Lid closes on Craig case: No appeal filed

Former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's criminal case, which made raunchy punch lines out of the airport men's restroom, wide stances and toe tapping, came to a quiet close Thursday when the deadline passed for him to appeal his conviction to the state Supreme Court.

What started as a small disorderly conduct case eventually sank the Idaho Republican's political career and made a tourist curiosity out of a men's room in the main concourse of the Lindbergh terminal at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"We're just glad it's all over. It was a big distraction and frankly it's not how we want this airport to be perceived," said Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which runs the airport. In all, Hogan said, the MAC spent $45,000 prosecuting the case, far more than most misdemeanor arrests.

Craig's 30-day window closed Thursday for appealing the state Court of Appeals ruling upholding his 2007 conviction. The sharply worded decision strongly denied the senator's attempt to withdraw his mail-in guilty plea, saying that the right to be left alone in a public restroom is "very strong."

Craig's lawyer Tom Kelly said an appeal "would have been a futile exercise when we were certain the [state] Supreme Court would not accept this case."

The court doesn't automatically hear appeals and generally limits the cases it accepts to major or novel issues, or split decisions. Craig was arrested in June 2007 by undercover police Sgt. Dave Karsnia in a sting operation at the airport. Hogan said the sting began because of numerous complaints about the main men's restroom being used as a meeting spot for sexual encounters. He said about 50 men were arrested that summer.

"If we didn't do something, somebody was going to get hurt," Hogan said Thursday.

Karsnia, who was in a stall, said Craig peered in for more than two minutes from 3 feet away -- so close, Karsnia said, that the officer could see the senator's blue eyes. In a flourish criticized by defense lawyers, prosecutor Christopher Renz described Craig as peering into the stall with a "prehensile stare."

When the next stall opened, Craig went in and then tapped his foot and waved his hand under the stall, behavior indicative of an interest in a sexual encounter, the complaint said. Eventually, he claimed the "wide stance" he took while urinating was misinterpreted by Karsnia and that his hand was near the floor because he was picking up a piece of paper. The courts didn't buy it.

The incident occurred June 11. Craig mailed in his plea rather than appear in person. Hogan knew of the senator's prominence immediately. "He made it known he was a senator," Hogan said.

But the arrest didn't become public until August when Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call published a story. Craig then sought to rescind his plea.

The senator never appeared in a Minnesota courtroom, but the case still drew national media when Kelly, a Minnesota attorney, and Craig's Washington, D.C.-based celebrity lawyer, Billy Martin, argued to overturn the conviction before Hennepin County Court District Judge Charles Porter. The parking lot at the Southdale branch of the county court was lined with national satellite trucks and media seating was at a premium.

Porter let the conviction stand, writing that Craig is "a career politician with a college education" and is "of, at least, above-average intelligence. He knew what he was saying, reading and signing."

Unbowed, Craig decided to stay in the U.S. Senate despite pleas -- and his initial promise -- to resign. He kept his promise not to seek reelection in 2008, but he served out his term.

Craig's arrest caused the Idaho Statesman newspaper to publish stories about an investigation into his sexual orientation. The married senator publicly declared that he was "not gay."

As the senator's career wound down, so did the fame of the restroom stall.

At the peak of its popularity, Hogan said, women ducked in with cameras to photograph it. During the Republican National Convention, the inside of the men's room was portrayed on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" as a louche gay club with men in bikini briefs gyrating in front of a rainbow flag and disco lights.

Hogan said the MAC is now hopeful that the bathroom will remain as quiet as the busiest men's room at the airport can be but that the MAC is still on alert.

"We're hoping that people will continue to be mindful of the fact we are monitoring the activity," he said.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747