Larry LaRocco in 2008 ID Senate Debate

On Tax Reform: Risch got undisclosed personal $53,000 from his tax relief

LaRocco said, “When he was governor he passed a property tax relief bill where he personally benefited at least $53,000, but he never disclosed it to the people of Idaho,” said LaRocco.

“Well, if I got $53,000 out of that bill, I’ll drop out of this race and if you’re wrong you should do the same,“ said Risch.

NewsChannel 7 took a look; we found 13 pieces of property that would fall under the 2006 tax relief umbrella. According to LaRocco’s property valuation, Risch totaled $53,295 in tax breaks. But some of Risch’s property falls under Idaho’s agricultural exemption which means it’s used for farming or grazing--and that makes the property value much lower. Using the same math with the lower agriculture value numbers, Risch actually got a relief of little more than $5,000.

On Budget & Economy: Bailout plan needed to get credit for small companies

LaRocco said he would have voted for the bailout bill because it’s about small companies having the capital and credit to buy a truck or inventory, and because the final version had oversight and taxpayer protections.

LaRocco and Risch agreed that lax regulation led to the economic meltdown. Rammell said overregulation caused the economic disaster. “Fannie and Freddie were required by law to give 42% of their loans to low- and moderate- and high-risk individuals. If we truly lived in a free market economy nobody would have made these high-risk loans. Nobody.”

On Energy & Oil: Create 14,000 new jobs by embracing new types of energy

LaRocco responded, “We could create 14,000 new jobs in Idaho just by embracing new types of energy.”

Rammell added, “I’m so sick & tired of global warming. If we continue to support this lie that global warming is going to destroy this world, we’re going to destroy our economy.”