Minnick camp slams Sali vote on timber payments

BOISE – Idaho Congressman Bill Sali and Democratic challenger Walt Minnick clashed Friday over Sali’s vote against legislation to extend so-called Craig-Wyden timber payments to rural Idaho counties and school districts for four more years.

Sali joined most House Republicans in opposing the measure, which failed to achieve the required two-thirds vote.

The measure would have funded the timber payments by charging oil companies for royalties they should have paid but didn’t because of a government error on drilling leases in the late 1990s.

“That bill is nothing but a sham,” Sali said. “The only thing it might do is push gas prices to $5 a gallon.”

He blamed “radical environmentalists” for bringing about lower timber harvests in the first place, which prompted the Craig-Wyden legislation to reimburse rural counties and school districts for the lost payments.

Sali said oil companies likely would sue to block the funding mechanism anyway, so the bill was merely a “bait-and-switch measure.”

Minnick’s campaign spokesman, John Foster, said, “The people of Idaho sent Bill Sali to Washington to represent their interests.

“With one vote, he proved that he cares more about oil companies than he does about Idaho schoolchildren and local governments.”

Since the Craig-Wyden legislation expired, Congress has passed short-term extensions, but the House on Thursday defeated Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio’s four-year extension bill. Hanging in the balance are substantial portions of the budgets for rural North Idaho counties and school districts in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, which Sali represents.

Sali is a first-term GOP congressman; Minnick is a former timber products firm CEO who unsuccessfully challenged Idaho Sen. Larry Craig in 1996.