Craig Calls Idaho Paper 'Classless' After New X-Rated Story
UPDATE: Craig Calls Idaho Paper 'Classless' After New X-Rated Story
By E&P Staff
Published: December 02, 2007
The Idaho Statesman of Boise, which had deeply probed Sen. Larry Craig's sexual activities but did not get the scoop on his airport men's room arrest earlier this year, has published today a massive further account based on new sources. Now Craig had denied it all in an email to the Associated Press.
The Statesman article carries the byline of chief political reporter Dan Popkey and includes audio posted online with this warning: "Audio clip disclaimer -- Some of the audio interview excerpts contain explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners who find such content offensive. The Statesman provides the excerpts so Idahoans can hear these accounts and decide for themselves about accusations against Sen. Craig."
The article by Popkey opens: "Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.
"They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, 'I am not gay, I never have been gay.' Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.
"David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.
"Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.
"Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene. Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.
"A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho."
Much more follows, all at
www.idahostatesman.com. It is often graphic, with paragraphs such as: "Phillips said Craig removed his suit coat, but otherwise remained dressed. He said Craig first performed oral sex on him, and then unzipped his pants so Phillips could reciprocate. Craig then left the room, returning with condoms and lubricant. The two men then had anal sex. Afterward, Craig became agitated and pressed Phillips to leave."
Craig refused to respond to the Statesman but later in the day sent an email to the AP terming the newspaper's report "completely false" and careless journalism.
"It is unfortunate that the Idaho Statesman has chosen to continue to lower itself to the standards of what can best be described as tabloid journalism," Craig said in the statement. "Despite the fact the Idaho Statesman has decided to pursue its own agenda and print these falsehoods without any facts to back them up, I won't let this paper's attempt to malign my name stop me from continuing my work to serve the people of Idaho."
Executive Editor Vicki Gowler had provided the following note with the paper's package.
*
One of a newspaper's primary duties is to hold the powerful accountable and to give voice to the voiceless. Sen. Larry Craig's account of what happened in the men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport has changed ?- whether or not he consulted an attorney, when he hired his attorney, whether he was handcuffed or not, where the piece of toilet paper was. His credibility also is in doubt because of his contradictory statements on whether he would resign.
Since his arrest and guilty plea for disorderly conduct, his statements that he has never had sex with a man, was never named in the 1982 congressional page scandal, didn't know the "signals" gay men use to solicit sex, and was a victim of profiling have been questioned by more men who contacted us to share their knowledge of the senator.
As with our August report, we didn't rush to print these stories. We've spent several months checking out the men's backgrounds and details of their accounts. We believe it's important for you to know what we've learned, and to hear the men's own words at IdahoStatesman.com.
