MSP airport has spent $28K and counting to prosecute Craig

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Metropolitan Airports Commission has spent more than $28,000 prosecuting Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and fighting his appeal.

Craig has asked the state Appeals Court to let him withdraw his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after an airport bathroom sex sting.

KSTP-TV reports that as of February 15, the airports commission had paid more than $28,000 to an Edina law firm it hires to prosecute misdemeanors.

It's about 20 percent of the MAC's entire fiscal 2007 budget for prosecutions.

The MAC is funded through charges for flying out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and on purchases there.

Craig claims in his appeal that the state's disorderly conduct law is flawed. Airport lawyers say his guilty plea should stand.

The television station reports Craig has spent at least $213,000 on his legal bills since his arrest.