Reform Institute”

The Reform Institute is a tax-exempt, supposedly independent 501(c)(3) group, as Ed Morrissey noted two years ago, “that employs Rick Davis, who also works on McCain’s staff as his chief political advisor, and they pay him $110,000 per year. The Reform Institute has often supported McCain, paid for events highlighting him and his agenda, presumably including campaign finance reform.” The Reform Institute received $200,000 in donations from Cablevision…and McCain basically tried to intervene on Cablevision’s behalf by writing a letter to the FCC supporting its regulatory agenda. Morrissey noted at the time: “[T]he Reform Institute helps keep McCain’s staff gainfully employed between campaigns, allowing McCain to do less fundraising while retaining the best of the available talent. For instance, Carl Hulse and Ann Kornblut note that Rick Davis managed McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000 before founding Reform Institute. Now its president, he gets over $100,000 a year from RI for “consulting services”. That money allows Davis to remain available for McCain’s future campaigns, and the funding he raises for RI gives him inroads for building support.”

Yep. Which is exactly how it worked out. Davis is now McCain’s campaign manager.

Here’s the 990 form for the Reform Institute, filed in 2003, listing Davis and his “consulting fees:”

Who funded the Reform Institute, which boasts Juan “Think Mexico First” Hernandez as its resident amnesty fellow? The donor list is a who’s who of ultra left-wing, open borders elites. Again, via Ed Morrissey’s research:

* The Tides Foundation, which heavily promotes “reproductive justice”, giving over $500,000 to pro-abortion efforts. They also actively oppose the death penalty (so do I, FYI). John McCain opposes abortion and supports the death penalty, so why is his chief political advisor getting so much support from those who ostensibly oppose him?

* Educational Foundation Of America, which also supports abortion. EFA also opposes drilling in ANWR, an issue on which McCain has an ambivalent record. It also supports euthanasia and assisted suicide through the Death With Dignity National Center, a group which it gave $45,000. It gave $100,000 to the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, which opposed the Yucca Mountain nuclear depository (McCain supported it), and opposes development of low-yield nuclear “bunker buster” bombs, which McCain supports.

In fact, EFA appears to contribute to just about every left-wing cause imaginable, as well as a number of noncontriversial charities and outreach efforts.

* The Proteus Fund, which also opposed the Yucca Mountain repository, spending $75K to stop it. That pales in comparison to the $935K they spent on supporting gay marriage initiatives, which McCain strongly opposes. They have also spent over $800,000 funding nuclear-disarmament and antiwar causes in each of the last two years. Their Security Policy Working Group contains nothing but left-of-center groups like Project on Defense Alternatives, which calls the Iraqi elections “faulty” and predicted disaster for the Bush administration’s “program of coercive transformation throughout the region.”

* OSI (Open Society Institute), founded and funded by George Soros. Among a litany of left-wing causes supported by OSI are People For The American Way, to support their Supreme Court Project. (Hint: It isn’t intended on assisting Bush get his nominees confirmed.) They also gave $150,000 to the Campaign Legal Center, which will be important shortly.

* David Geffen Foundation also shows up on the list, although not in the top tier. David Geffen is an entertainment-industry mogul who supports Democrats and left-wing causes. They do not have a website I could find, but Activistcash.com notes that in 2002, most of the grants Geffen gave went to environmental activists and the Tides Foundation and Tides Center.

Via Discover the Networks, you’ll see that Soros’s OSI is a key open borders funder–providing support to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; the National Immigration Law Center; the National Immigration Forum; the National Council of La Raza; and the American Immigration Law Foundation.

Remind me again which party’s presidential nomination John McCain is running for?

[webheart]

What about the DEMOCRAT with the $100K in his freezer? Has he resigned yet?

Oh, come on! Surely an oppressed black man who accepted bribes but probably didn't know that what he was doing was illegal is not deserving of scorn like a potentially homosexual Republican, and therefore hypocritical, white man. /hopefully obvious sarcasm

[IonImplantGuru]

thank goodness Eliot Spitzer has stepped into the role of Jay Leno’s cannon fodder for night-time monologues.

[TheThinker]

Woo-hoo!

[Contra]

I think the funniest part of this was when the cop described how Craig gave him his US Senate business card and said “now what do you think of that”? Can’t you just see this arrogant pansy doing that?

[NonValueAdded]

Don’t let the stall door hit you on the arse on the way out, Larry.

[csvset]

Willie Jefferson, retire?

Here's the latest that I was able to find on him. He's stalling and delaying.

La. Congressman's Appeal to Delay Trial

McLEAN, Va. -

The trial of a Louisiana congressman charged with bribery will be delayed so an appeals court can hear arguments on whether his status as a congressman protects him from prosecution.

The trial of Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat, had been scheduled to start next Monday. His defense attorneys filed an appeal Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

The appeal had been expected since earlier this month, when U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III rejected an argument that the indictment should be tossed out because it unconstitutionally infringed on his privileges as a congressman.

Jefferson's attorneys argued that grand jury testimony given by his staffers violated the Constitution's speech or debate clause, which states that congressmen "shall not be questioned in any other Place" for speech or debate associated with their legislative work.

Ellis ruled that Jefferson's attorneys were trying to apply the principle too broadly.

Normally, defendants are only permitted to appeal a judge's ruling after trial. But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling states that questions involving the speech or debate clause can be filed on a pretrial basis.

Prosecutors can seek to have the appeal heard on an expedited schedule, but even then the delay is expected to last at least several months. The appeal will be heard by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.

The indictment alleges Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more between 2000 and 2005, including $90,000 he received from an FBI informant that was later found in the freezer of his Washington home.

Prosecutors allege he used his influence as chairman of the congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker deals in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and other African nations on behalf of those who paid bribes to him.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I personally think that basing your support for people based on who they were willing to support is a great way to ensure that no conservative ever gets elected.

Of course, I think supporting “conservatives” who have no chance of getting elected because they are fundamentally flawed and incapable of actually doing the job that you are electing them to is also a great way to destroy the conservative movement.

Refusing to support a conservative because he trusted a man to keep his word when you didn’t — well, maybe you shouldn’t vote for them because you don’t trust their judgment, but maybe if they otherwise were worthy of your support, they were actually smarter and more correct than you as to judging character.

But I guess nobody will stop you from an eternal vendetta.

[CharlesWayneCT]

BTW, the fact that you believe someone who said Romney was the most liberal governor ever causes me to question your judgment. That statement is utterly and verifiably false, and rediculous on its face.

Even simply comparing governors at the time he was governor, he was solidly in the middle of the rankings, not anywhere near the most liberal.

[Theodore R.]

Years ago in 1966, ID Republicans retired a liberal governor in their primary. And in 1980 general election, they retired a Democrat, Frank Church. But otherwise it is rare for ID people to reject their “friendly incumbents”.

[Corin Stormhands]

Risch would have had my support if he hadn’t campaigned for Mitt Romney, the most liberal Governor in the history of the republic.

You don't get out much, do you?

[Mr. Silverback]

I hope there’s lots of genuine repentance and forgiveness in his future..

[ExSoldier]

And in 1980 general election, they retired a Democrat, Frank Church.

I didn't know Church was from Idaho! Does he still live there? Somebody should find he and all the members of the Church Committee and thank them for giving us the Sept. 11 attacks.

[EternalVigilance]

Once again, no other Governor in history implemented gay marriage, socialized medicine complete with taxpayer-funded abortions, , a permanent assault weapons ban, and completely gave over the public schools and state government to the radical gay agenda.

If you can show me a US Governor who did all those things I’ll retract my statement.

Romney then going out and trying, with the help of his wealth, to fool folks into believing he is a conservative, is just the icing on the cake.

The cherry on top is the leaders he corrupted with that money.

Corin, I can forgive, but, unlike you, I consider all the facts above to put his supporters beyond my support for the foreseeable future. They’re either too corrupt or too naive to hold elected office. I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about that.