TALKING THE TALK

WASILLA — Valley issues played a central role Thursday as gubernatorial candidates Ethan Berkowitz and Bill Walker faced off at The Alaska Club in Wasilla.

The debate was the second in a series of political events put on by the Greater Palmer and Greater Wasilla chambers of commerce. It was the second gubernatorial event, featuring two of the 11 men still running for the seat. First on the list of Valley topics was Port MacKenzie. The candidates were asked if the project to bring a rail line to the port should receive continued funding and if they felt there is a need for two ports — Port MacKenzie and the Port of Anchorage — in the upper Cook Inlet.

Walker, a Republican, said he felt the rail extension was a worthy project and that Gov. Sean Parnell should have left the money appropriated for it intact instead of vetoing $22 million of the $57 million the Legislature allotted. He mentioned a trip he took to Port MacKenzie to see Alaska coal loaded onto a ship heading to Japan.

“It was an extremely exciting time to be on the cutting edge of development in this state,” he said.

As to whether two ports are necessary, Walker said “competition is good,” but he didn’t think there’s much competition now. Officials at Port MacKenzie have long said their port is for moving bulk commodities like coal, gravel and wood chips, while the Port of Anchorage is for moving products for retail sale.

For his part, Berkowitz, a Democrat, said, “I can see the port of Mat-Su from my house, so I’m always careful about venturing into this too far.”

Berkowitz thinks Port MacKenzie is an important port, and funding for the rail project might be something for which selling bonds could be considered.

“One of the ways we test the viability of these projects is to put them on the bond market,” he said.

On the topic of whether there needs to be two ports, Berkowitz said he’d like to see Anchorage and the Valley cooperate to avoid using public money to wastefully duplicate each infrastructure.

“I would want to take a look at a unified port authority,” he said. “Competition is good, but competition that costs the public needlessly isn’t always in the public interest.”

The candidates were also asked what they would say to Palmer Mayor John Combs and Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright about how the state could help cities like those in the Valley.

Berkowitz said he’d try to tamp down on unfunded mandates, which is shorthand for programs the state forces local governments to create without providing the money to run them.

Walker said he doesn’t like unfunded mandates either and would work against them. But he tied in his energy policy saying another way he’d help is to “cut the cost of energy in half.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.