Off And Rolling Minnick Borrows From Craig Playbook And Launches Statewide Bus Tour

They came concerned about cuts to senior citizens programs, frustrated about not hearing from their politicians in Washington, and wondering about federal help rebuilding from the winter floods.

Such were the thoughts voiced by more than two dozen people who gathered at the Broken Wheel restaurant to discuss past problems and future hopes with Walt Minnick while digesting lunch-time fare such as chicken fried steak with brown gravy and hash browns. Minnick, a Democrat, kicked off a 54-stop bus tour of Idaho on Monday as part of his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Minnick’s campaign admitted it was stealing a page from the playbook of his opponent, incumbent Republican Larry Craig, who makes a city-to-town tour a part of his stumping for the Senate.

It’s necessary, they say, because Craig has refused to debate Minnick. (Craig says the invitation came well after his schedule was booked and accuses Minnick of grandstanding.)

All of the big names were on hand to help Minnick campaign in the Silver Valley Monday: former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, Minnick’s wife, A.K. Lienhart-Minnick and his son, Dixon, age 3. As he bounced off the bus with bumper stickers on the front and back of his shirt, Dixon Minnick was an eager advocate.

“Vote for my daddy,” he said. Why? “Daddy’s good for kids,” he replied - with prompting from his mother.

Andrus opened the luncheon, noting he had received 84 percent of the vote in Shoshone County when he last ran for governor in 1990. Minnick “needs that kind of support.”

The popular former Democratic governor took several shots at Craig, deriding his record, lambasting him for old financial troubles. “He hasn’t had a steady job since he graduated from college that was successful except a paycheck from the taxpayers,” Andrus said.

Craig has taken a doughnut shop and the family ranch through bankruptcies, Andrus said.

But that’s information Craig’s camp says is wrong and it’s ancient history. They point out that Andrus went through bankruptcy twice in the 1960s.

Minnick talked about his 3-year-old’s health problems as a way to blast the Republicans for not reforming health care. He said education should be a priority for government spending.

The Idaho senate race will cost at least $3 million, making it clear it’s time for campaign finance reform, Minnick said. The minimum wage needs more than the paltry boost it was given by Congress this year, he added.

Minnick painted himself as pro-logging, pro-grazing and pro-mining. “We have to do it in an environmentally responsible manner,” he cautioned.

It’s fine for taxpayers to help pay to clean up the Silver Valley, Minnick said, but “before we let anybody off of the hook, we should know what it’s going to cost us.”

Craig has a bill that would set cleanup standards and liability limits for companies that mined the lead and silver and polluted the valley.

Lois Porter, coordinator for Senior Programs, asked Minnick to commit to protecting senior citizen programs - and got such a promise. Keith Collins, president of the Steelworkers local at Sunshine Mining, complained about Craig’s constituency service.

Collins also took issue with Minnick’s advocating term limits. The country can’t afford pensions for that many congressmen, he said.

Craig’s camp took issue with the bankruptcy characterizations. His partner absconded with the money in the doughnut shop, forcing the bankruptcy.

The family ranch was dissolved, not taken through bankruptcy, said Mike Tracy, Craig’s spokesman. So how does Craig claim to be the only rancher in the Senate from Midvale, Idaho?

“That’s how he was raised,” Tracy said. And it best describes his committee assignments and how he votes.

Craig’s campaign used the bus tour to criticize Minnick, former president of a Boise timber products firm, for his record on timber. Minnick has given money to the Idaho Conservation League and the Wilderness Society, groups that have stopped timber sales and thereby contributed to mills closing in Idaho, said Tracy.

Then “for years, (Minnick) collected money as a board member of the Canadian timber giant MacMillan-Bloedel, a company subsidized by the Canadian government that dumps cheap lumber into the U.S.,” Tracy said.

Minnick said it’s crazy to think that a career politician knows more than he does about timber jobs. “I created more than 2,000 jobs in forest products during my 16 years at TJ International - that’s a net gain,” Minnick said.

He does support conservation organizations. “I like to fish and camp and want my kids to have the same opportunities,” Minnick said.

If the timber industry concentrates on harvesting second-growth forests, and using new technology, “we can have both,” he said.

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