NYT : Craig’s Reversal Dismays Many Back Home in Idaho

Craig’s Reversal Dismays Many Back Home in Idaho

By WILLIAM YARDLEY | October 6, 2007

MIDVALE, Idaho, Oct. 5 — Dismissing the wishes of the bigwigs in Washington often scores points for politicians here in the reluctant stretch of the Republic known as the state of Idaho.

Then there is the unresignation of Senator Larry E. Craig.

“A lot of Republicans in Idaho think they need to sit down on a good shrink’s couch right now,” said Tracy Lotz, a former vice chairman of the state Republican Party. “We’re in shock.”

Unaccustomed to political relevance, Idaho has endured more than a month of political parody. And that was before Mr. Craig provided new material on Thursday by saying he would stay in office after all, notwithstanding a court ruling forbidding him to withdraw his guilty plea in a restroom sex sting.

Some Idahoans profess a respect for Mr. Craig for showing an indigenous “moxie” in telling off the national Republicans who tried to force him out, and some insist he did nothing wrong in the first place. Yet it is also clear from interviews with people across the state that he has lost considerable support as he tries to finish out his term, which lasts until January 2009.

Many people say his repeated revision of his plans to serve and not serve has served only himself and ruined his credibility.

“He’s using politics, and that’s not really what his roots are,” said Jim Warren, superintendent here in the Midvale School District, where Mr. Craig was educated in a one-room schoolhouse until seventh grade. “People here really pride themselves on keeping their word.”

The news broke on Aug. 27 that Mr. Craig, 62, had pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge related to the undercover sex sting, conducted at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Sept. 1, under intense pressure from Senate Republican leaders worried about damage to the party, he announced that it was his “intent” to resign by Sept. 30.

But a few days later he suggested that he might stay on if he was able to withdraw his guilty plea. A judge ruled Thursday that he could not withdraw it, and a few hours later the senator said he would remain in office anyway. For some, that reversal was more than one too many.

“I think he should do the respectful thing and just step down,” said Maureen Flaherty, a Democrat who manages a restaurant in Boise. “He already pleaded guilty, and to take back your guilty plea for your own personal reasons, I don’t know.”

Yet while people interviewed on the street in downtown Boise were likely to say the senator was an embarrassment who should have resigned, here in rural Midvale, his birthplace, they were more circumspect. Mr. Warren, the school superintendent, said that townspeople were “disappointed” in Mr. Craig but that he would find them forgiving the next time he comes for a visit.

Mr. Craig has made rural issues a top priority in the 27 years he has served in Congress, fighting for the timber industry and farmers. Members of his extended family have ranched in Midvale, some 90 miles northwest of Boise, since the 1890s, and the Craig surname still appears on school rolls. Midvale has fewer than 200 people, according to the census, but the current school draws about 130 students, from preschool through the high school grades, who live in the town and the surrounding area. More than once the senator has spoken at graduation.

Some say Mr. Craig has been persecuted for what they view as a minor offense, given transgressions of other Washington politicians. If he can withstand the pressure, they say, let him stay in office, and just maybe he can be an effective senator again.

“He’s done a lot of good for Idaho,” said Rick Graham, who went to high school with Mr. Craig and whose family owns the Midvale Market, the main retail operation here, with an inventory that includes hunting rifles and Reese’s Cups. “I’m going to trust his judgment on this.”

And while top Republicans in the state may be surprised at Mr. Craig’s reversal, virtually none of them have joined national Republican leaders who called early on for him to resign. Idaho’s other senator, Michael D. Crapo, has said he supports Mr. Craig’s decision to stay in office, and Gov. C. L. Otter, who chose a replacement on the presumption that Mr. Craig was going to resign, has said he has a right to remain.

On Friday, J. Kirk Sullivan, chairman of the state Republican Party, issued a carefully phrased statement saying he was “confident Idaho’s Congressional delegation can continue to effectively represent the best interests of Idahoans.”

Bryan Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance and one of the few leading conservatives to call for the senator to quit, said he did not share that confidence. “What Idaho families need is a senator who can be an unapologetic, vocal and visible leader on pro-family issues,” Mr. Fischer said. “And Senator Craig is simply not going to be able to do that for next 15 months.”

Patti Murphy contributed reporting from Boise.