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Henry Stern Stands Up for Larry Craig

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August 29, 2007 | 4:15 p.m

John McCain thinks it isn't enough that Larry Craig is stepping down from his committee assignments in the Senate, and has urged him to resign. But closer to home, political gadfly Henry Stern thinks Craig should hold onto his seat. In a column Stern just emailed around, he wrote:

The voters of the State of Idaho are Craig's employers. They can vote him out when he comes up for re-election in 2008. He has been an elected official for 33 years. Should he resign now, for having deceived the voters for a generation? I would think not. If every public official who fooled the voters had to resign his position, there would be more special elections to fill vacancies than regular elections. And the people who won the special elections might also deceive the voters.

If local precedent is any guide, Stern has a point. After all, how many members of the New York State legislature are holding onto their committee assignments after having been indicted or arrested?

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