Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Minnick warns of financial ruin

Blue Dog Democrat defends conservative voting record


By TONY EVANS
Express Staff Writer

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, answers questions at Tully’s coffeehouse in Ketchum Friday. Photo by Willy Cook

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, defended his conservative voting record on Friday at Tully's café in Ketchum, where he met with valley residents to talk politics before a fundraising event in Sun Valley.

He said a rising deficit and expanding national debt could reduce the ability of the United States to display military might around the world and lead to a flight of capital from the country.

"The financial world votes with its feet. We could go the way of Greece," he said.

The freshman congressman has been criticized for voting against the Democratic Party line; he voted against the federal stimulus package, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, and, most recently, the health care reform package. Minnick accepted an endorsement last month by Tea Party activists.

"I am the bluest of the Blue Dogs," Minnick said. "I didn't seek their endorsement, but I also didn't reject it. They chose me because I have consistently voted against earmarks."

Minnick is the sole Democrat in Idaho's four-member congressional delegation, representing constituents in Idaho's 1st Congressional District, which includes western and northern Idaho. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson represents the 2nd District, which includes central and eastern Idaho, including Blaine County.

By contrast, Simpson has been criticized by members of his own party for supporting too many earmarks, or federal appropriations designated for specific projects, during his six terms in office. His support brought millions of dollars to Idaho.

Despite defeating Republican Bill Sali by a narrow margin in 2008, Minnick is now fighting outcast status within his own party for opposing many of the reforms initiated by the Obama administration.

"I favored an alternative federal stimulus package of $200 billion, rather than the $800 billion that was approved," Minnick said. "Half of that would have been for tax breaks for middle- and low-income people. It would have created more jobs and helped jump-start the economy."

Minnick said he voted against the health care reform bill because it had no real cost controls.

"The insurance reform provisions were very good, eliminating pre-existing conditions and removing limits on lifetime payouts, but it will cost $500 billion in taxes over the next 10 years," he said. "More competition would reduce costs."

Minnick, who was once on staff in the Nixon administration, dismissed a report in the Idaho media last week linking him to G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, two of the "plumbers" who served time for their parts in the Watergate break-in that brought down the Nixon White House.

Despite having worked in close proximity to the snooping that would eventually lead to Nixon's impeachment, Minnick says he did not work with Liddy or Hunt on the investigation.

He said he worked nearby their Special Investigation Unit for three months in a secured conference room in the Old Executive Building in Washington, D.C., but he said he was working on international drug control efforts. Liddy and Hunt were investigating the leak of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg to The New York Times.

"Any inference that I was involved in that investigation is completely false," he said. "I shared the office with them because I happened to have all of the same clearances they did."

Minnick said Liddy and Hunt worked mostly behind closed doors, but that he had a pretty good idea what they were working on.

"Their hypothesis was that Ellsberg was a Soviet spy working to undermine support for the Vietnam War. They were glad when I left because I was a security risk."

Minnick is seeking re-election this year.

Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

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.