As an independent vying for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Larry Craig, Rex Rammell shares at least one common experience with the retiring senator: an embarrassing public arrest.

Rammell, 47, said his 2006 arrest by local authorities in eastern Idaho violated the spirit of America, and was ultimately an impetus for his Senate run. Craig's infamous bathroom arrest, however, was part of a tumultuous year that led the end of the senator's career.

"There were tears in my eyes when I was put in the back of the car," said Rammell of his 2006 arrest by the Fremont County Sheriff's Department. "I was thinking my elk, my property are being destroyed and I'm the one in handcuffs? What has happened to America?"

In August 2006, more than 100 of Rammell's elk escaped from an enclosure at his domestic elk ranch near Rexburg. After the elk escaped, state wildlife biologists became concerned that Rammell's domestic herd could spread disease or taint the genetic purity of wild elk in the region.

Then-Gov. Jim Risch issued an executive order calling for the animals to be killed, under a state law that says domestic elk on the loose for more than six days can be slaughtered, according to Times-News reports. Rammell was arrested and later acquitted on charges of obstructing law enforcement and disturbing the peace. Eventually, his elk were found to be disease-free. "If I had to go back to the one day that put me in the U.S. Senate race, that (acquittal) was the day."

He was found guilty of contempt of court in October 2006, according to the Idaho Statewide Trial Court Automated Records System (ISTARS). Rammell, a large animal veterinarian, currently involved in real estate development, said the state didn't ask for medical records on the animals before killing them and removing them from his property. "I never got a bag of meat," he said.

Risch and Rammell will face Democrat Larry LaRocco, independent Pro-Life (formerly Marvin Richardson) and Libertarian Kent Marmon, for Craig's seat. Rammell, who's no longer in elk ranching, has a lawsuit pending against parties, including Risch and the state of Idaho, seeking $1.3 million.

Rammell calls himself a conservative independent and he said he's raised about $100,000 in his campaign since announcing in July 2007. Initially a Republican candidate, he filed as an independent on March 19.

He says his run for Senate isn't a vendetta against Risch, but he's optimistic for legal and political success. "He (Risch) is going to lose … What he did was malicious and unnecessary," Rammell said about the elk incident. Risch has filed a motion to change venue in the case, according to ISTARS.

Rammell's lawsuit, filed in Fremont County is for Idahoans - not just himself, he said, standing near his campaign bus painted with a picture of the Constitution, mountains and his smiling face. "If I stand for my property rights then am I not standing for yours?"

On large political issues Rammell said he is against abortion, pro-multiple land use on public lands, and opposed to restrictive gun laws, but favors opting out of Social Security and Medicare. Rammell supports nuclear power, a pro-guest worker program for illegal immigrants, and pulling out of Iraq by January 2009. He also ran unsuccessfully for the State House of Representatives in 2002 and 2004 out of Rexburg, he said.