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LaRocco hosts talk on economic woes

Posted: Friday, Oct 24, 2008 - 10:24:40 pm PDT
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By TOM GREENE
Staff writer 
SHAWN GUST/Press
United States Senate candidate Larry LaRocco speaks about economics Friday during a round table discussion at the Greenbriar Inn on Wallace Avenue in Coeur d'Alene.

Area business owners vent, seek solutions from Democratic candidate seeking Larry Craig's Senate seat

COEUR d'ALENE -- U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Larry LaRocco listened to one business leader after another talk about signs of the times Friday: 401Ks being cashed out, employers paying less into health plans and people maxing out credit cards to pay for gas.

The diverse group of about 20 took part in LaRocco's roundtable discussion on the economy held in the Greenbriar Inn.

"We're in tough shape," LaRocco said. "I'm here to listen."

LaRocco held seats on both the banking and natural resources committees when he represented Idaho in the U.S. Congress from 1991 to 1995. Early in his career, LaRocco worked at a bank in Twin Falls, then as vice president of First Idaho Corporation and as a financial services consultant at several brokerage firms.

LaRocco said he does not believe in the "too-big-to-fail" doctrine for businesses, but "at the end of the day, I did support the rescue plan because I believe the situation is dire."

"We have to readjust here. We cannot have things grow so big that they control our government," LaRocco said.

Michael Grimsley, owner of the payroll company Compuchex, said he is in the trenches in the battle with today's economy, fielding several phone calls from "men, literally in tears" trying to make payroll, cashing in their 401Ks, having their pay checks garnished or shutting down businesses.

"We see it all first-hand because it all goes through payroll," Grimsley said.

He said the Democratic Party needs to own mistakes made during the Clinton Administration that paved the way for lenders to extend credit to people they shouldn't have. LaRocco pointed to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitting mistakes were made during his tenure.

"We got away from basics, we got away from regulation and we got away from capital is king," LaRocco said, adding that personal responsibility for homeownership was also forgotten and that "you have to put some skin in the game."

Builder Art Elliot, owner and president of Shelter Associates, said rising costs, including health care, have forced him to make substantial cuts in staffing.

"It doesn't do you any good to have insurance if you don't have a job," Elliot said.

LaRocco told the group he talked to a woman once who opened her own successful business, but she wouldn't have been able to do that with health insurance because she had the pre-existing condition of cancer. Her husband's insurance allowed her the freedom to be a small business owner, he said.

"I want to eliminate pre-existing conditions (insurance companies use to reject applications) because it stifles creativity," LaRocco said.

He would also like employees to be able to take their health care plan with them when they leave a company -- basically extending COBRA insurance indefinitely. Health insurance companies would have more incentives to provide long-term preventative care for their customers, he said.

Dave Patzer, president of the Kerr Oil Company, called the fees credit card companies charge "obscene" and cost as much as 7.7 cents per gallon at the pumps.

"What I see is a handful of people coming in with a handful of credit cards saying 'Let's try this one, no, this one.' They're all maxed out," Patzer said. He added that even though he makes his living off oil, "We need to make incentives for people to not be as enamored of the automobile."

LaRocco said Idaho is set up to reap the benefits of a switch from gas to different alternatives.

"If we move aggressively toward alternate energies -- biomass, biofuels, solar, wind, we could create 14,000 jobs in this state," he said. "Once we get all the ideology aside, we have a lot of common sense between decent folks."


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to pro-amnesty wrote on Oct 30, 2008 10:33 AM:

" But the NRA supports him, so I'm still going to vote for him. Besides, all the 'pubs like illegals so that the farmers can have their cheap labor anyhow. "

Pro-amnesty wrote on Oct 30, 2008 9:46 AM:

" " LaRocco is pro-amnesty! He wants to give citizenship to all the illegal aliens in our country! The best answer is deport LaRocco along with the rest of the law breakers!

No on LaRocco! " "

to worth repeating wrote on Oct 29, 2008 9:11 AM:

" Even if what you said is correct, the NRA backed Larry and that's all that matters. "

Worth repeating wrote on Oct 29, 2008 9:10 AM:

" LaRocco says,

"I will not be part of any effort, such as deportation, to divide Idahoans on this issue. The goal should be to replace an illegal immigration flow with a legal immigration flow including much needed agricultural workers.


LaRocco wants amnesty to all illegals in our country now! Don't vote for LaRocco because of this.

He even has an espanol button on his website for the illegals to view and listen to his BS! "

He even has an espanol button on his website for the illegals to view and listen to his BS!" "

buy hey wrote on Oct 26, 2008 8:49 PM:

" Apparently, the NRA is backing LaRocco....good enough for me! "

Truth wrote on Oct 26, 2008 6:21 PM:

" To: False Truths. I'm an Independent. I have already voted with an Absentee Ballot. If you always do, what you always did, you will always get, what you always got. Looks like you can't think outside the box!

Next time try the concept of paragraphs! Your non stop drivel gave me a headache..... "

Habla espanole wrote on Oct 26, 2008 3:17 PM:

" LaRocco wants spanish speaking only in all Idaho schools! Read his website! You can get it in spanish!

LaRocco must be defeated! "

TO - Idaho Voter wrote on Oct 26, 2008 10:39 AM:

" You better read his website. Remember if his lips are moving he's a liar! You are dumb or mislead by someone. Here are LaRocco's own words about ILLEGAL ALIENS already in our country!

"I will not be part of any effort, such as deportation, to divide Idahoans on this issue. The goal should be to replace an illegal immigration flow with a legal immigration flow including much needed agricultural workers.


LaRocco wants amnesty to all illegals in our country now! Don't vote for LaRocco because of this.

He even has an espanol button on his website for the illegals to view and listen to his BS!"

That's the truth! "

LaRocco for amnesty wrote on Oct 26, 2008 10:36 AM:

" No backbone LaRocco says,

"I will not be part of any effort, such as deportation, to divide Idahoans on this issue. The goal should be to replace an illegal immigration flow with a legal immigration flow including much needed agricultural workers.


LaRocco wants amnesty to all illegals in our country now! Don't vote for LaRocco because of this.

He even has an espanol button on his website for the illegals to view and listen to his BS! "

to 28th wrote on Oct 26, 2008 12:49 AM:

" Hey, if you hate America as much as you claim, you should really emigrate somewhere that you like better. "

The 28th Amendment wrote on Oct 25, 2008 8:30 PM:

" If you paid attention in history class in school, you would know that each colony became a nation with the declaration of independence. Alaska is far from being the only state interested in independence. Time for a real change...change to what WERE WE STARTED! Soveriegn states with the Federal government SUB-srvient. We now bow and scape to the cabal in Washington. With a win by the muslim Kenyan, expect the bill of rights to evaporate. Options? The Free State movement is growing by the day.It'll be like wildfire if obama wins. Think of it like the Protestant Reformation of Christianity. The Protestants didn't stop being Christian, they just fought corruption and in the end helped the Catholic Church clean itself up and they renewed Christianity. Reform and Renewal. Don't just write it off as 'fringe.' Fringe is what the obamanistas are and they are ready to steal our liberties.
Any State, with a simple majority of its legal voters, can become an Independent and sovereign Nation.
The Tenth Amendment reserves power, not delegated to the Federal Government specifically, to the states and their citizens. The Constitution, in fact, says nothing about secession, and as the Confederate states were seceding, Congress considered an amendment forbidding secession...which means that the principle wasn't there in the first place. Three of the original thirteen states (Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia) kept an explicit right to secede when they joined the Union. And since that was never challenged or questioned, it must be a right that all states enjoy. And in the 19th century, before South Carolina seceded in 1860, seven states (Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Vermont) enacted acts of nullification, meaning their refusal to recognize some or all of the powers of the national government.They received no retaliation by Washington during these efforts and the War between the States ended these efforts as the Federal Government's power grew enormously because of the War.
ht tp://ww w.secessionist.us/secessionist_no13.htm
Read the link above for ALL kinds of info about how we can be TRUE Americans once more. " "

False Truths wrote on Oct 25, 2008 6:30 PM:

" Hey "Truth" whoever you are... yikes. You seem to have way too much anger to fairly evaluate the political issues facing this country. Neither politcal party has all the right answers, but the Republican party at present is headless. So this year I'm a Democrat and I am energized for this election. I am also a small business owner. I pay my employees a minimum of three times the minimum wage, I provide health and dental insurance for my staff and for their familes, and each employee gets 1 month of paid time off per year. It hurts alot at times and I have the credit scars to prove it. But you know what? I sleep well at night. What bothers me is the gluttony and greed that has become intrinsic to the core values of the new "Republican" party. Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisnehower would puke if they could see what the Republican party has become over the last 20 years. It's last true stateman has endorsed Obama for exactly that reason. The present Republican party is ugly. It's selfish. It's mean-spirited. It is no longer the party that sought to end slavery, to break up the trusts and monopolies that were forcing poverty on so many Americans, or that fought so hard to establish the values of the protestant work ethic in our children. Now it's run by a group of loud mouthed and intolerant hypocrites that want to be able to use the power of government to exploit the greatness of this country for their personal gain. It is truly now the party of Karl Rove, Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed and it need to get soundly beaten in this election, contemplate its defeat and do some serious soul searching for its GOP roots. This country is solid enough at its core to survive even the worst incompetence in the oval office and the past eight years have been ample proof of that. I could easily live with the election of John McCain. But Sarah Palin is nothing if not a self-centered, destructively ambitious, ideological freak who probably did give McCain his best chance of winning because she keeps the right fringe of her party frothing - but she is not ready to become our president. Even McCain's own advisers now cringe at her lack of understanding of the issues and she has no more intellectual curiosity than George W. Bush. I wish we had a multitude of political parties to choose candidates from like in most countries of the industrialized world, but in the absence of that: Democrats 08! "

to truth wrote on Oct 25, 2008 12:30 PM:

" What a party of losers!"

Just so long as you remember to talk to us "losers" respectfully after the election as we will be controlling the White House and both branches of Congress. While y'all will be controlling...errrr.....nothing...except Rush's radio show, maybe. "

Just wondering wrote on Oct 25, 2008 11:20 AM:

" After lar lar's wife divorced him for cheating, is he still a horndog that just likes DC 'cause he can pick up sleazy chicks? "

Hardys wrote on Oct 25, 2008 10:46 AM:

" To replace Larry Craig, we need a completely different kind of Larry and Senator. La Rocco is the antithesis of Craig. That's pretty simple. Our hope is he will---among many other important issues---work with rural citizens who have been marginalized and affected negatively by federal and state agencies within the Superfund cleanups. It is not too late to make it all right.....through honesty, inclusion, integrity, and recognizing that local County Commissioners know more about their neighbors and constituents than do Boise and D.C. We have already voted for Larry, and we hope he wins. "

Truth wrote on Oct 25, 2008 10:26 AM:

" La Rocca is a Democrap functionary. He will do nothing but toe the Democrat party line. The Democraps are a party of hippies, environmental kooks, freeloaders, blacks, illegal alien supporters, homosexuals and hammer & sickle socialists. No one in this cesspool party believes in personal responsibility, self reliance, or accountability to themselves or others. It's all about big government and the nanny state. What a party of losers! "

well wrote on Oct 25, 2008 10:16 AM:

" I don't know Larry that well, but he's not a Republican, so he's getting my vote. I *know* that Republicans around here are uniform failures. "

Idaho Voter wrote on Oct 25, 2008 10:05 AM:

" If you want to know the facts on where Larry LaRocco stands on issues like energy and immigration, go read it on his web site rather than believe the blabbering of folks who are too lazy to do it themselves. "

Vote for LaRocco wrote on Oct 25, 2008 9:11 AM:

" Larry has the experience needed to deal with the problems facing our economy in the coming years...that's right, YEARS! The Republicans got us into the mess and, again, the Democrats are going to have to get us out of it. Elect Larry and Walt Minnick so Idaho has a voice in the upcoming Democratic majority in Congress! "

Nuclear energy wrote on Oct 25, 2008 9:05 AM:

" We can't elect anyone to the Senate that isn't aware that we have to build 40 nuclear power plants immediately and increase those numbers asap to get us toward energy independence!

LaRocco is against building nuclear power plants! "

Amnesty man wrote on Oct 25, 2008 9:02 AM:

" LaRocco is for amnesty for all the illegal alien's in our country and wants to allow a Mexican EMBASSY in Boise? What is it LaRocco doen't understand about getting all illegals out of our country? "

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