Candidate’s face all over the state
In the eight-way race for the GOP nomination for Sen. Larry Craig’s seat, the face of one North Idaho candidate is getting some exposure in Boise.
Post Falls businessman Richard Phenneger has posted billboards all around the state as part of his campaign, and one of them is on busy State Street, just west of Wal-Mart in Boise.
“We’ve got billboard signs and all kinds of fun things happening,” said Phenneger campaign manager Tami Martinez, who said billboards are up in eastern, southern, northern and central Idaho with more to come. They started going up April 1. “We’ve been doing radio and some print ads,” Martinez said. “We are starting a series of town hall meetings all through the state.”
Phenneger, a retired airline and military pilot who’s built a career developing employee stock ownership plans for companies in Idaho and throughout the country, faces seven opponents in the GOP contest: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, of Boise; Fred Adams of Idaho Falls; Brian Hefner of Sweet; Bill Hunter of Rexburg; Hal Styles Jr. of Desert Hot Springs, Calif., Scott A. Syme of Wilder and Neal Thompson of McCall. Then there are two Democrats, former 1st District Congressman Larry LaRocco and David J. Archuleta of Fort Hall; two independents, Rex Rammell of Rexburg and “Pro-Life” of Letha; and one Libertarian, Kent A. Marmon of Caldwell.
Jim Risch and the ‘millionaire’ rule
The Federal Election Commission has a little-known rule, known as the “millionaire’s provision,” that says if a wealthy candidate for the U.S. Senate contributes more than a certain amount to his or her own campaign, opponents then are subject to much higher limits for individual contributions to their campaigns, plus, in some cases, their state or national political parties can make unlimited coordinated expenditures on behalf of the candidate. The amounts that trigger the provision are set by a formula based on voting-age population in the state; in Idaho, the provision is triggered when a candidate puts in $387,340 to his or her own campaign.
At that level, the Senate candidate’s opponents would see their limit on individual contributions to their campaigns triple to $6,900 per election. Higher amounts bring bigger boosts.
So why does this come up? Because Idaho GOP Senate candidate Jim Risch loaned his campaign $380,000 in the last campaign finance period. That’s not enough to trigger the amendment – it’s short by $7,340. If Risch gives just a bit more, his seven primary opponents could step up their fundraising from individuals by a factor of three.
Risch refuses to talk about the issue, for one reason: Democratic candidate Larry LaRocco raised it, and even sent out press releases alerting the media about the FEC rule.
LaRocco said, “I think he should’ve lived by the spirit of the law instead of gone to the edge, to the brink, and he should’ve allowed Phenneger and others to go out to high donors and raise the cap. He obviously knew where the line was. … The spirit of the law says let’s have a level playing field for millionaires.”
Risch said, “I am running in a very positive mode, telling people what I’d like to do in Washington, D.C. … I don’t respond to demands by somebody else’s campaign for me to contribute to your stories. I don’t do that. You may say this: ‘The governor respectfully declined to contribute to this article.’”
As to why Risch put his own money into his campaign, as he did earlier when he loaned $350,000 to his successful lieutenant governor campaign, Risch said, “Idaho has been very good to me over the years. … It’s our way of giving back.”
He also said, “On our financial stuff, we have complied with the law absolutely. There isn’t even a smidgen we haven’t complied with. I’ve got lawyers and accountants that are keeping that on track. It is going to be in total compliance with the law.”
People from all over want to run
If you go by his campaign Web site, Idaho U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hunter certainly appears to be a Nevada resident. Though born and raised in Idaho, Hunter writes on his site, “for the past eighteen years I have lived and worked as a civil engineer in the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada.” Nevertheless, he’s spent “the majority of our family vacations” all those years on his parents’ Idaho ranch in Camas Meadows.
Now, Hunter said he has moved back to Idaho and is living at the family home, though he is still employed in Nevada. That means he is commuting to work in Las Vegas during the week, and returning to the Gem State for three-day weekends to campaign.
That is certainly a different story from that of Hal Styles Jr. of Desert Hot Springs, Calif., who said last month that he had never been to Idaho, but thought he would make a fine Idaho senator, now that Craig is leaving the seat open. “It’s heavily Republican, and it’s my kind of state,” Styles said then, which he said he learned from reading about the state.
By law, Senate candidates are required only to reside in the state on the date of the November election.
Hunter said, “Even though I have been in Nevada for quite a number of years, when I was asked where you’re from, it was always, ‘Well, I’m from Idaho, but we’ve lived in Nevada for X number of years.’”
His official address is in Rexburg.