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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
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For the week of May 22 - 28, 2002

  News

Senate race 
enters final week

Sneddon slams Blinken 
for being an ‘outsider’


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

In a race that has focused on ways to improve Idaho’s economy, Democratic Senate candidate David Sneddon last week attacked his opponent, Wood River Valley resident Allen Blinken, for his financial success.

Allen Blinken

In a one-page press release, Sneddon called Blinken an "outsider" and an "East Coast Democrat."

"How can someone who lives in a $7 million mansion expect to represent the working class of Idaho?" asked Sneddon, a Boise real estate agent. "Blinken represents the elites (sic.). I represent the people who built his house and mow his lawn."

A 33-year investment banker and former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, Blinken acknowledges he has done well. His success and business background will help him to bring good paying jobs to Idaho, he said.

"I want to be the ambassador for jobs and investment in this state," he said. "I’ve worked with the business community for 33 years. I know these folks. I’m a concerned citizen. If this was about something else, I wouldn’t be running."

Good paying jobs include those provided by a wide array of companies from pharmaceuticals, chemicals and film to banking, insurance, freight and manufacturing, Blinken said.

"All I say is that I want to try to bring in companies that are solid, not fly-by-night, he added."

David Sneddon

And he contended that stereotypes are not what the election should focus on.

"(Sneddon and Sen. Larry Craig) talk about the price of my house. I talk about failing education in our state. This election is not about interior decorating. This election is about the future of the state of Idaho."

But Sneddon said Blinken’s approach won’t work, because he proposes to bring jobs to Idaho, not the other way around.

"You need to look inward first," said Sneddon, a real estate broker who specializes in low-income housing. "My approach is different. I have an Idaho approach, taking what we have and expanding upon the assets."

Sneddon said he is a "blue dog" Democrat, or a working-class, moderate Democrat.

"I think my moderate stance has a voice for Idaho," Sneddon said. "The far right is not Idaho. The Democrats have failed to grab the middle. I think it’s because we’ve been labeled with the national party, and I think it’s because we’ve lost a lot of jobs in the (Idaho panhandle) from timber and mining.

"The Democrats are still there, but they’re fearful of voting Democrat because they’re afraid of losing more of the jobs."

Both candidates are strong Second Amendment supporters.

Sneddon, however, said he is interested in offering a limited lifetime tax credit of up to $1,000 per gun owner who chooses to buy locking gun cases. Blinken said he is an avid hunter and angler.

Both candidates also said Idaho’s natural resources must be tapped to help boost the state’s marketplace.

"I won’t trade a job for a tree," said Blinken, stressing that Idaho’s forests must be opened back up to logging while focusing on good management.

But there is a marked difference in other parts of the candidates’ platforms. While Sneddon wants to obtain grants and give them to rural communities so they can develop business plans, Blinken said, "Let’s just bring jobs."

Sneddon wants to use Idaho’s natural resources to develop sustainable energy projects, including wind, geothermal and more efficient hydroelectric turbines, while Blinken wants to focus on improving schools and health care facilities.

"The first thing any company looks at when it’s looking for a location is the schools and the hospitals," Blinken said.

Finally, Sneddon said if he loses the primary election May 28, he will "very grudgingly, reluctantly and with much dispair," vote for Larry Craig in November.

Blinken said that if he loses the primary, he will support Sneddon as the Democratic candidate.

Craig has become too entrenched in partisan politics to be an effective politician, Sneddon said.

"He’s run into a wall," but "at least I know exactly where Larry Craig stands."

 


The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.