Gubernatorial candidates debate to close AOGA conference

ANCHORAGE — With rumors swirling about the Dena’ina Convention Center that former U.S. Senator Mark Begich would soon be entering the race, thereby greatly complicating the path to re-election for incumbent Gov. Bill Walker, the three leading candidates in the race took part in a forum called ‘The Great Debate’ to cap the day-long Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference on Thursday.

Walker, the only Independent Governor in the nation, went head-to-head against Republican challengers Scott Hawkins, an Anchorage businessman and frontrunner Mike Dunleavy, a former Senator from Wasilla, who abdicated his seat late last year to focus on his gubernatorial run.

Candidates answered proscribed questions from the moderator, Andrew Jensen, Managing Editor of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, took questions from Facebook and asked one another questions during the near 90-minute debate.

Not a single question from the public was asked of Hawkins, and Dunleavy spent no energy separating himself from his primary challenger, going after Walker at every opportunity.

Given the opportunity to present Walker with a question, Dunleavy asked that why with Alaska continuing to have the nation’s highest unemployment rate and increasing problems with crime, did he see climate change as a top priority?

Walker responded that Alaska has always had a disproportionally high unemployment rate, due to its unique makeup, and that crime packages have been passed by the legislature meant to stem the rising problem. As for climate change, Walker said, “It is up to us. We are ground zero on climate change. We’re starting to see impact from villages being washed away and we have to respond to that. We have to make sure that we take this issue seriously and not ignore this in rural Alaska.”

To which Dunleavy countered, “Rome is burning, literally. Our systems are falling apart. (Climate change focus) would be one thing if we were a smokestack state like Ohio or Pennsylvania, but we’re not. We’re a resource development state; not a manufacturing state.”

Walker expressed his opposition to the development of the Pebble Mine project, while affirming his support for ANWR development, recently opened up by the federal government.

Dunleavy expressed support for both projects, but did maintain his objection to exploring liquefied natural gas for trade, particularly to the Far East.

Walker had just recently returned from a two-week trip to China with local business and government leaders, in part to try to build trade partnerships for LNG. Dunleavy cautioned against doing extensive business with a country at the fore of a pending trade war with the U.S.

Walker countered by pointing out that Chinese investment in Alaska is nothing new, citing a gold mine near Juneau owned entirely by Chinese interests, and pointing to the more than $1 billion worth of Alaskan fish the Chinese consume each year.

“They are tremendous customers and we’re the closest U.S. state to them,” Walker said.

Hawkins said the Chinese do not have a history of trading fairly.

“When China gets involved with other countries, it tends to get to be one-sided,” Hawkins said. “There’s a lot of espionage and (violation of) intellectual property… We have to be careful with what role in the project they’ll have.”

In his closing statement, Dunleavy argued that just because the state remains in recession, there’s no reason to go chasing big, new plans for rescue, like the LNG project.

“The opportunity in Alaska is amazing. We haven’t run out of oil, haven’t run out of gas, timber, fish, gold — you name it. Yet the Lower 48 has passed us by, and we’re in a malaise. We have folks leaving the state and (our policies) are drifting further to the left and pushing us toward becoming a welfare state.”