Facing a federal election lawsuit against him and trying to avoid repaying $217,000 in campaign funds the Federal Election Commission claims he misused, disgraced ex-Senator and notorious tea-room queen Larry *tap tap tap* Craig is claiming that his infamous June 11, 2007, Minneapolis airport bathroom visit that ended in him being busted in a gay sex-sting arrest was part of Senate a“official business”.

The FEC is suing Craig claiming that he converted the campaign money to personal use by spending it on his legal defense after he was arrested of soliciting sex in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom. The commission argues Craig’s defense had no connection to his campaign for federal office.

Craig counters that money tied to his airport bathroom trip was for neither personal use nor his campaign, but fell under his official, reimbursable duties as senator because he was traveling between Idaho and the nation’s capital for work. Craig is citing a U.S. Senate rule in which allows a reimbursable per diem expenses which includes all charges for meals, lodging, hotel fans, cleaning, pressing of clothing – and of course being arrested in bathrooms looking for sex.

“Not only was the trip itself constitutionally required, but Senate rules sanction reimbursement for any cost relating to a senator’s use of a bathroom while on official travel,” wrote Andrew Herman, Craig’s lawyer in Washington, D.C., in documents filed Thursday.

Larry Craig and the GOP, SHAMELESS!

Larry Craig also endorsed  Mitt Romney for President.

Maybe that’s why Craig outsourced his gay bathroom sex to Minneapolis instead of having it in Washington D.C. like all the other closet case GOP members.