Craig resigns from committee posts

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) stepped down from his committees on Wednesday at the request of GOP leaders as calls for his resignation continued to multiply.

Craig will relinquish the senior GOP posts on the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the Interior Department, and the Energy Committee’s panel on public lands. The ethics committee, whose senior Republican is GOP Vice Chairman John Cornyn (Texas), is likely to soon begin a preliminary inquiry into Craig’s June arrest for disorderly conduct stemming from solicitation of lewd behavior.

{mosads}According to a GOP aide, the decision to have Craig step down was agreed on during a conference call among GOP leaders including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). McConnell called Craig to inform him before the public announcement, and Craig agreed to comply with the request.

“This is not a decision we take lightly, but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee,” five of the chamber’s senior Republicans said in a statement.

Senior Republicans had already hinted of that decision in a statement late Tuesday that “leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required.”

Craig apologized late Tuesday for his arrest and subsequent guilty plea, a saga that began when the conservative senator made overtures to an undercover policeman investigating homosexual encounters in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

Replacements for Craig on the Appropriations and Energy panels will be made on the committee level. As for naming a new senior Republican on Veterans Affairs, procedure calls for leadership to make a recommendation that would be voted on by the GOP Steering Committee.

The second-ranked Republican on Veterans Affairs is Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), who is also senior on the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.) is the veterans’ panel’s third-ranked Republican.