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Mailer includes Salis' Social Security numbers

Democrats stand behind campaign flier

By Betsy Z. Russell
Staff writer
October 29, 2008

BOISE – The Idaho Democratic Party is defending a campaign flier it mailed throughout Idaho’s 1st Congressional District that clearly shows the Social Security numbers of Rep. Bill Sali and his wife.

“The stunt that the Democrats have pulled on Bill and Terry Sali is the most despicable thing I’ve ever seen,” said Wayne Hoffman, Sali’s campaign spokesman.

The flier faults Sali for past financial problems, including state and federal tax liens filed against him in 1988, and his continuing campaign debt. The flier shows parts of two tax liens; on one, both Social Security numbers are visible.

“He’s a public figure, it’s a public document,” said Jim Hansen, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party. “If he was going to be upset, he probably should have paid off his bills and his taxes.”

Hoffman said Sali’s wife, Terry, is “very, very upset” over the mailing.

“She’s a private person,” he said. “There were tax liens from 20 years ago. It’s bills that were paid off. … And yet the state Democrats think that it’s somehow OK to take two people’s personal financial information, including Social Security numbers, and splash it all over people’s mailboxes.”

Said Hansen: “Frankly, I didn’t think about it. We just published a piece of public information. Anybody can go and get a public document.”

The flier also criticizes Sali for filing a late and inaccurate federal campaign finance report in July.

Hansen said the same information is being used in a television commercial that the Idaho Democratic Party has just begun airing against Sali, a freshman Republican.

“We’ve got an economy that’s in crisis and this guy wants to make decisions about our economic well-being,” he said. “I think this is a nice piece that cuts through a whole lot of smoke and mirrors about Bill Sali.”

Sali said at a recent public forum that his past financial problems stemmed from a series of car accidents.

“I was involved in four different auto accidents in the space of about eight years,” he said, resulting in “huge medical bills that the insurance companies wouldn’t pay.” As a result, medical liens were filed against his property, he said. “It’s not a matter of me mismanaging my personal finances. I’ve got ‘A’ credit today.”

Ada County records show a series of medical liens filed against Sali, and then released, from 1998 to 2003.

One lien was issued by the state for unpaid state income taxes of $801, filed in 1988 and released in 1991; another, from the Internal Revenue Service for the 1986 tax year, was released in 1995, for $5,618.

“They’re from right after law school, when he had a new law practice and had a very young family and was struggling to make ends meet,” Hoffman said. “But he kept his obligations, and he paid the debts.”

Hoffman called the flier “outrageous.”

“Bill and Terry Sali are not wealthy people, they have never pretended to be wealthy people,” he said. “They, like other Idahoans, have struggled to pay bills but they have paid those bills. It is offensive to take particularly Mrs. Sali’s personal financial information, including her Social Security number, and splash that all over the state.”

He added, “I think the party bears a certain responsibility if Mr. or Mrs. Sali’s identities are stolen following this.”

Betsy Z. Russell can be reached toll-free at (866) 336-2865 or bzrussell@gmail.com.

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