It was early this year when folks in Idaho heard, through the grapevine, that Idaho Statesman political reporter Dan Popkey was investigating allegations that Idaho Republican U.S. Senator Larry Craig had had sex with men in restrooms in Union Station in Washington, D.C.
For many months, we in the Idaho blogosphere have been waiting to hear those results, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming from Idaho's largest newspaper. Whether the Statesman simply didn't have enough evidence against Senator Craig, or had been convinced not to run what they had, or perhaps had been threatened with legal reprisals, no one knew. The silence seemed very loud, indeed.
But now, with Senator Craig's admitted arrest in June by an undercover officer in Minnesota for lewd behavior in an airport bathroom, and his subsequent guilty plea earlier this month to disorderly conduct, the Idaho Statesman and Dan Popkey apparently feel they can now release their report.
In an interview on May 14, Craig told the Idaho Statesman he'd never engaged in sex with a man or solicited sex with a man. The Craig interview was the culmination of a Statesman investigation that began after a blogger accused Craig of homosexual sex in October. Over five months, the Statesman examined rumors about Craig dating to his college days and his 1982 pre-emptive denial that he had sex with underage congressional pages.
The most serious finding by the Statesman was the report by a professional man with close ties to Republican officials. The 40-year-old man reported having oral sex with Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004. The Statesman also spoke with a man who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him at the University of Idaho in 1967 and a man who said Craig "cruised" him for sex in 1994 at the REI store in Boise. The Statesman also explored dozens of allegations that proved untrue, unclear or unverifiable.
[. . .]
On May 12, two days before its interview with Craig, the Statesman finally interviewed Rogers' "best source," the man who says he is certain he had a brief sexual encounter with Craig at Union Station, which is two blocks from Craig's office. The man said the sex occurred in two restrooms on a weekday afternoon. He estimated the encounter lasted three or four minutes.
The man's motive was twofold. A lifelong Republican, he recently had re-registered as a Democrat because he's angry with what he sees as the GOP's gay-bashing. Second, he was tired of Rogers picking on congressional staffers and offered him the chance to "out" a senator.
Popkey writes, "Until Monday, the Statesman had declined to run a story about Craig's sex life, because the paper didn't have enough corroborating evidence and because of the senator's steadfast denial." Apparently, to Dan Popkey and the Idaho Statesman, those denials by Senator Larry Craig at last ring hollow.
[Crossposted at 43rd State Blues: Democracy for Idaho -- 43sb.com]