Twin Falls Times News - Five Square Off For Idaho's U.S. Senate Seat
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Twin Falls Times News - Five Square Off For Idaho's U.S. Senate Seat
Risch still considered favorite
By Jared S. Hopkins
There are five people vying for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, who has decided not to seek a fourth term. They are Republican Jim Risch, Democrat Larry LaRocco, Independent Rex Rammell, Libertarian Kent Marmon and an independent who changed his name to Pro-Life.
Idaho has two seats in the U.S. Senate, where 100 members serve six-year terms and are paid about $169,300. Risch, Idaho's lieutenant governor, is heavily favored, according to political observers and polls. The election is Nov.4.
Risch, 64, who served 11 terms in the state Senate and seven months as governor in 2006, promises to maintain conservative values in what he described as a country headed toward socialistic nature.
"Idahoans have a choice between myself and a man who just returned as being a lobbyist for special interest groups," he said, referring to LaRocco. "The choice is clear for Idahoans. After all the years I've spent in public service I better represent what Idahoans care about."
Risch, a lawyer, said he is against the recent $700 billion rescue plan approved by Congress. He said the tax cuts enacted by President Bush, which expire in 2010, need to be made permanent. He wants a line-item veto and would help sponsor a bill to prohibit the controversial practice of earmarks, which account for about 2 percent of federal spending.
Risch - who in 2006 led the opposition to a coal-fired power plant in the Magic Valley - wants alternative energies, as well as nuclear energy and said he'd do his best to open Yucca Mountain, the Nevada nuclear repository. He also supports domestic drilling for oil.
On climate change, Risch said the focus should be on ratcheting down the dependence on fossil fuels.
"I think common sense tells you that at least a portion of it is contributed to man," he said. "The first breath from man on this planet contributed to global warming."
Risch said he doesn't subscribe to either health care plan proposed by the presidential candidates and Congress should focus on the people uninsured - not the entire country.
"There are 83 percent of Americans insured and 17 that aren't," he said. "I don't think we should throw this entire system out."
On Iraq, Risch wants to leave quickly and safely but opposes any strict timetable.
Asked how he'd help create jobs in south-central Idaho, Risch rattled off achievements, including getting grants for broadband in rural areas while governor and working with federal agencies.
"If I'm elected to the Senate, I'll do the exact same thing," he said.
LaRocco, 62, a former two-term congressman, has spent more than a year traveling the state for his "Working for Idaho" campaign. He wants to create universal health care that allows people to keep current plans, bring jobs to south-central Idaho in the alternative energy industry and have Congress hold a 100-day summit to solve the energy crisis.
"I think this is the most important election of our lifetime," he said. "I'm glad to be on the front lines. I have been taking jobs working shoulder to shoulder with Idahoans across this great state. I have gone the extra mile�"so that I know what challenges families are facing in this�"great state."
He would have supported the federal rescue plan but wants stronger regulation of the banking industry. He has criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bush administration for helping cause the crisis. He said he's undecided on supporting a second stimulus bill but was against the original one.
LaRocco, who is the only veteran in the race, supports the new G.I. Bill that provided education assistance for veterans. While in Congress he voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He supports nuclear power, clean-coal technology and alternative energy sources.
Elsewhere, LaRocco supports the recently-passed farm bill; points out that the last conservation bill passed in Congress for Idaho was the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Act in 1993; wants sugar subsidies to continue; and has asked for a timetable to phase out troop withdrawal in Iraq.
LaRocco, who lived and worked in Twin Falls in the 1970s, has pointed that if elected to a majority of Democrats his congressional experience gives him more seniority than Risch.
"Being a member of the majority is a good bet for Idaho," he said.
Rammell, 47, is a veterinarian and former elk rancher from Rexburg who describes himself as the only "true conservative" in the race. He said there's too much government and irresponsible spending by Congress.
"I'm tired of putting my life in the hands of government officials and they continue to give it away," he said. "Each day it seems like another freedom is lost."
On health care, he supports McCain's proposal of a $5,000 tax credit. He said he could support a second stimulus bill, and opposed the federal rescue plan because it was "nationalizing the banking system."
Rammell butted heads with Risch, who as governor ordered Rammell's elk to be shot after they escaped in 2006, for fear they'd spread disease. Since then he's filed lawsuits and routinely criticized Risch.
"I don't think Risch believes in Republican principles," he said. "It's going to cost the Republicans in the presidential race and it should cost Idaho the U.S. Senate race."
Elsewhere, Rammell said he's the only multiple-use land candidate and accuses LaRocco and Risch of being environmentalists; he opposed the farm bill; supports all sources of energy - nuclear and alternatives and coal, the latter in part because climate change is a natural occurrence.
Pro-Life, who changed his name from Marvin Richardson, is an organic strawberry farmer from Gem County. He ran for governor two years ago and is a "strict constitutionalist" interested in speaking the truth. He warned America's heading "democratic communism for the whole world."
"Most politicians are trying to win and so they subdue the truth," said Pro-Life, 67. "I believe in eternal accountability."
He said there's too much government in the daily lives of Americans and that social programs should be phased out to create prosperity. He opposed the congressional rescue plan, saying it will lead to a world currency. He blames the crisis on Americans for being ignorant to change their lifestyles.
"I guess they don't care as long as they get their television set and Twinkies to eat," he said.
To fix it, he proposes Americans follow the constitution and limit the powers of the federal government, and he wants to abolish the Federal Reserve. "I don't think we have any gold left. I'd ask for an audit of Fort Knox," he said. "I want to know where all that gold went."
Marmon, 52, a training manager for Motive Power in Boise, is running because he's disappointed with the federal government for pushing the country in the wrong direction. "I'm running because the country's going down the tubes and it's about time someone stepped up to the plate and isn't bought up by special interest groups," said Marmon, who lives in Caldwell.
He wants Congress to curb spending by eliminating programs and supports a balanced budget amendment. He said the federal government needs to return to its basic functions outlined in the Constitution. He said he opposes the rescue plan, criticized Congress for getting involved and said the crisis should work itself out.
"The government created the problem in the first place," he said. "Now the government is trying to solve the problems with more of the same."
To improve the nation's energy sources, he said tax credits for alternative energy companies would be good but he wants domestic drilling. He said climate change is not affected by human activities.
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