WASHINGTON — Seeking to salvage his reputation and quell the media storm stirred by his guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges, Sen. Larry E. Craig of Idaho on Tuesday denied making a sexual advance to an undercover officer in a men's room.
"I am not gay and never have been," the Republican lawmaker declared at a Boise news conference with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.
But even as he denied wrongdoing, Senate GOP leaders called for an ethics investigation. His case sent shock waves through Republican circles here and in his home state. Already, Craig was under intense pressure to give up the seat he has held since 1991 rather than risk handing Democrats what has been a safe seat in a solidly red state.
Craig said that he would announce next month whether he would seek reelection.
"This is one more headache that Republicans don't need," said Jennifer Duffy, Senate race analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
At the news conference, Craig, a leading voice on issues affecting the West, apologized for his handling of the incident, saying he regretted his plea.
"It is clear, though, that through my actions I have brought a cloud over Idaho. For that, I ask the people of Idaho for their forgiveness," he said.
The disorderly conduct charge grew out of a June incident at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in which an officer investigating lewd-conduct complaints arrested Craig on suspicion of making sexual advances.
The arrest and the senator's subsequent guilty plea became public Monday, when it was reported by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
Craig, 62, was ordered to pay $575 in fines and fees and given one year's probation.
Though the senator denied being gay, it was not the first time he has confronted sexually related accusations. In 1982, when he was in the House, he denied involvement in a congressional page sex scandal.
On Tuesday, Craig said that he "overreacted and made a poor decision" in responding to the arrest without seeking counsel from an attorney, staff, friends or family in hopes of "making it go away." Craig said he had hired an attorney to examine the case.
"I did nothing wrong," he said, reading from a statement.
He blamed his state of mind at the time on the Idaho Statesman, the state's leading newspaper, which he said for eight months had "relentlessly and viciously harassed" him and his family.
