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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Group targets Risch tax policies

TV ad accuses candidate of hypocrisy

Betsy Z. Russell Staff writer

BOISE – A new commercial targeting Idaho Senate candidate Jim Risch didn’t come from any of his four opponents, but from a national group that’s also run ads against Oregon GOP Sen. Gordon Smith.

The group says it intends to highlight “Republican hypocrisy.” In something of a counterpoint to Risch’s earlier ad boasting that he cut property taxes, the ad says he raised sales taxes. Actually, he did both.

“We are an issue advocacy organization,” said Bill Buck, executive director of Majority Action. “We do not in any way advocate any sort of electoral outcome. Our mission is to shine a spotlight on people’s records and to make sure that their constituents are aware of those.”

The Washington, D.C.-based group, which placed the ad throughout Idaho and in the Spokane market, is funded by “a mixture of progressive organizations, individuals and organized labor,” Buck said. Big Democratic donor George Soros contributed to the group when it started up two years ago; major funders in the current election cycle include labor unions.

Risch, Idaho’s Republican lieutenant governor, is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Larry Craig. He faces Democrat Larry LaRocco, Libertarian Kent Marmon and independents Rex Rammell and Pro-Life, who legally changed his name from Marvin Richardson.

When Risch was governor for seven months after then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was appointed secretary of the interior, he called a special session of the Legislature in 2006 to enact a major shift in Idaho’s tax system.

The reform, which won overwhelming voter approval in a later advisory vote, took a $200 million-plus chunk of Idaho’s school funding off the property tax while raising the state’s sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent. Idaho taxes groceries, though residents get a partial rebate on their income tax forms.

The new ad says: “What’s the truth about Jim Risch’s record on taxes? Risch raised sales and food taxes 20 percent, taking $219 million out of our pockets.”

Risch, in his earlier ad, said: “We cut taxes by over $200 million.”

Buck, whose former jobs include press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, communications director for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in Florida and work in the Clinton administration for the Treasury and Commerce departments, said his group has run ads this year in Oregon, North Carolina and Colorado. Those ads have targeted the records of Republicans Smith, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, of North Carolina, and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, of Colorado.

“They are examples of Republican hypocrisy, where members of Congress, statewide elected officials, senators in their official capacity have voted one way and misrepresented their record to their constituents,” Buck said.

Smith has campaigned for Risch. Majority Action targeted the Oregon senator with multiple ads over gas prices and his support for Bush administration energy policies, prompting Smith to fire back with an ad highlighting his work with Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to raise fuel-efficiency standards. The Democratic presidential candidate is supporting Smith’s Democratic challenger, Jeff Merkley.