FROM THE ARCHIVES: Sen. Maria Cantwell makes a house call

FROM THE ARCHIVES: This story was originally published in the Lewiston Tribune on Dec. 11, 2004. Maria Cantwell was election to her first term in the U.S. Senate in 2000; she was recently reelected to her fourth term in the Senate.

While Maria Cantwell visited the area Saturday to talk about Washington's new sales tax deduction, the freshman U.S. senator heard a boatload of other issues from her constituents.

Speaking at Rooster's Landing in Clarkston, Cantwell fielded questions from about 15 local residents.

Cantwell stopped at Pomeroy at breakfast time and went on to Pullman after her Clarkston stop.

Incoming Asotin County Commissioner Doug Mattoon was on hand with Clarkston Mayor Donna Engle and re-elected county Commissioner Don Brown at Rooster's Landing.

Clarkston resident Stuart Raspone expressed his concerns about national energy policy and illegal immigration.

Cantwell, D-Wash., said any energy policy should push energy independence.

"We need to look at various alternatives for energy and fuel," she said.

American ingenuity can drive the switch from fossil to renewable fuels, Cantwell said, citing the transition from home heating oil to natural gas during the 1970s oil embargo.

Wave and wind power should be harnessed, and renewable biofuel technology should be developed.

She also said power produced in the Northwest should stay here and not be piped across the country.

Some Washington counties have seen their energy rates increase by 50 percent, she said, blaming Enron and the energy price-fixing scandal in California for the spike.

On the issue of immigration, Cantwell said she supports the bipartisan AgJobs bill -- sponsored by U.S. Sens. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. -- that would ease the transition to legal status for migrant farm workers.

She said she supports the intelligence reform bill, especially a section she wrote that helps stop illegal immigrants before they leave their home countries.

Richard Eggleston, a Clarkston physician, expressed his concern over rising medical insurance premiums.

Cantwell said Washington lags behind other states in the rate Medicare reimburses doctors, driving up costs. She said she has proposed legislation that would put Washington on par with the national average.

Eggleston also voiced concern about the cost of malpractice insurance. Cantwell said one way to curb that expense is to reward safe hospitals by keeping their rates low.

"Why should a good hospital have 100 percent yearly increases?" she asked.

Eggleston was also interested in Cantwell's stand on the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, a NAFTA-like organization that includes 34 Western Hemisphere companies.

Cantwell said such alliances are necessary for American businesses such as Boeing to compete with heavily subsidized European companies like Airbus.

"You need some mediation, and that's what those trade organizations try to do," she said.

Brown wanted Cantwell to do something about prisoners in the county jail losing their Medicaid coverage while they are incarcerated.

The county is left with the tab, the commissioner told her.

Cantwell said she had heard of the problem, especially the loss of prescription drug coverage for inmates.

"And those drugs can have a stabilizing effect on those individuals," she said.

Engle wanted Cantwell to spur action on dredging of the Snake River, something Cantwell said she supports.

Cantwell addressed the sales tax deduction briefly in her introductory remarks.

Idaho already allows sales tax deductions from state income tax. But Washington has no state income tax and therefore had no such deduction.

The new law allows residents to deduct sales tax from their federal income tax.

Cantwell mainly encouraged people to keep their receipts for all of 2004, since the deduction would be good for all purchases since Jan. 1.

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Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com.