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In 2008, the Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea. In January 2009, the three-term senator from Payette, Idaho, decided against asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to void the conviction, marking an end to that phase of his legal wrangling. According to the FEC complaint, lawyers for Craig wrote in a September 2007 letter to the Senate Ethics Committee that his arrest and conviction were "purely personal conduct unrelated to the performance of official Senate duties." On Feb. 13, 2008, the Senate Ethics Committee issued a "Public Letter of Admonition" unanimously concluding that, among other matters, Craig hadn't complied with Senate rules requiring members to seek approval of any payments for "legal expenses" paid with funds of a principal campaign committee. In its 11-page filing, the FEC also asked a judge to order Craig to pay the agency's expenses in the latest case. In addition to the money targeted by the FEC complaint, Craig spent thousands more from his campaign fund related to the arrest. However, the FEC concluded that using the money to pay for representation during a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry and to pay for a public-relations firm to respond to media inquiries regarding his arrest and misdemeanor conviction were permissible uses of campaign funds.
[Associated
Press;
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