Senator Larry Craig (R-Id) is reconsidering his decision to resign his Senate seat after a telephone call from Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa). If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple weeks, Craig was arrested in Minneapolis for soliciting sexual favors from an undercover police officer in an airport men’s room (AP, 9/5/07). The arrest occurred in June, but Craig managed to keep it quiet for a couple months. In August, he pled guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct. Under pressure from the Republican Party, Craig announced his resignation this week.

Maybe. Now he’s changed his mind. He says the only mistake he made was pleading guilty.

Whatever.

Despite the damage President Bush and his administration have inflicted on our Constitutional rights over the past six and a half years, an American is still considered innocent until proven guilty. So even if Craig did plead guilty, I allow that he may be an innocent citizen. Fine. His judgment, however, is lousy, and I see no reason to support his bid to remain a U.S. senator.

First, Craig’s supporters contend that he was just “in the wrong place at the wrong time” (AP, 9/5/07). I’m sure there were a lot of men in that airport restroom who were not arrested in that sex sting. The police were not just arresting every guy in there. He had to be doing SOMETHING to get their attention. Even if he wasn’t soliciting sex, he wasn’t behaving like all the other men who walked out of there without handcuffs. Poor judgment.

Second, if you’re a U.S. senator who has been a supporter of family views as well as a vocal opponent of pro-homosexual legislation and you get arrested for something like this, why on earth would plead guilty at all? Especially if you were innocent? This man’s supposed to be intelligent, politically-savvy and educated in the ways of the American legal system. Pleading guilty is obviously not the way to go if you’re innocent.

Finally, an American lawmaker should be a good decision-maker. After all, they are entrusted with many big decisions that affect the lives of millions of people in this nation, billions of people all over the world. After 27 years in office, I would think that Senator Craig would have a lot of experience in examining the facts, weighing the options, making the big decision and sticking with it. So when faced with this disastrous moment in his own little career, he flakes out? He announced his resignation Tuesday and just a day later, he changes his mind?

I find it sad that Senator Specter felt the need to make that phone call. Is Larry Craig really the best we can do? Is this the kind of person we need in our Senate? I know hundreds of people who have never been arrested, never had to plead guilty to anything. Even if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they had the good sense to keep their mouths shut. I also know many people who behave in ways that consistently uphold the values they espouse. If they say they support family values, they would always make decisions that support their claim. If they say they are innocent, they would behave innocently. And I know a lot of people who stand by their decisions, even when they’re difficult, complicated or challenged by others.

Basically, I know a lot of people who would make better senators than Larry Craig, people of whom the Republican Party could be quite proud.

Innocent or guilty, Craig is a flaky hypocrite with poor judgment. Surely we don’t need him in the Senate.