Sen. Larry Craig made a bad call...
I hate to say it, but it's true and he is totally aware of that now... and thanks to a tremendous amount of media coverage, so are we.
Here is an Idahoan that has dedicated over 27 years of his life to public service... and he made a "bad call" in the airport when he plead guilty to ridiculous charges in the hopes that the issue would not be blown out of proportion and would go away.
I only spent 20 years in public service in the Navy where I too made a few "bad calls". Calls I wish I would not have made in hindsight, but calls that I still had to live with and recover from while still doing my best at my job.
It always seemed at the time "one bad call" wiped out all those "atta-boys" that were so seldom recognized as it was... Until there was another issue for my peers to focus on, when the "bad call spotlight" would turn and focus on someone else, all the "brew-ha-ha" just seemed not so important to them anymore.
Have we have become a nation of living for what's important only in the next second?...
I can tell you that in my 20 years I moved 21 times and when I retired, I came back home to Idaho $20,000.00 in debt, only with a 1972 Chevy pickup & camper to my name. I spent what most believe are one's "most productive business" years in public service, but I wasn't poor... no, I can't think of a better place to serve, make such a difference, gain life long friends and get such great training for only $1,000.00 per year...
Larry Craig's has not dedicated his "most productive business years" serving the public interest to get rich. I appreciate his initiative and his families sacrifice, even more so now. One doesn't stay that long in public office in Idaho or Washington D.C. without being effective at what he does.
I'm sure he is not a monetarily rich man, he sacrificed that in lieu of other "riches". He has enriched not only his life by his accomplishments, but the lives of all Idahoans through the huge differences he's made in shaping our state and our nation governments over those 27 years. Have we always agreed? No, but I am very grateful for his dedicated service, he stepped up and always did what he thought was best, regardless of the criticism.
I hope he finishes his "tour" and continues to make the best "calls" he can for our state. I am sure that history will treat him well... He is deserving of that, despite "one bad call"...
Thoughts?
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3 comments:
Marv,
While I, too, hope Sen. Craig remains in office (mainly for the humor value -- my blog relies on snark pretty heavily), I was interested in your description of the charges he pled guilty to as "ridiculous". Just to clear it up -- are you saying it's ridiculous that people can be arrested for soliciting sex in public restrooms, or it's ridiculous to think that Sen. Craig was soliciting sex in the public restroom?
Thanks, you are right; I didn't clarify my "ridiculous" comment.
Remember that the police couldn't/didn't charge him with soliciting sex in a public place, but charged him instead with "disorderly conduct" (a misdemeanor, the same a speeding ticket) that he plead guilty to (and that was a "bad call").
If the police did have the "goods" to charge him with anything greater than that, I have to ask, why didn't they? If all they charged him with was disorderly conduct, isn’t that all he is now guilty of?
The Sen. is still on his committees, still has his seniority and still impacts the Senate votes on budget issues that impact Idaho. Loosing the ability for Idaho to have the influence it does through his positions would (and will in the long-term, when he is replaced by a more junior Senator) hurt Idaho.
Getting back to the “ridiculous” comment, I guess it really boils down to the ultimate question of what would be considered “disorderly conduct” in a stall when you are all by yourself doing your “business”….?
(Way too many jokes can be inserted here, but let's refrain from that...)
Thanks. I figured that was what you meant.
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