Idaho rep urges senator to make resignation clear

Sen. Larry Craig’s spokesman said Thursday that Craig has dropped any hope of finishing his term.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Idaho’s senior Republican congressman called on Sen. Larry Craig on Thursday to make it clear he will leave his seat by Sept. 30, as GOP leaders sought to remove any doubt that the embattled senator will resign within weeks.

Craig’s chief spokesman said his boss had dropped virtually all notions of trying to finish his third term, which ends in early 2009. But prominent Republicans in Washington and Idaho wanted a firm deadline in hopes of putting the controversy behind them.

Craig pleaded guilty in June to disorderly conduct after a sting operation in a men’s bathroom at the Minneapolis airport, but he said this week he hoped to withdraw the plea. He also hinted he was rethinking his weekend announcement that he intended to resign by month’s end.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, told The Associated Press that Craig should make his resignation unequivocal so that Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, also a Republican, can choose a replacement.

“If there is no vacancy there, he really doesn’t know what to do,” Simpson said. “This can’t go on for very long.”

Simpson said Craig “needs to make it clear that he is going to resign at the end of the month, so that Butch can make a replacement.”

Craig’s focus

Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said Thursday that the senator was focused on trying to clear his name and to help Idaho prepare for a replacement. “The most likely scenario, by far, is that by October there will be a new senator from Idaho,” Whiting told the AP.

The only circumstances in which Craig might try to complete his term, Whiting said, would require a prompt overturning of his conviction, as well as Senate GOP leaders’ agreement to restore the committee leaderships positions they took from him this week.

Those scenarios are unlikely, Whiting said.

Republican Senate leaders welcomed Whiting’s comments after a series of confusing signals from Craig’s circle. A prompt resignation would enable Republicans to sidestep one of several ethics dilemmas they face this fall, and avoid the embarrassment of dealing with a colleague who had been stripped of his committee leadership posts and urged to resign by party leaders.