Federal election regulators want former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig to pay $140,000 in fines and return more than $216,000 to his campaign, arguing he misused the money to fund his legal defense after his arrest in a 2007 airport bathroom sex sting.
The Federal Election Commission proposed the penalties earlier this week in filings to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C.
In March, Jackson refused to dismiss the FEC's lawsuit against the Idaho senator alleging he illegally tapped campaign funds.
Craig has been fighting the government's claims, arguing that his stop at the airport bathroom in Minneapolis fell under his official duties as a senator because he was traveling between Idaho and Washington for work. He says therefore the legal fees could be paid with campaign cash.