http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Ethics_watchdog_wants_investigation_of_alleged_0828.htmlCraig once helped boot GOP senator for sexual harassmentNick Juliano
Published: Tuesday August 28, 2007
Ethics watchdog calling for similar investigation of claims Craig solicited officerWhen the ethics committee voted to boot Bob Packwood from the Senate for lewd sexual harassment in 1995, Sen. Larry Craig lamented the difficult decision, but called it "the right one." After Packwood resigned the next day, Craig, then a member of the Senate ethics committee, shared a tearful embrace with his former colleague.
"One particularly poignant moment came during an exchange between Packwood and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a member of the Ethics panel," Edwin Chen reported in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 8, 1995. "Afterward, they shook hands and hugged one another. Then Craig began sobbing and quickly strode into the GOP cloakroom, his hands covering his face."
"It was not an easy decision to vote to expel a colleague from the Senate, but it was the right one," Craig said of the ethic's committee's sanction related to charges that Packwood made 18 "unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances" against women.
Now an independent watchdog wants the ethics committee to begin an investigation that could see the Idaho Republican face a similar fate. The group wants a formal investigation of reports reports that Craig tried to solicit anonymous sex in an airport bathroom.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington charges the three-term senator's alleged conduct reflects poorly on the august chamber.
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