Standing Up for Larry

The American Land Rights Association is calling for a boycott of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to protest the treatment of Larry Craig. The group's press release (PDF) is blunt:

By ambushing Senator Larry Craig, the Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police have effectively declared war on the West. They are primarily responsible for greatly weakening private property rights and Federal land use advocates in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and in Congress.

The rationale:

Nothing in the police report or interview says Larry Craig actually did anything unlawful. The policeman was reading Senator Craig's body language and the tea leaves to divine what he was thinking about doing or trying to do. In other words, the policeman was profiling visitors to the restroom at the Minneapolis St Paul International Airport. It was the policeman's perception that Senator Craig was trying to do something. In other words, he was following a profile. Larry Craig deserves our support and action on his behalf. The whole arrest report is flimsy and the profiling may make it illegal.

I… don't imagine the boycott will succeed. But I like having this opinion out there.

---

Comments

[Jose Ortega y Gasset]

According to "cut the bullshit" Joe, Larry Craig was arrested because he was asking for gay sex in a public restroom. Even if Larry Craig danced by and asked the police officer, "Do you come here often?" I don't offensive questions or bad pick up lines should be considered criminal actions. Let me add to the list cryptic gay mating rituals... even if those rituals play out in a public restroom.

[Brandybuck]

I don't like the profiling either (or the unconstitutional arrest of a senator). But I fail to see what this has to do with land use, private property rights, or a "war on the West". Can anyone clue me in?

[Fred Astaire]

Damn right!

[Brian Sorgatz]

Mr. Weigel, I like the opinion, too, and I wonder if your reasons for liking it overlap with mine at all.

Craig's tenacity in this situation makes me wonder if he's honestly not gay (or even bi-curious) after all. Over and over again, Radley Balko shows us how paternalistically overzealous police departments can get. (Or has other evidence of Craig's homosexuality fallen down my memory hole, so to speak?)

But even if I'm right, I don't feel all that sorry for Craig. It still looks like karma a few steps removed for his hypocritical interference in the love lives of consenting adults.

[Brian Sorgatz]

I just plagiarized myself from yesterday. My excuse is that it might as well be brand new, because it was so much farther down the thread yesterday.

[John]

I think there are two things going on here; what was Craig actually doing and was that a crime. As far as what he was doing, to my mind there is no question that he is an old pervert who was cruising for blowjobs. I mean really, no one maintains a wide stance and picks up someone elses toilet paper and gives what appears to be some kind of secret hand sign beneath the stall unless they are looking for sex. That said, that doesn't mean he did anything illegal. I really can't argue with these guys on that point. Regardless of what our instincts and common sense tells us, it is just not illegal to take the actions that Craig took, nor should it be. Unless they caught Craig in the act or someone complained about him propesitioning them, I don't see how you can justify arresting the guy. At most, the cop knocks on the stall after a few minutes and says "okay grandpa move along".

[MikeP]

I accidentally caught the police tape the other day. I have to say that I agree with the tenor of the press release. There is no way that Craig was guilty of anything beyond a reasonable doubt.

What if Craig thought those actions were the way to solicit friends to go fishing with, or just to start a conversation? Because some people or even most people use those signals to hook up does not imply that Craig is or that such a hook up is illegal.

Does anyone doubt that if the cop said, "Please stop," that Craig wouldn't have? Thus there is no disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct.

It is worse than entrapment because he wasn't entrapped into anything. It is simply the police fishing for noncrimes, and -- amusing as it may be that a conservative senator got caught -- it is despicable.

Of course, what this has to do with land rights is beyond me.

[Aresen]

The MEn's Room tAP dancE Society also protests the treatment of Sen. Craig.

[TrickyVic]

"""According to "cut the bullshit" Joe, Larry Craig was arrested because he was asking for gay sex in a public restroom.""

You're slightly incorrect. According to the cop that arrested Craig... joe is taking the word of an officer sworn to uphold the law. Maybe the cop is right, maybe not, that's why we have trails. Craig plead guilty. I'll take Craig's word as the last word. I have no sympathy for a guy who pleads guilty on a crime he didn't commit.

I agree with Brandybuck with the exception of unconstitutional arrest. This arrest was not in violation of Article 1 Section 6 which bans arrests that interfere with Congressional duties.

[John]

MikeP,

Cops are basically voyers. When I was a prosecutor, we used to have a joke that it took Army CID months to investigate the most simple of cases and even then they never solved one unless they tricked some dumb private into confessing unless of course the case involved naked pictures. There were a lot of porn on government computer cases and all of those got investigated with a fine tooth comb and immediately. I swear they had some kind of alarm bell that went off over there whenver there was a case that involved looking at porn. This is no different. Why cruise for pick pockets and highjackers when you could maybe catch a couple of men going at it in the bathroom?

[TrickyVic]

""I accidentally caught the police tape the other day. I have to say that I agree with the tenor of the press release. There is no way that Craig was guilty of anything beyond a reasonable doubt.""

Same here. I seriously doubt I would have convicted Craig based from that tape if I were on the jury. He should have went to trial. But he chose not to, that's on him.

[TrickyVic]

"""Unless they caught Craig in the act or someone complained about him propesitioning them, I don't see how you can justify arresting the guy."""

Wasn't that the cop's complaint? The hand jestures et al was the form of propesition, so the cop says. The cop believed Craig was caught in the act of propesitioning.

[Jose Ortega y Gasset]

Craig pled guilty. So what? People cop pleas every day for all sorts of different reasons. The real question here is whether not an offensive question, statement or toe tapping rises to the level of a criminal act. What's next? Are the cops going to arrest someone for flipping another driver the bird... hey, maybe the guy is not expressing an opinion. Maybe he's asking for (gasp!) hot man-on-man love.

I think expression (however offensive) should be given the widest possible latitude in a free society. Show me who was harmed by Craig's alleged sexual overtures.

[Aresen]

I accidentally caught the police tape the other day. I have to say that I agree with the tenor of the press release. There is no way that Craig was guilty of anything beyond a reasonable doubt.

I do not consider it reasonable to doubt that a politician is guilty.

[joshua corning]

Yeah I mentioned it like a week ago...

But I like having this opinion out there.

Fuck you Weigel this should have been YOUR opinion from the beginning.

[John]

"Fuck you Weigel this should have been YOUR opinion from the beginning."

Don't worry Joshua, had Craig been a Democrat or anti-war, that would have been Weigel's opinion from the begining. As it is, since Weigel doesn't like the guy, it was okay for the cops to get him.

[dhex]

ok so i'm curious (and yeah it seems overkill - to put it lightly - to police bathrooms thusly, etc) but what do you guys think all that gesturing meant, then?

i mean c'mon guys this couldn't just be more TEAM RED TEAM BLUE GO TEAM GO type shit, could it?

naaaaah that can't be it.

no fucking way.

crazy.

crazytalk.

even perhaps the legendary crazypants.

[MikeP]

ok so i'm curious (and yeah it seems overkill - to put it lightly - to police bathrooms thusly, etc) but what do you guys think all that gesturing meant, then?

I'm curious why it matters to the state what it meant.

[creech]

"What next, are the cops going to arrest someone for flipping the bird?"

Today's paper: police in King of Prussia, PA cited a truck driver's passenger for disorderly conduct after he said an obscenity to a by-stander who warned him his truck was too large to navigate a turn he was attempting.

[Dan T.]

The policeman was reading Senator Craig's body language and the tea leaves to divine what he was thinking about doing or trying to do.

This is simply not true. "Body language" refers to a person's unconscious movements, posture, etc. that reflects his mood or reaction to an event.

Sen. Craig gave intentional hand and foot signals that were known to be commonly used to solicit sex in that specific restroom.

Whether or not this should be illegal is a fair question but the above claim is hogwash.

[Dan T.]

I'm curious why it matters to the state what it meant.

Because the state has an interest in maintaining public order, and allowing airport restrooms to become places for sexual encounters is counter to that interest.

[Brandybuck]

This arrest was not in violation of Article 1 Section 6 which bans arrests that interfere with Congressional duties.

It was my understanding that this happened while Craig was travelling from a session of congress.

[J sub D]

Speak up, those who have never recieved an unwanted sexual advance?

Gosh it's quiet here. And yet we all lived through it.

[Reinmoose]

I agree with Dan T, both at 2:34 and 2:37.

If the airport were private, they likely would have had some policy in place against having sex in the restrooms. Just because it's a public restroom doesn't mean that any member of the public ought to be able to do anything they want in it.

I would have preferred if the police officer had waited until Criag had found someone to do it with and then bust them (although, I'm sure that would have been a LOT more unpleasant for him), and I'm not sure what the consequences of such a thing should be seeing as a private airport would probably just strike that person from being able to fly through that airport (or something like it). Maybe Craig should have just been issued a citation that he was no longer welcome in Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, or something similarly weak?

[P Brooks]

I hope Craig clings tenaciously to his seat, tapping his feet and making smoochy faces at McConnell and his minions for the remainder of his term.

[Trollaphile]

Since Craig was forced out by the party, does it seem like washington is tellinf Idaho who can represent them, rathen than Idaho piching?

[Mr. Average]

"By ambushing Senator Larry Craig, the Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police have effectively declared war on the West. They are primarily responsible for greatly weakening private property rights and Federal land use advocates in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and in Congress."

Huh? The Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police are "...primarily responsible for greatly weakening private property rights and Federal land use advocates in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and in Congress" ? ? That must be some kick ass police force....

[prolefeed]

Here's a letter to the editor I wrote that sarcastically took on the Honolulu Police Department for the same sort of waste of police manpower (fakeshemalepower ?) resources that occurred in the Craig bust:

http://starbulletin.com/2007/09/05/editorial/letters.html

[MikeP]

Reinmoose,

How about putting up a camera outside the stall doors with a sign under it saying, "Inappropriate behavior will be prosecuted"? You don't even need to turn the camera on or connect it to anything. Just turn on its little red light.

I guess that's too simple and not gotcha enough for the police...

[TrickyVic]

"""It was my understanding that this happened while Craig was travelling from a session of congress."""

Did it interfere with Craig's Congressional obligations? Besides, and John maybe you can help, is disorderly conduct a breach of peace violation? Breach of peace is an execption under section 6.

[yoshi]

Wow ... completely amazing ... 28 comments and its apparent that no one knows what Craig was actually charged with. Well I will help you out. From the police report craig was charged with:

Interference with Privacy
Disorderly Conduct

In which he plead -guilty- too. So before you get all hot and bothered about police setting people up - think about this comment:

"I was able to see Craig's blue eyes as he looked into my stall"

and then comment how what should and shouldn't be illegal.

Also - why you are thinking about that - how would you go about tackling the issue of complaints about people having sex in bathrooms?

[MikeP]

"I was able to see Craig's blue eyes as he looked into my stall"

and then comment how what should and shouldn't be illegal.

Uh, if the officer had said, "Excuse me?", "What the hell are you doing?", or, perhaps, "Do you want to be nailed for soliciting sex in a restroom?", I suspect the problem would have solved itself.

Also - why you are thinking about that - how would you go about tackling the issue of complaints about people having sex in bathrooms?

In case you missed it...

How about putting up a camera outside the stall doors with a sign under it saying, "Inappropriate behavior will be prosecuted"? You don't even need to turn the camera on or connect it to anything. Just turn on its little red light.

[TrickyVic]

"""I was able to see Craig's blue eyes as he looked into my stall"

and then comment how what should and shouldn't be illegal."""

I have no problem with it being legal as long as it's legal for me to put my boot in his face.

[P Brooks]

"... no one knows what Craig was actually charged with."

****

http://slate.com/id/2173406/ by Bruce Reed

"Three months after being arrested for lewd conduct in a restroom...."

****

No kidding.

[John]

"How about putting up a camera outside the stall doors with a sign under it saying, "Inappropriate behavior will be prosecuted"? You don't even need to turn the camera on or connect it to anything. Just turn on its little red light."

Oddly enough, I once had that same idea. There was a problem with homosexuals having hookups at a remote bathroom in the place I worked. My brilliant idea was to put a camera in and that would stop it from happening. No one really had any interest in arresting them. People just wanted to be able to use the bathroom without running the risk of finding two men in there sodomizing each other. Well, we put the camera in and it actually encouraged them. We got a whole roll of gay porn. People actually left the stalls and did the act in front of the camera. No kidding. This was the military so a few careers ended over it and a couple of the worst offenders got court-martialed. I honestly can't explain it but the camera seemed to encourage this kind of behavior.

[TrickyVic]

I did mention disorderly conduct. But, I didn't know about the interference with privacy charge. I'm surprised that's actually a crime.

[dhex]

I'm curious why it matters to the state what it meant.

well it's a state-owned bathroom, unfortunately. which is another whole host of issues not really related.

[Randy Devil]

*emerges from yoshi's bathroom...*

whew. that was good. What's your name again? Oh - I'll call you. Kthxbye

[TrickyVic]

Stand up for Larry, and he'll knell down for you!

I couldn't resist. I'm surpised no one beat me to it.

[:-]

Trolling for anonymous sex in a public restroom is about as low as it gets. Buh-bye, Larry, and don't let the stall door hit you on the way out.

[Ayatolllah Usoe]

I'm glad Craig has decided not to step down. If he did, then Butch Otter would have to fill Larry's seat! Sorry, I couldn't resist, either.

[Reinmoose]

There's really no reason he should step down for this, whether or not he actually did what he's accused of.

[Reinmoose]

that is, the people of Idaho chose him to represent them (the poor poor saps), and by golly he should only step down if he's not accurately doing that

[John]

I wish someone could explain to me the attraction of having sex in a stinky airport bathroom. The thought of it makes me want to vomit. A 20 year old Czech super model could offer me the goods and if the best she could do was to do it in an airport bathroom, I think I would have to pass. What the hell is wrong with people?

[MikeP]

Just a friendly tip, John: If you ever free a genie from a bottle, don't make getting that explanation one of your three wishes...

[prolefeed]

John -- not everyone is as finicky as you. I suspect about 90% of non-gay single guys would go for the 20 year Czech super model in the bathroom deal. Ukrainian, maybe not.

[Reinmoose]

John -
In my hometown airport they play classical music in the bathrooms (as well as the whole airport). Maybe they just wanted to get it on to Tchaikovsky?
What I want to know is:
What airport doesn't now have automatic flushing toilets?
and
If you were trying to have sex in a stall, wouldn't the sensor go off like...all the f'ing time?

[Johnny]

There are a number of important thoughts that can be brought to this...I have heard that there were indeed complaints from the public concerning public sex at that airport (unlike certain towns in florida where republicans want action taken), which would certainly place police on the scene undercover and within the letter of the law. Whether they should be busting people for hitting on each other is another matter.

Whether or not Craig is actually guilty of hitting on the cop is another matter as well, reasonable doubt? Probably. Did he do it, probably....

But regardless, if this were happening to someone else...Craig would almost certainly (and based on his past record) believe that someone doing this should go to jail.

It reminds me of Bobby Kennedy's killer (shiran shiran or something like that) when he was up for parol, he has said that he should be let out because the younger K bro would have argued that way, for his release...

And one talking head wrapped that up nicely...

It was a pity that the man had killed the only man who would argue for leniency.

This might indeed be bull, but it is exactly the kind of bull that Craig wants others to have to suffer through, so it is AWFULLY hard to take this all serious.

Do unto others as they would have you do.

Craig would probably say...Hang'im out to dry.

[TrickyVic]

"""A 20 year old Czech super model could offer me the goods and if the best she could do was to do it in an airport bathroom, I think I would have to pass."""

I don't really understand bathroom sex either, but I'd calculate the odds of me getting another 20 yr old Czech super model, so yeah, I'd do her.

I'd rather be the guy telling the story about how I did the young Czech super model in the bathroom, than be the guy telling the story of how I turned it down.

[MikeP]

Well, if the Minneapolis St Paul Airport Police have anything to say about it, at least you won't be the guy telling the story about how you were about to do the young Czech supermodel in the bathroom, but she got turned off by the gay sex in the next stall and walked out.

[BakedPenguin]

I wish someone could explain to me the attraction of having sex in a stinky airport bathroom.

I wondered about this myself. What happens when some guy gets off his 9 hour British Air flight with a semi-digested cheese, hummus, and tomato sandwich and starts launching WMD's in the next stall? That's got to kill the romance.

I suspect about 90% of non-gay single guys would go for the 20 year Czech super model in the bathroom deal. Ukrainian, maybe not.

???????? ??????!

[TrickyVic]

That's funny mike. I'd be pissed too.

[joe]

That's not what profiling means.

The cop didn't arrest Craig because his actions gave him away as a gay man, but because his actions were overt acts in the commissin of a crime.

But I love the partisanship at work here - the Airport Police "declared war on the West" because the consequences of their action, completely unrelated to a political agenda, harmed someone that the ALRA consider "our guy."

[joe]

You know, if we pretend that saying "Hey, buddy, wanna have oral sex in this bathroom stall" is ACTUALLY just a voice exercise Craig performs before giving a floor speech...

Well, we'd be a bunch of self-deluding morons searching under the couch cushions for any plausible reason to defend a Republican.

[joe]

John,

I wish someone could explain to me the attraction of having sex in a stinky airport bathroom.

If you're a deeply closeted, self-hating gay man who only dares to have anonymous sex, and those are the only places you know where to get it, you do what you've gotta do.