KTRV - "ID GOP Senate Candidates Skeptical of Federal Government"

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KTRV - "ID GOP Senate Candidates Skeptical of Federal Government"

Five Republican candidates running for retiring U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's seat expressed skepticism of the federal government Wednesday and said in a taped television debate that Idaho should be run by Idahoans.

When it comes to issues of education, public lands and energy, the five GOP members participating in the forum said the states can deal with issues better than the nation as a whole.

Most of the candidates said President Bush's strategy in Iraq needs changing. And all of them said the private sector, and not the federal government, is the answer to the country's health care crisis.

The debate was conducted at Northwest Nazarene University's Brandt Center and sponsored by KTVB-TV, the Idaho Press-Tribune and other statewide partners.

Three other Republican Senate candidates, Fred Adams, Brian Hefner and Hal James Styles, did not participate in the debate because they did not meet KTVB's criteria, which relied on factors such as independent polling data, campaign financing and votes received in prior elections.

All five candidates criticized the idea of a nationwide gas tax holiday, saying the idea is strictly a political move. And most said they did not like the income tax stimulus package approved by Congress and meant to jump-start the economy.

The way to stimulate the nation's sagging economy would be to make permanent the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch said. Dick Phenneger of Coeur d'Alene said people would just spend their stimulus checks on products made in China.

"You just can't pull money out of the air and give it away and hope it's going to fuel stuff," said Neal Thompson of McCall.

Only Bill Hunter of Rexburg said he supported the stimulus plan.

"We need to keep our economy going, and that was the intent of this package," Hunter said. Scott Syme of Wilder, an Iraq war veteran, said the cost of the war is bringing down the nation's economy.

"You've got bombs or butter," Syme said in response to a question about rising food costs. "When you're spending so much money on the war in Iraq, you don't have the money to spend on the people at home." But other candidates blamed the federal government's subsidy of ethanol for higher food prices.

Risch said he would not support a single-payer, federal government-run health care system. "I am very troubled by proposals I hear at the federal level that want to throw out the free market system," Risch said. He said the federal government would "make a mess" of the health care system.

Thompson agreed.

"We have to keep the private system going," Thompson said. "You let the federal government get in there and they will botch it up."

Risch said he was outraged by high gas prices. Most of the other candidates, including Phenneger, said Congress has to let the country access the oil it already has to bring down gas prices.

"Why we are where we are today is a direct result of paralysis in Washington," Phenneger said.

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