WASHINGTON - South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson is in line to become chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics when he returns to Congress, but he won't assume his duties immediately.

All eyes could be on the ethics panel this fall as Senate Republican leaders have asked the committee to review the conduct of Sen. Larry Craig. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty on Aug. 1 to a charge of disorderly conduct after being arrested in a sting operation in a Minneapolis airport men's room several weeks earlier.

Despite the guilty plea, Craig has maintained he did nothing wrong. A handful of his GOP colleagues called on him to resign after the arrest and plea were revealed this week.

Johnson, who has been out of the Senate for more than eight months recovering from a December brain hemorrhage and is scheduled to return next week, declined to comment on Craig's predicament Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.

"I can't comment on that just because I'm chairman of the ethics committee," Johnson said.

Johnson was scheduled to assume the chairmanship in January after Democrats won Senate control in last year's elections. But he has not returned to the Senate since Dec. 13, when he suffered the life-threatening hemorrhage.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has been in charge of the committee in Johnson's absence. Johnson said staff are negotiating when he will assume the chairmanship and that he doesn't know when he will take over. But it won't be next week.

The committee investigates standards and conduct of members of the Senate and may, if warranted, recommend action against a member.

Johnson's wife, Barb, said Boxer told her that she prayed for Johnson's recovery every day but started praying for Johnson six times a day when she was told she would head the ethics panel.

The senator agreed it's not a popular post.

"It's not a highly sought-after job," Johnson said.