Larry Craig loses bid to dismiss FEC suit

WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- A federal judge Thursday refused to dismiss the Federal Election Commission complaint against former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Craig's arrest in a men's room in a Minnesota airport had nothing to do with his official duties as a senator, Roll Call reported. The FEC has sued Craig, charging he improperly used $200,000 in campaign funds in an effort to overturn his guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct after allegedly making a pass at an undercover police officer in the next stall in 2007.

Craig retired after completing his third term in 2009. In a motion to dismiss the FEC suit, he argued he was traveling on official duties when he was arrested.

"While it may be that Senator Craig had cause to pass through the airport in connection with his duties as an office holder, and even to visit the restroom as a necessary incident to that trip, whether the travel was in connection with his duties is not the relevant inquiry," Jackson wrote.

"Whether being in the men's room was in connection with his duties is not even the relevant inquiry. The issue is whether the expenses were incurred in connection with the duties of the office holder -- and indeed, whether they were 'ordinary and necessary' expenses incurred in connection with those duties."