Senate Ethics Committee Wags Finger at Larry Craig

The Senate ethics committee sent a letter admonishing Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) this evening. We’ll have the letter and details in a moment.

Update: Here’s the letter.

Update: The complaint dings Craig for disorderly conduct (“The Committee accepts as proven your guilty plea”), trying to bully the cop who busted him by showing his business card and asking “What do you think about that?” among other things.

His attempt to erase the guilty plea, the senators write, is a craven attempt to avoid fault: “Your claims to the court, through counsel, to the effect that your guilty plea resulted from improper pressure or coercion, or that you did not, as a legal matter, know what you were doing when you pled guilty, do not appear credible.”

The senators also ding him for using campaign funds to pay his legal bills without first seeking approval from the committee.

They conclude:

“The conduct to which you pled guilty, together with your related conduct as set forth above, constitute improper conduct reflecting discreditably on the Senate and through this letter the Select Committee on Ethics, on behalf of and pursuant to authority granted by the United States Senate, publicly admonishes you for that conduct….

The Select Committee on Ethics resolves this matter through your public admonition so that, on behalf of the United States Senate, it may make known clearly that the conduct to which you pled guilty, together with the related and subsequent conduct discussed in this letter, is improper conduct which has reflected discreditably on the Senate.”

The letter is signed by committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and John Cornyn (R-TX), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Johnny Isakson (R-GA).