By John O. Legreid Santa Monica
I know it was your April Fool’s edition, but a congressman is supposed to be free from arrest except for treason, felony or breach of the peace. U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section Six.
Larry Craig was not arrested for any of these. Later, after a jail-house brainwash session and the cops scared for what they had done, they got the senator to plead guilty to disturbing the peace, thinking this would sweep the whole issue under the table. Instead, it swept the story into prime time news.
At the time, I did not see this as a case of a man playing footsie with a vice-squadder under a rest room partition. I know from my own experience (not sexual encounter) this was a case of the local cops playing footsie with the local judge or bail bondsmen. What person would not cough up anything needed to avoid being stranded in Minneapolis?
I feel the public has too much appetite to eat up and swallow anything that suggests another politician has done something wrong.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.