M
mike roberts
Guest
http://www.idahostatesman.com/eyepiece/story/226703.html
More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig
Allegations made since news of the Minneapolis case broke lend weight to
rumors about Craig.
Audio clip disclaimer: Some of the audio interview excerpts contain
explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners
who find such content offensive. The Statesman provides the excerpts so
Idahoans can hear these accounts and decide for themselves about
accusations against Sen. Craig.
David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.
Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations
can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry
Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a
sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.
They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's
denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have
been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now
memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry
Craig Action Figure.
David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in
Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and
that they subsequently had sex.
Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the
Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at
first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for
sex in late 2004 or early 2005.
Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he
was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah.
Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the
early 1980s.
A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear
of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's
restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man
in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider.
Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified
the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.
Craig, 62, says he was a victim of "profiling" when he was arrested June
11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for soliciting sex from
an undercover police officer in an adjoining stall in a men's restroom.
Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August. He is appealing
his conviction, financed by his 2008 re-election fund. Because of the
scandal, Craig no longer needs the money to run for office; after 33
years in state and national office, he says he will not seek re-election
next year. Craig also faces a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry, which was
requested by Senate GOP leadership.
"I know what people feel like when they're profiled, when innocent
people get caught up in what I was caught in as an innocent person,"
Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in a prime-time interview that aired Oct. 16.
The appearance on NBC was the latest denial by Craig that he has engaged
in gay sex.
The denials began June 30, 1982, when CBS broke news of a scandal
alleging gay sex between congressmen and underage pages. The following
day, before any public allegation that he was involved, then-Rep. Craig
issued a denial. Craig married a year later and adopted the three
children of his wife, Suzanne. In 1990, the Idaho Statesman asked Craig
about an allegation that he was gay made by an opponent in his first
Senate race. "Why don't you ask my wife?" Craig replied.
In October 2006, Craig directly denied the claims of a blogger who
reported he'd spoken with three anonymous sources who said they had sex
with Craig. In May 2007, after hearing a tape of an accuser who said he
and Craig had sex in two men's restrooms at Washington's Union Station
rail depot, Craig said, "I am not gay."
And when he emphatically told Matt Lauer he was neither gay nor
bisexual, Craig persuaded 28 percent of viewers to believe he had been
wrongly charged in Minnesota, according to a survey of 606 viewers by
HCD Research and Muhlenberg College.
Craig declined comment on this story. He stopped replying to questions
from the Statesman after the paper's Aug. 28 report that included the
accounts of three unnamed men, one who said he had sex with Craig and
two who said he solicited them for sex. But Craig's staff told other
media that the allegations made by Phillips and Jones were false.
As with the Statesman's August report, the new evidence is not
definitive. There are no videos, no love letters, no voice messages.
Like last August, they are he-said, he-said allegations about a man
seeking discreet sex from partners whom he counted on to never tell.
But the Statesman's investigation, which included reviews of travel and
property records and background checks on all five men, found nothing to
disprove the five new accounts. The men offer telling and sometimes
similar details about what happened, or the senator's travel records
place him in the city where sex is alleged to have occurred, or his
accusers told credible witnesses at the time of the incident.
Craig has said he hoped to keep his guilty plea secret. Only after news
of the guilty plea broke Aug. 27 did he tell his wife, staff, colleagues
and constituents. His admission of guilt, taken together with the three
accounts published Aug. 28 and the five new statements, add weight to
the evidence that Craig has been living a double life.
HERE ARE THEIR STORIES:
DAVID PHILLIPS: SEX IN CAPITOL HILL HOUSE
Phillips' account was first published this Oct. 25 at Wonkette.com, a
liberal Web site. Shortly after the Spokane Spokesman-Review linked to
the story on Oct. 26, Craig spokesman Sid Smith replied on a blog that
"there is not a shred of truth to this."
In a tape-recorded interview with the Statesman, the 1985 graduate of
Rice University said he met Craig on a weekday afternoon between May and
August 1986 at a gay strip club called The Follies in Washington, D.C.
The club was a place where gay men met for sex, often on the premises.
Phillips said he mistakenly told Wonkette the incident happened in 1987.
Phillips, then 21, said he and Craig talked and then hugged. Craig said
he didn't feel comfortable at the club and suggested they leave.
Phillips had his car, but Craig hailed a cab, with Phillips following
him to Capitol Hill. The cab stopped and Craig got out, telling Phillips
to park and wait for him to return. In a few minutes, Craig came back on
foot and escorted Phillips to the rear door of a house reached by an alley.
On the way to an upstairs bedroom, Phillips said Craig told him, "You've
never been here. You don't know me."
Phillips said Craig removed his suit coat, but otherwise remained
dressed. He said Craig first performed oral sex on him, and then
unzipped his pants so Phillips could reciprocate. Craig then left the
room, returning with condoms and lubricant. The two men then had anal
sex. Afterward, Craig became agitated and pressed Phillips to leave.
"After the sex, he just wanted me out of there," Phillips said. He said
Craig stuck $20 in his pocket and said, "'I can buy and sell your ass a
thousand times over. You were never here.' "
Phillips said he saw a note card addressed to Suzanne Craig as he left
the house. But he said he never recognized Craig as his sex partner
until the recent story broke and he heard Craig's distinctive and formal
voice on TV.
"I didn't hear that voice again until August," Phillips said. "Then that
'I can buy and sell your ass a thousand times' came back to me. It just
all rolled back so vividly."
Smith, the Craig spokesman, said in his blog posting after the Wonkette
report that Phillips should not be believed because Craig did not live
on Capitol Hill in 1987, but on his boat at the Capitol Yacht Club.
"Everything in that story, from beginning to end, is pure lies and
fiction," Smith wrote.
It's not clear whether Craig lived on a boat between May and August
1986, when Phillips said the encounter actually occurred. But Craig told
the Statesman in May 2007 that he "went through four boats," remodeled
them, "made a little money on each one," and sometimes lived on land
between boats. It's also not clear whether Craig may have had access to
a house on Capitol Hill.
MIKE JONES: MALE ESCORT TOOK $200 FROM CRAIG FOR SEX
Jones, 50, told the Statesman that Craig paid him $200 to have sex with
him on a night between November 2004 and March 2005. Jones said he
recognized Craig only after he became a big story in August.
"Once I saw Larry Craig do his news conference, that's when I go, 'My
God! That guy came to see me.' "
Jones contacted the Statesman in September after Craig signaled he might
back away from his vow to resign Sept. 30. After Craig said on Oct. 4
that he would complete his term in 2009 and appeared on NBC on Oct. 16,
Jones went on the record with the Statesman, describing a sexual
encounter with Craig. (In October, broadcast and Web reports quoted
Jones saying Craig had visited him, but did not say the two had sex).
Here is what Jones told the Statesman in a tape-recorded interview:
Jones said a man phoned to make an appointment, not giving his name. The
man, whom Jones later recognized as Craig, then arrived at a studio
apartment on Sherman Street in downtown Denver. Craig asked whether
Jones followed politics but then quickly changed the subject. "When I
said, 'Yes,' he said, 'Oh, gee, it's cold outside.'" Jones said he
immediately deduced from his client's odd response that he was servicing
a politician.
Craig removed his coat and dress shirt, leaving his T-shirt, slacks and
shoes on when he climbed onto Jones's massage table. Craig asked that
Jones be naked. Craig undid his own zipper and masturbated while
performing oral sex on Jones. When Craig finished, he paid Jones $200 in
cash and left.
The encounter lasted less than an hour, said Jones, who said he kept no
records on his escort clients. Jones said he advertised his "massage"
services exclusively in gay publications, including the bi-weekly
newspaper Out Front Colorado and Rentboy.com.
Craig was in Denver on Feb. 11, 2005, and in nearby Keystone, Colo., on
Feb. 12. On the 12th, he attended a meeting at the Keystone Center, a
policy think tank. Craig's Senate travel records also show six other
trips where Craig may have had layovers in Denver between November 2004
and March 2005.
Craig and his staff won't respond to questions from the Statesman. But
Dan Whiting, a Craig spokesman, told KIVI-Today's 6, "Mike Jones is
lying in order to sell his book - plain and simple. Larry has never met
Mike Jones."
Jones has written a book about his experience with Haggard. Haggard
resigned in November 2006 as president of the National Evangelical
Association and was forced out as pastor of New Life Church after Jones
came forward with voice mails implicating Haggard.
Jones acknowledged his allegation about Craig may help sell books, but
said he is motivated by the desire to expose hypocritical conduct by men
like Haggard and Craig, who has a consistently anti-gay voting record.
"Here they are putting down the gay community in a sense, treating us
like second-class citizens, and they want to have their cake and eat it,
too," he said.
GREG RUTH: RESTROOM PROPOSITION IN COEUR D'ALENE
Ruth attended the Republican Western Roundup in Coeur d'Alene in October
1981, where he said Craig made a sexual advance. At the time, Craig was
a 36-year-old bachelor and first-year congressman and Ruth was a
24-year-old college Republican from the University of Puget Sound.
Ruth, who was openly gay in 1981, told the Statesman in a tape-recorded
interview that Craig paid him unusual attention at the political
gathering. Ruth said he excused himself to use the restroom, but Craig
soon entered and stood next to Ruth at the urinal, looking at Ruth's penis.
"He looked over and said, 'Hi,'" Ruth said. "But he didn't touch me or
anything like that. And then after we finished urinating, we washed
hands. He gave me his phone number and he said, 'If you ever get to
D.C., call me. You can stay with me.'"
Ruth, now a professional photographer, said he never followed up and
lost the slip of paper with Craig's number. But Ruth said he has no
doubt Craig was making a sexual advance. "I'm gay, and I knew he was
hitting on me," Ruth said. "There's no question about that."
Returning to Tacoma, Wash., Ruth immediately told his uncle about the
incident. The uncle, Gerald King, is a retired major who served 25 years
in the Army. Ruth, 50, is a former Army captain who served seven years
on active duty in the infantry and 12 years in the Army Reserve.
"Mind you," said King, "Greg was strikingly handsome. (Craig) was
extremely friendly and overt with Greg in trying to get him to socialize
with him."
King said his nephew told him in 1981 that Craig made a sexual advance.
"No question about it," said King. "I don't think they were going to
make Jell-O."
ANOTHER MEN'S RESTROOM ENCOUNTER
Another gay man, a 46-year-old professional from Boise, told the
Statesman that Craig reached his hand into his restroom stall in
September 2006 during a layover at the Denver airport. The man, who
travels in political circles, had met Craig before. He asked that he not
be named by the Statesman.
The man said he was flying from Boise to Washington, D.C., on the same
flights as Craig and Craig's wife, Suzanne. Denver, like Minneapolis, is
a key connecting hub for flights between Boise and Washington.
During the layover in Denver, the man said he was in a men's restroom
stall when a hand came under the divider and reached toward him. The
hand was palm up, as the officer in Minnesota also described, and slid
toward him for two or three seconds. The man said he noticed unpolished,
dark, lace-up shoes worn by the man in the next stall. He did not
respond to the gesture.
"I freaked out," said the man, who was traveling with his long-time
partner. "I finished my business and left."
The man said he then waited outside the men's restroom on a bench.
Shortly after, a man wearing the shoes he saw in the adjacent stall
exited. The man was Larry Craig.
"Those shoes came out, and I looked up, and it was like, 'Oh, my God.'"
After boarding the second flight, the man told his partner about the
incident. The partner confirmed having heard the details of Craig's
advance that day.
The man said one reason he requires anonymity is he fears Craig will use
his power to retaliate. He is afraid Craig may have recognized him and,
perhaps knowing he is gay, followed him into the men's restroom thinking
he would be amenable to sex.
TOM RUSSELL: MUTUAL COME-ON AT BOGUS BASIN SKI RESORT
Russell, 48, a Nampa native who lives in Utah, was among three men who
contacted the Statesman about what they described as unusually attentive
behavior on Craig's part. Russell was willing to be named for this story
and spoke in a tape-recorded interview.
Russell worked as a food service manager at Bogus Basin ski resort and
said his encounter probably occurred in the 1983-84 ski season, soon
after Craig had married following the 1982 page scandal. Russell had
taken a food class from Suzanne Craig and had heard the rumors that
Craig was gay.
Russell, openly gay at the time, said he set out to engage Craig "and
attempted to show a personal interest - not in a suggestive way - but a
personal interest to see if he would respond."
"I recall that he was very delighted to talk to me - smiling, happy,
very delighted - and that he had suggested that we could get together
sometime," he said. "Why would he have a personal interest in meeting me
elsewhere?"
Russell said he became convinced Craig was gay because he used subtle
signals consistent with communication between gay men in public places.
"You've heard the term, 'gaydar'? OK, it's there. You know it. You know
when somebody is raising an eyebrow at you because it's their gesture
when they say 'hello' or when they are subtly trying to send you a
message that they recognize you as being a gay person."
Nothing came of the meeting, Russell said. But he came forward now
because he is offended by Craig's denials.
"I'm disgusted because it's hypocritical, and he's lying. He's lying
through his teeth. Heterosexual men do not behave like that."
Dan Popkey: 377-6438
More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig
Allegations made since news of the Minneapolis case broke lend weight to
rumors about Craig.
Audio clip disclaimer: Some of the audio interview excerpts contain
explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners
who find such content offensive. The Statesman provides the excerpts so
Idahoans can hear these accounts and decide for themselves about
accusations against Sen. Craig.
David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.
Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations
can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry
Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a
sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.
They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's
denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have
been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now
memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry
Craig Action Figure.
David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in
Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and
that they subsequently had sex.
Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the
Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at
first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for
sex in late 2004 or early 2005.
Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he
was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah.
Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the
early 1980s.
A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear
of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's
restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man
in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider.
Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified
the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.
Craig, 62, says he was a victim of "profiling" when he was arrested June
11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for soliciting sex from
an undercover police officer in an adjoining stall in a men's restroom.
Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August. He is appealing
his conviction, financed by his 2008 re-election fund. Because of the
scandal, Craig no longer needs the money to run for office; after 33
years in state and national office, he says he will not seek re-election
next year. Craig also faces a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry, which was
requested by Senate GOP leadership.
"I know what people feel like when they're profiled, when innocent
people get caught up in what I was caught in as an innocent person,"
Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in a prime-time interview that aired Oct. 16.
The appearance on NBC was the latest denial by Craig that he has engaged
in gay sex.
The denials began June 30, 1982, when CBS broke news of a scandal
alleging gay sex between congressmen and underage pages. The following
day, before any public allegation that he was involved, then-Rep. Craig
issued a denial. Craig married a year later and adopted the three
children of his wife, Suzanne. In 1990, the Idaho Statesman asked Craig
about an allegation that he was gay made by an opponent in his first
Senate race. "Why don't you ask my wife?" Craig replied.
In October 2006, Craig directly denied the claims of a blogger who
reported he'd spoken with three anonymous sources who said they had sex
with Craig. In May 2007, after hearing a tape of an accuser who said he
and Craig had sex in two men's restrooms at Washington's Union Station
rail depot, Craig said, "I am not gay."
And when he emphatically told Matt Lauer he was neither gay nor
bisexual, Craig persuaded 28 percent of viewers to believe he had been
wrongly charged in Minnesota, according to a survey of 606 viewers by
HCD Research and Muhlenberg College.
Craig declined comment on this story. He stopped replying to questions
from the Statesman after the paper's Aug. 28 report that included the
accounts of three unnamed men, one who said he had sex with Craig and
two who said he solicited them for sex. But Craig's staff told other
media that the allegations made by Phillips and Jones were false.
As with the Statesman's August report, the new evidence is not
definitive. There are no videos, no love letters, no voice messages.
Like last August, they are he-said, he-said allegations about a man
seeking discreet sex from partners whom he counted on to never tell.
But the Statesman's investigation, which included reviews of travel and
property records and background checks on all five men, found nothing to
disprove the five new accounts. The men offer telling and sometimes
similar details about what happened, or the senator's travel records
place him in the city where sex is alleged to have occurred, or his
accusers told credible witnesses at the time of the incident.
Craig has said he hoped to keep his guilty plea secret. Only after news
of the guilty plea broke Aug. 27 did he tell his wife, staff, colleagues
and constituents. His admission of guilt, taken together with the three
accounts published Aug. 28 and the five new statements, add weight to
the evidence that Craig has been living a double life.
HERE ARE THEIR STORIES:
DAVID PHILLIPS: SEX IN CAPITOL HILL HOUSE
Phillips' account was first published this Oct. 25 at Wonkette.com, a
liberal Web site. Shortly after the Spokane Spokesman-Review linked to
the story on Oct. 26, Craig spokesman Sid Smith replied on a blog that
"there is not a shred of truth to this."
In a tape-recorded interview with the Statesman, the 1985 graduate of
Rice University said he met Craig on a weekday afternoon between May and
August 1986 at a gay strip club called The Follies in Washington, D.C.
The club was a place where gay men met for sex, often on the premises.
Phillips said he mistakenly told Wonkette the incident happened in 1987.
Phillips, then 21, said he and Craig talked and then hugged. Craig said
he didn't feel comfortable at the club and suggested they leave.
Phillips had his car, but Craig hailed a cab, with Phillips following
him to Capitol Hill. The cab stopped and Craig got out, telling Phillips
to park and wait for him to return. In a few minutes, Craig came back on
foot and escorted Phillips to the rear door of a house reached by an alley.
On the way to an upstairs bedroom, Phillips said Craig told him, "You've
never been here. You don't know me."
Phillips said Craig removed his suit coat, but otherwise remained
dressed. He said Craig first performed oral sex on him, and then
unzipped his pants so Phillips could reciprocate. Craig then left the
room, returning with condoms and lubricant. The two men then had anal
sex. Afterward, Craig became agitated and pressed Phillips to leave.
"After the sex, he just wanted me out of there," Phillips said. He said
Craig stuck $20 in his pocket and said, "'I can buy and sell your ass a
thousand times over. You were never here.' "
Phillips said he saw a note card addressed to Suzanne Craig as he left
the house. But he said he never recognized Craig as his sex partner
until the recent story broke and he heard Craig's distinctive and formal
voice on TV.
"I didn't hear that voice again until August," Phillips said. "Then that
'I can buy and sell your ass a thousand times' came back to me. It just
all rolled back so vividly."
Smith, the Craig spokesman, said in his blog posting after the Wonkette
report that Phillips should not be believed because Craig did not live
on Capitol Hill in 1987, but on his boat at the Capitol Yacht Club.
"Everything in that story, from beginning to end, is pure lies and
fiction," Smith wrote.
It's not clear whether Craig lived on a boat between May and August
1986, when Phillips said the encounter actually occurred. But Craig told
the Statesman in May 2007 that he "went through four boats," remodeled
them, "made a little money on each one," and sometimes lived on land
between boats. It's also not clear whether Craig may have had access to
a house on Capitol Hill.
MIKE JONES: MALE ESCORT TOOK $200 FROM CRAIG FOR SEX
Jones, 50, told the Statesman that Craig paid him $200 to have sex with
him on a night between November 2004 and March 2005. Jones said he
recognized Craig only after he became a big story in August.
"Once I saw Larry Craig do his news conference, that's when I go, 'My
God! That guy came to see me.' "
Jones contacted the Statesman in September after Craig signaled he might
back away from his vow to resign Sept. 30. After Craig said on Oct. 4
that he would complete his term in 2009 and appeared on NBC on Oct. 16,
Jones went on the record with the Statesman, describing a sexual
encounter with Craig. (In October, broadcast and Web reports quoted
Jones saying Craig had visited him, but did not say the two had sex).
Here is what Jones told the Statesman in a tape-recorded interview:
Jones said a man phoned to make an appointment, not giving his name. The
man, whom Jones later recognized as Craig, then arrived at a studio
apartment on Sherman Street in downtown Denver. Craig asked whether
Jones followed politics but then quickly changed the subject. "When I
said, 'Yes,' he said, 'Oh, gee, it's cold outside.'" Jones said he
immediately deduced from his client's odd response that he was servicing
a politician.
Craig removed his coat and dress shirt, leaving his T-shirt, slacks and
shoes on when he climbed onto Jones's massage table. Craig asked that
Jones be naked. Craig undid his own zipper and masturbated while
performing oral sex on Jones. When Craig finished, he paid Jones $200 in
cash and left.
The encounter lasted less than an hour, said Jones, who said he kept no
records on his escort clients. Jones said he advertised his "massage"
services exclusively in gay publications, including the bi-weekly
newspaper Out Front Colorado and Rentboy.com.
Craig was in Denver on Feb. 11, 2005, and in nearby Keystone, Colo., on
Feb. 12. On the 12th, he attended a meeting at the Keystone Center, a
policy think tank. Craig's Senate travel records also show six other
trips where Craig may have had layovers in Denver between November 2004
and March 2005.
Craig and his staff won't respond to questions from the Statesman. But
Dan Whiting, a Craig spokesman, told KIVI-Today's 6, "Mike Jones is
lying in order to sell his book - plain and simple. Larry has never met
Mike Jones."
Jones has written a book about his experience with Haggard. Haggard
resigned in November 2006 as president of the National Evangelical
Association and was forced out as pastor of New Life Church after Jones
came forward with voice mails implicating Haggard.
Jones acknowledged his allegation about Craig may help sell books, but
said he is motivated by the desire to expose hypocritical conduct by men
like Haggard and Craig, who has a consistently anti-gay voting record.
"Here they are putting down the gay community in a sense, treating us
like second-class citizens, and they want to have their cake and eat it,
too," he said.
GREG RUTH: RESTROOM PROPOSITION IN COEUR D'ALENE
Ruth attended the Republican Western Roundup in Coeur d'Alene in October
1981, where he said Craig made a sexual advance. At the time, Craig was
a 36-year-old bachelor and first-year congressman and Ruth was a
24-year-old college Republican from the University of Puget Sound.
Ruth, who was openly gay in 1981, told the Statesman in a tape-recorded
interview that Craig paid him unusual attention at the political
gathering. Ruth said he excused himself to use the restroom, but Craig
soon entered and stood next to Ruth at the urinal, looking at Ruth's penis.
"He looked over and said, 'Hi,'" Ruth said. "But he didn't touch me or
anything like that. And then after we finished urinating, we washed
hands. He gave me his phone number and he said, 'If you ever get to
D.C., call me. You can stay with me.'"
Ruth, now a professional photographer, said he never followed up and
lost the slip of paper with Craig's number. But Ruth said he has no
doubt Craig was making a sexual advance. "I'm gay, and I knew he was
hitting on me," Ruth said. "There's no question about that."
Returning to Tacoma, Wash., Ruth immediately told his uncle about the
incident. The uncle, Gerald King, is a retired major who served 25 years
in the Army. Ruth, 50, is a former Army captain who served seven years
on active duty in the infantry and 12 years in the Army Reserve.
"Mind you," said King, "Greg was strikingly handsome. (Craig) was
extremely friendly and overt with Greg in trying to get him to socialize
with him."
King said his nephew told him in 1981 that Craig made a sexual advance.
"No question about it," said King. "I don't think they were going to
make Jell-O."
ANOTHER MEN'S RESTROOM ENCOUNTER
Another gay man, a 46-year-old professional from Boise, told the
Statesman that Craig reached his hand into his restroom stall in
September 2006 during a layover at the Denver airport. The man, who
travels in political circles, had met Craig before. He asked that he not
be named by the Statesman.
The man said he was flying from Boise to Washington, D.C., on the same
flights as Craig and Craig's wife, Suzanne. Denver, like Minneapolis, is
a key connecting hub for flights between Boise and Washington.
During the layover in Denver, the man said he was in a men's restroom
stall when a hand came under the divider and reached toward him. The
hand was palm up, as the officer in Minnesota also described, and slid
toward him for two or three seconds. The man said he noticed unpolished,
dark, lace-up shoes worn by the man in the next stall. He did not
respond to the gesture.
"I freaked out," said the man, who was traveling with his long-time
partner. "I finished my business and left."
The man said he then waited outside the men's restroom on a bench.
Shortly after, a man wearing the shoes he saw in the adjacent stall
exited. The man was Larry Craig.
"Those shoes came out, and I looked up, and it was like, 'Oh, my God.'"
After boarding the second flight, the man told his partner about the
incident. The partner confirmed having heard the details of Craig's
advance that day.
The man said one reason he requires anonymity is he fears Craig will use
his power to retaliate. He is afraid Craig may have recognized him and,
perhaps knowing he is gay, followed him into the men's restroom thinking
he would be amenable to sex.
TOM RUSSELL: MUTUAL COME-ON AT BOGUS BASIN SKI RESORT
Russell, 48, a Nampa native who lives in Utah, was among three men who
contacted the Statesman about what they described as unusually attentive
behavior on Craig's part. Russell was willing to be named for this story
and spoke in a tape-recorded interview.
Russell worked as a food service manager at Bogus Basin ski resort and
said his encounter probably occurred in the 1983-84 ski season, soon
after Craig had married following the 1982 page scandal. Russell had
taken a food class from Suzanne Craig and had heard the rumors that
Craig was gay.
Russell, openly gay at the time, said he set out to engage Craig "and
attempted to show a personal interest - not in a suggestive way - but a
personal interest to see if he would respond."
"I recall that he was very delighted to talk to me - smiling, happy,
very delighted - and that he had suggested that we could get together
sometime," he said. "Why would he have a personal interest in meeting me
elsewhere?"
Russell said he became convinced Craig was gay because he used subtle
signals consistent with communication between gay men in public places.
"You've heard the term, 'gaydar'? OK, it's there. You know it. You know
when somebody is raising an eyebrow at you because it's their gesture
when they say 'hello' or when they are subtly trying to send you a
message that they recognize you as being a gay person."
Nothing came of the meeting, Russell said. But he came forward now
because he is offended by Craig's denials.
"I'm disgusted because it's hypocritical, and he's lying. He's lying
through his teeth. Heterosexual men do not behave like that."
Dan Popkey: 377-6438
