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September 5, 2007

Mp3: Larry Craig voicemail, left for lawyer at wrong number

Just when it couldn't get weirder, it did.

The Senator who pled guilty after soliciting a cop in a mensroom left a voicemail message (mp3) Saturday for his lawyer, Billy Martin, indicating his resignation announcement would turn into "intent to resign," apparently to leave wiggle room. But the voicemail was left at a wrong number (although there's some speculation that it was leaked from Martin's office, for reasons that nobody explains well).

We're in the Twilight Zone now.

A transcript of the call accompanies this Idaho Statesman story (Craig leaves door open to remain in Senate):

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig said Tuesday that he might reconsider his decision to resign if he clears his name in his arrest for disorderly conduct in a restroom sex scandal.

That's why Craig chose his words carefully during his resignation speech Saturday in Boise, according to a voice mail message he mistakenly left on a stranger's phone. In the message obtained by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Craig tells a man named "Billy" that his choice of language is deliberate because it leaves the door open for him to stay in office.

Craig made the call just minutes before his speech.

...The recording was offered for sale to the Idaho Statesman, which turned it down because the newspaper's ethics policy precludes it from paying for information from sources. A Roll Call editor said that publication wouldn't pay either, but it managed to obtain the recording without charge.

How does Roll Call keep getting what the Statesman can't? They got the tip about Craig's arrest as well. Stateman investigative reporter Dan Popkey's head must be spinning.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, who subscribes to the gated Roll Call, found this tidbit in their report, which suggests serial misdialing:

Craig spokesman Dan Whiting confirmed Tuesday that the incoming phone number identified by the cell phone where the voice mail was left is in fact the Senator’s cell number. The cell phone’s owner, who requested anonymity, said Craig’s number has shown up on his phone as a missed call a handful of times over the past several weeks, but said that this was the first time the Senator left a message.

Marshall points out that "if Craig's been in contact with Martin for several weeks that means there's an important part of the story we haven't yet heard."

The Statesman continues with how it's playing in Idaho:

Craig's move stunned even supporters. Most political insiders believed Craig had finally gotten the message from national Republican leaders, who saw his guilty plea to a humiliating sex-related charge as a blemish on the party's reputation and its prospects for the 2008 election.

"We didn't know anything about this," said a spokesman for Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, who stood with Craig during the resignation announcement. Otter, a congressman until his election as governor last fall, will pick Craig's successor.

Craig's hedging may play poorly even among Idaho supporters who believe Craig was railroaded, observers said.

"I'm not sure how Idahoans will take it if they feel like they were misled by his statement on Saturday," said Jim Weatherby, a retired political scientist at Boise State University. "He was playing a word game, apparently, with us."

It seems the Senator thinks if he can withdraw his guilty plea he's home free. Are Idahoans really likely to rally around him to applaud his good lawyering? Isn't this attempt to hold onto power unseemly in itself?

The Republican National Committee says it won't support Craig for re-election, but it can't push him out of the Senate. He is not in Washington today as the Senate returns from recess.

In a rare moment of bipartisan unity, partisans at opposite political sites Democratic Underground and Free Republic are sneering in unison.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:45 AM | Permalink