Still Raising Money on His Way Out

14 Oct 2008 // Sen. Larry E. Craig is retiring from politics this year, but he hasn’t stopped raising money.

The Idaho Republican is still trying to have his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge in Minnesota overturned. So he’s continuing to hit up potential donors for his legal defense fund.

Craig was arrested last year in a restroom at the Minneapolis airport after an undercover police officer interpreted some of the senator’s hand and foot movements as a solicitation for sex. Craig has raised $4,645 since his Fund for Justice was approved by the Senate Ethics Committee in mid-September, largely from longtime home state contributors. Craig himself got things started by kicking in $10.

The senator is appealing his August 2007 guilty plea, which led many of his GOP colleagues in the Senate to call for his resignation. He resisted, but did opt simply to serve out his third term rather than seek re-election.

Back in February, the Ethics Committee chided Craig for using $213,000 in campaign funds to pay legal and public-relations fees without approval from either the Ethics panel or the Federal Election Commission. He did not spend any money on legal fees in the second quarter of the year, according to his campaign’s disclosure report. Craig has yet to file his third-quarter report, which is due Oct. 15.

Craig’s legal defense fund hasn’t actually spent any money on legal fees so far, but it has paid out $635 to a Florida marketing firm for Web site design and hosting fees.