Former Idaho Republican senator Larry Craig has been fined for illegally using campaign funds to cover his legal expenses,
Roll Call reported.
In a lawsuit filed by the Federal Election Commission in Washington, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Craig to repay $197,533 in money taken from his campaign chest and levied an additional $45,000 fine, according to Roll Call.
Craig was arrested on June 11, 2007 by plainclothes police in a homosexual sting operation on charges of lewd conduct in a men's toilet at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He initially pleaded guilty, paid $500 in fines and avoided a 10-day jail sentence. He was put on probation for a year.
The arrest drew media attention and Craig announced he would leave the Senate. Instead, he filed a motion to change his plea and completed his term, Roll Call reported.
The Senate Ethics Committee then authorized him to create a legal expense fund but cautioned him not to further dip into his campaign cash.
Craig's "lewd conduct" involved touching a plainclothes cop's leg under a toilet stall with his foot.
Craig identified himself as a U.S. Senator during the incident, according to
Politico.
In her decision the judge wrote "the Court finds necessary and appropriate to punish defendants' misconduct and to deter future misconduct by others," according to Politico.
Craig served in the Senate from 1991 until 2009. He had been dogged by— and strenuously denied— innuendos dating back to 1967 that he was gay, according to
The Washington Post.
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