July Campaign Update

Friends,

Something is happening – can you feel it? We are peaking now with the momentum on our side. This race has emerged as a two-man battle between Walker and Parnell and with less than 30 days to go, the campaign machine is clicking on all cylinders. Why is there so much excitement behind this movement?

I believe there is great strength in the growing frustration of Alaskans who are fed up with the studies, delay tactics, secrecy and current lack of leadership and courage in the governor’s office. And, I believe there is great hope in bold, aggressive leadership for results now in this state. As your governor, I will stop studying our problems, and start building a better future for Alaska. Read more >>>

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign Update, News | Comments closed

Support Bill Walker for Governor

Letter to the Ketchikan Sitnews Editor, July 28, 2010

We listened to gubernatorial candidate Samuels on the radio this week. Ralph talked about the decline of oil output, which provides 90% of our State income, but we didn’t hear any plan to replenish this lost revenue. He would like to see more oil drilling in Alaska. Wouldn’t we all, but does anyone seriously think we can count on that to pay for our State government in the near future? He mentioned cutting State spending, but we are talking about 90% of our income disappearing! He supports a natural gas bullet line which he says will provide cheap energy to Alaskans, but the figures all show that a gasline carrying only the small amount Alaskans would use would be far too expensive to provide low cost fuel. Also, there are no permits, rights of way or environmental studies done for a bullet line, which puts construction ten years in the future.

On the other hand, there is Bill Walker’s plan if he is elected Governor of Alaska. Bill, who isn’t a politician but is a lifelong Alaskan, wants to preserve the good life we have as Alaskans for future generations. By building the All-Alaska Gasline, which already has most of the permits (some of which took eight years to obtain), we can take advantage of the Asian markets to sustain our essential state services and provide cheap energy in-state to create industry and jobs. Imagine what life would be like if energy costs were 50% of what they are today, both for families and businesses!

Samuels claims the All-Alaska pipeline is more complicated than Walker says, but Bill has been the project director and legal counsel for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority for the past ten years, which has given him the opportunity to travel the world talking to gas producers, pipeline builders and foreign markets. That may make Bill Walker the foremost expert on the All-Alaska Gasline and gives him the knowledge, contacts and experience to actually make it happen. Bill says we have studied it to death; it is now time to act, which is why he is offering to lead our State. He has no long-term political ambitions; he just sees what can and should be done and is frustrated no one else has done it. Bill can and Bill will if he becomes our next governor.

s/ Ann Graham Radford
s/ John Harrington
s/ Bob Fultz
s/ Lawrence “Snapper” Carson
s/ Paul Radford
s/ Calvin Bakk
s/ Chris Cooke
s/ M. G. Cooke
Ketchikan, AK

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Editorials & Opinions, News, Support | Comments closed

Walker, Parnell exchange blows at Republican debate in Juneau

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Today, “GOP candidates for governor made their case for votes – and even took occasional jabs at each other – during a debate in Juneau,” as reported by Becky Bohrer of the Associated Press.

Gov. Sean Parnell and Republican challenger Bill Walker laid out their platforms and duked it out, primarily over economic and resource development issues.

Each Republican candidate was given a chance to pose a question to one opponent of their choice.

Walker chose Parnell, accusing him playing politics with Alaska’s future, and demanding answers for the secrecy surrounding his failed Canadian gasline project.

Parnell chose Walker, asking where the state of Alaska would find the money to “write a check” for the cost of the All-Alaska Gasline.

Walker fired back, accusing Parnell of failing to understand the basic fundamentals of gasline economics. “Every LNG project in the world is financed by the market, not the government,” explained Walker to Parnell.

“The process is called ‘project finance’ and would require the state to put in at most an equity share of 20 percent, or $4 billion to $6 billion. The governor’s lack of understanding here is frightening, and indicative of the problem we have in Alaska. Politicians who have little real world experience are asked to make complex decisions about Alaska’s future. We need a governor who knows what to do and has the courage to do it,” elaborated Walker in a statement after the debate.

In an clear shot at Walker, Parnell stated that “being governor is about much more than a single issue,” to which Walker commented, “If I am a one-issue candidate because I am the only candidate with a concrete plan, then so be it.”

“As far as I’m concerned, Sean Parnell is a zero-issue candidate. The only thing that he appears to care about is getting elected, at all costs.”

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign Event, News | Comments closed

Bill Walker Statement on Therriault Resignation

Anchorage – Today, Gene Therriault stepped down from his position as an energy advisor to the governor amidst mounting evidence that Parnell violated the Alaska Constitution by hiring him last fall.

Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor and vocal critic of Parnell’s illegal hiring practices, made the following statement today:

“This governor has a track record of violating the Alaska Constitution by using the legislature as a hiring hall for his administration. He has consistently defended the practice of secretly offering jobs to sitting legislators, illegally creating the positions, illegally hiring them and then forcing someone else to take the blame. He has shown a complete lack of remorse or regret and his rap sheet is growing every day. I think it is time that Alaskans ask the question – is this the kind of leadership we are looking for in Juneau?

According to Walker, Therriault’s resignation will allow the public to regain focus on the critical issues facing Alaska.

“My message is as clear now as it has ever been. We need a leader who will fight relentlessly for Alaska’s future. We are facing some very serious problems but I believe there is great hope in bold, aggressive leadership for results now in Alaska. As governor, I will put an end to the corruption and political games that have plagued this state for far too long. I will stop studying our problems, and start building a better future for Alaska.”

Posted in Alaska Government, News | Comments closed

Voter Registration Instructions – July 25th Deadline is Approaching!

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

This Sunday, July 25th is the last day to register to vote in the August 24th primary election. To vote in the Republican primary you must be registered as a Republican, undeclared or non-partisan voter.

Please use the tools below to make sure that you will be eligible to cast your ballot for Bill Walker!

  • Am I Registered?
  • Check to see if you are already a registered voter.
  • Register or Make an Update ONLINE!
  • Register to vote or update your voter registration records.

*If you have any questions over the weekend, you can call 227-9718 or send an email to taylor@billwalkerforgovernor.com!

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, News, Press Release | Comments closed

Bill Walker responds to Parnell attack

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

On Tuesday, Larry Persily, formerly with the Palin administration and recently appointed by President Obama as federal pipeline coordinator, held a press conference to make clear that while nothing in federal law requires the results of AGIA open season to be made public, nothing in the law precludes the Governor and TransCanada from disclosing the results, either.

Walker recently filed a public records request asking the governor to disclose the results of the TransCanada natural gas pipeline open season that closes on July 30th. Parnell has denied that request, citing logistical concerns.

Walker responded to that denial in a letter today, defending the public’s right- to-know that is being ignored by Parnell in order to improve his chances of prevailing in the August 24 primary election.

On Wednesday, the governor released a campaign email attacking Bill Walker’s efforts to make the process open and transparent for the public. Parnell based his argument on Persily’s remarks that when it comes to open season results, “there’s no federal law that says they have to share those with anybody.”

Walker immediately fired back at Parnell, pointing out that whether or not the federal government requires the results to be made public is irrelevant.

“Governor Parnell misses the point. The people of Alaska have a right to know the outcome of TransCanada’s open season and whether over $120 million in taxpayer funds have been wasted. Who cares if federal law doesn’t require disclosure? It is within the power of the Governor and TransCanada to disclose those results, and that they choose to not do so speaks volumes. This governor is looking for any excuse to keep Alaskans from the truth that his policies will not lead to the construction of a gas pipeline and a secure economic future for our state.”

On the subject of the governor’s email, Walker summed up his response in two words, “debate me.”

Timeline:
June 24 – Walker submits records request to the governor
July 7 – The governor submits written refusal to Walker
July 8 – Walker submits request for reconsideration to the governor
July 14 – The governor denies Walker’s request for reconsideration
July 22 – Walker responds to Parnell denial

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues, News, Press Release | Comments closed

Parnell’s first problem is AGIA

Larry Wood, Alaska Standard Contributor

AGIA was pronounced as DOA by Parnell himself with respect to any expected success of the Open Season. Parnell’s refusal to answer rival Bill Walker’s FOIA request for disclosure of the Open Season is proof that Parnell is playing a delaying game without any expectation of success.

Against AGIA is the reality of the shale gas developments in Canada and the U.S. The Outside gas reserves are estimated to be enough for a 150 year supply of natural gas. The fact of the lack of any permitting to show in the 3 years since the passage of AGIA belie his current assertions that AGIA is alive and well.

AGIA, like Conoco/BP’s Denali project, takes our gas and gas liquids to Canada, thereby benefitting Canada, not Alaska.

Is Parnell acting in the best interests of Alaska by pushing AGIA?
Read full article online >>>

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Editorials & Opinions, Gasline Development, Gasline News, Issues, News, Uncategorized | Comments closed

Federal Alaska pipeline coordinator confirms that the results of Gov. Parnell’s open season will be kept secret

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor, recently filed a public records request against the governor demanding that he make public the results of the AGIA “open season” that closes July 31.
In a press conference today, Larry Persily, the federal coordinator for Alaska natural gas projects, stated that “the public shouldn’t expect any major announcements” when the open season closes on July 31, as reported by the Associated Press.

Persily confirmed that while there is nothing in federal law that requires the open season results to be made public, there is nothing in the law that precludes them from being released, either.

According to Bill Walker, it is up to Gov. Parnell to decide whether or not to share the results with the people of Alaska. “I have said it before and I will say it again – if this governor truly had Alaska’s best interests in mind, then he would bend over backwards to release this information to the public. Alaska needs a leader who will stand up and fight for our interests, aggressively and relentlessly. That is what I will do as governor.”

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues, News, Press Release | Comments closed

Rasmussen Reports: Bill Walker leads Democrat rivals by a wide margin

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage – A poll conducted on July 15th by Rasmussen Reports shows Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker leading in hypothetical general election match-ups with both of his Democrat rivals.

According to the analysis released Monday by Rasmussen Reports, “Walker captures 50 percent support when matched against French who earns 32 percent of the vote,” and also leads Ethan Berkowitz by a margin of 46 percent to 38 percent.

Bill Walker made the following statement:

“I look forward to facing off against either Ethan Berkowitz or Hollis French in the general election. Until then, I will remain focused on winning the August 24 primary and will continue sharing with voters my vision for the economic future of Alaska.”

Bill Walker’s campaign manager, Taylor Bickford, made the following statement:

“This poll reaffirms what we already know – that the next Governor of Alaska will be chosen in the Republican primary on August 24th. It shows that Bill Walker will easily defeat either Ethan Berkowitz or Hollis French in the general election this November.”

The poll also shows Bill Walker’s name identification amongst likely voters to be at upwards of 81 percent. This reflects a rapid rise in name identification since the start of the campaign, according to Bickford.

“Bill Walker entered this race as a political outsider last September, but is now known by over 80 percent of Alaskan voters. His all Alaska message combined with a tireless work ethic has put him in a position to win the governorship in the general election this November.”

A recent horse-race poll conducted by the Alaska Republican Party shows Bill Walker leading his closest primary opponent by a margin of 28 percent.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, News, Press Release | Comments closed

Parnell pushes gas charade: TransCanada isn’t serious about Valdez

Bill Walker, Fairbanks Daily News Miner

On Monday, Gov. Parnell posted a new state of Alaska website touting that the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act open season provides an option for both a gas pipeline project into Canada and a Valdez liquefied natural gas option. But the website fails to inform Alaskans that after the initial open season, TransCanada will no longer pursue the Valdez LNG option, yet TransCanada will control that route.

Why is Parnell using public funds at the peak of the campaign season to advertise a Valdez option that will not be pursued after the open season closes in two weeks?

Although Parnell refuses to release the results until after the election, TransCanada’s open season will not produce condition-free, firm commitments to ship gas. Breakthroughs in tapping shale gas formations have led to gluts in North American natural gas markets. The Department of Energy estimates the Lower 48 now has a 100-plus years of gas reserves. Prices have collapsed accordingly. The new CEO of TransCanada recently stated that the Alaska project is not a priority.
Read full article online >>>

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Editorials & Opinions, Gasline Development, Issues, News | Comments closed

Rumored BP sale raises concerns

Bill Walker, Alaska Dispatch, July 15, 2010

It is being widely reported that various companies are considering acquiring BP.

As Alaskans we must be ever diligent to ensure our interests are protected. It has been reported that Exxon Mobil Corp. has approached the White House for affirmation that the Obama administration will not oppose its takeover of BP. As a founding member of Backbone, a nonpartisan group of Alaskans who successfully prevented BP’s acquisition of ARCO Alaska’s interest in the North Slope, I am deeply troubled by this recent announcement.

Backbone was a group of several dozen Alaskans who stood together to oppose monopolization of the North Slope by a multinational corporation in the early 2000s. Its only objective was to advocate for what was best for Alaska. The politically diverse members included former Govs. Wally Hickel and Jay Hammond, Vic Fisher, David Gottstein, Malcolm Roberts, Chancy Croft, Jack Roderick, Mead Treadwell, and other Alaskan patriots. Many of us lobbied the Federal Trade Commission and travelled to D.C. to testify to stop the BP acquisition of ARCO Alaska. This ad hoc group was ultimately successful in preventing BP from controlling over two-thirds of Alaskan oil production, and as a direct result of those efforts, we enjoy the benefit of ConocoPhillips operating in Alaska today.
Read full article online >>>

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Online Poll: Vote For Bill Now!!

Anchorage Press

Vote for Bill in the Anchorage Press Reader’s Poll!!

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race | Comments closed

Voter registration deadline is approaching! Are you registered?

Friends,

The State of Alaska’s July 24 voter registration deadline is quickly approaching!

You must be registered as Republican, Undeclared or Non-Partisan by Sunday, July 25 to be eligible to cast a vote for Bill Walker in the primary election! Click HERE for instructions on how to register online, by fax or in person at an elections office.

Remember, Sean Parnell lost to Don Young by less than 1,000 votes in 2008. Every vote truly does count!

This election is too important to miss out on. Click HERE to check the status of your registration online and please encourage your friends, family and contacts to do the same.

You can also call us at (907) 332-2455 or stop by a campaign office for assistance.

Best Regards,

Taylor Bickford
Campaign Manager
Bill Walker for Governor

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race | Comments closed

A Message From Donna Walker

Bill’s passion for Alaska and his desire to see Alaskans prosper is one of the first things that drew me to him 33 years ago. Maybe it was being the son of Alaskan pioneers, living a rugged rural existence through statehood, his family’s loss of all material things in the 1964 earthquake and regaining all that was lost in the boom of the pipeline construction that fueled Bill’s drive to see Alaska become all she can be. I soon realized that it was the Walker family’s story of courage, tenacity and true grit that made Bill the kind of guy who would be selected to serve his city as mayor at the age of 27. These are the same qualities, along with vast experience, qualifications and knowledge, that uniquely equip Bill to be the governor Alaska needs here and now.

Bill is in it to win it and as the campaign heats up, the expenses mount daily. We do need your help. Please make a donation today. Click here to make an online donation or mail a check to 731 N St., Anchorage 99501. Contributions cannot exceed $500 per individual ($1000 per couple) per year.

We have less than 50 days to go until the primary election on August 24th and Bill is blazing the campaign trail and daily picking up steam. He has received the endorsement that was given to Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young for many years. Bill has also earned the endorsement of many Alaskan leaders including former Attorney General Charlie Cole, former Lieutenant Governor Stephen McAlpine and others that will be announced in coming days. A massive grassroots effort is underway. Over 300 volunteers around the state represented Bill in at least eight July 4th parades and celebrations. Volunteers have also wall-papered the state with Bill Walker signs. And in a recent online poll conducted by the Alaska Republican Party, Bill led the poll 2 to 1 against the other Republican candidates.

But we cannot do it alone. Every dollar that you can contribute is much appreciated.

As you head to the polls on August 24, I would simply say that if you are looking for a leader who possesses great wisdom, dogged determination and a love and loyalty for all things Alaskan; if you are looking for a statesman, an independent voice for Alaska who will guard Alaska’s interests and do everything in his power to assure that we have a robust economy and low cost energy for decades to come, Bill Walker is the man who deserves your vote as the next governor of the Great 49th State.

Blessings!

Donna Walker

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Support | Comments closed

State: Bullet line won’t be cheap

Tim Bradnermorris News Service-Alaska, Peninsula Clarion

A state technical team has completed a first-phase cost estimate for a 24-inch natural gas pipeline that could be built from the North Slope to the state’s larger cities in Interior and southern Alaska.

The estimate was done in the event that a planned large-diameter pipeline by either TransCanada or Denali consortiums to the Lower 48 is substantially delayed.

Bob Swenson, manager of the Alaska in-state gas pipeline project, said capital costs for a 24-inch, 800-mile pipeline would range from $6.4 billion for a 24-inch pipeline moving 250 million cubic feet of gas daily to $10.9 billion if additional compression is added to increase the gas throughput to 1 billion cubic feet daily.
Read more online >>>

Posted in Gasline News, News | Comments closed

Parnell’s veto of SB 305 means giving away billions

Letter to the Editor by Anna von Reitz, Anchorage Daily News July 11, 2010

The Parnell Administration is giving away $20 billion dollars of our money to the oil industry. That’s what Sean’s veto of Senate Bill 305 allows. Where’s the media when you need them? Sharing this year’s best salmon recipes?

Meanwhile, APP is attempting to calm fears that TAPS will give out before we have a gas pipeline established, by saying TransCanada can build a pipeline to Valdez under AGIA.

That’s like saying Ford CAN build a truck.

It’s meaningless when the real issue is building a gas pipeline before the oil pipeline gives out and 85 percent of our economy hits the skids.

These men deserve to be ousted, and we deserve a gas pipeline that is big enough to save our bacon, constructed in time to do so.

We need the All Alaska Gas Pipeline and we need to build it now. No more standing around waiting for the oil bust. We must take action to save our economy.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Editorials & Opinions, Gasline Development, Issues, News | Comments closed

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker visits Ketchikan

Scott Bowlen, Ketchikan Daily News Staff Writer, July 3, 2010

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker made a whirlwind visit to Ketchikan earlier this week, meeting with a variety of groups and local officials in addition to opening his campaign headquarters in Ketchikan and speaking to the First City Republican Women’s Club. “It was a great trip and a great time,” Walker said Thursday from Anchorage, just before heading out for campaign stops in Eagle River and Seward.

Walker, an Anchorage-based attorney, businessman and former mayor of Valdez, is running in the GOP primary election against a crowded field that includes incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell, Ralph Samuels, Sam Little, Gerald Heikes and Merica Hiatcu. He said his campaign theme is “all about jobs, and the economy, and growing the economy and growing the jobs, and lowering the cost of energy.”

His central focus is on building an “all-Alaska” pipeline that would supply natural gas to Alaska communities in addition to shore terminals for export to other markets. Walker said he finds that Southeast Alaska is aware of the importance of an all-Alaska pipeline.

He said 90 percent of the state’s revenue comes from the existing oil pipeline, which is operating at about one-third capacity, while the volume of oil flowing through the pipeline is declining about 6 percent a year. “When it reaches the point where they can’t run the pipeline in the winter because of the temperature, that’s when 90 percent of our revenues in the state will stop,” Walker said. “That would be 90 percent of the revenues for education, public safety … municipal grants, etc. That will all be cut by 90 percent if the oil pipeline stops. And I think that most people recognize that, that we’ve built an economy on the oil throughput and that’s going away.”

In addition to being another revenue source, Alaska can use natural gas like Scandinavian countries do, according to Walker. There, compressed natural gas is brought to barges and moved to locations that need the energy. The gas-bearing barges are swapped out like “propane bottles on a barbecue,” said Walker. “Anybody that’s accessible by road or water would have access to low-cost, clean-burning natural gas,” Walker said. He added that Alaska vehicles should be using natural gas, which he described as a resource Alaskans should be using in their homes also. “(If) you have other, more economical, opportunities, then by all means do that,” Walker said. “But in the interim, natural gas creates a tremendous opportunity in the state of for value-added resources.”

Walker said he’s very focused on getting Alaska off of a reliance on diesel fuel and into renewable sources like hydro, geothermal and tidal energy, stressing his view that low-cost energy is the “real key ” building an economy. He said he’s impressed with the hydro opportunities in Southeast Alaska, where more interties and other work are needed toward realizing the region’s hydro potential.

Walker has a broad view of “renewable resources,” naming timber, fishing and tourism as among the opportunities in that category. Timber was one of several topics during Walker’s meetings with various groups on Monday and Tuesday. “I certainly heard a lot of discussion about the timber issue and the Tongass (National Forest) issue,” he said. He said the difference between the anticipated goal for how much timber would be available from the Tongass and what actually occurred is “astounding.” “I’m so concerned and frustrated that we’ve sort of slid to where we are in that issue,” Walker said. “And I that think we need to be more aggressive … to get back what the original deal was, and stop continuing to slide away from that renewable-resource opportunity.”

Walker also met with Alaska Marine Highway System officials, and said that, coming from Valdez, he’s very aware of the importance of the marine highway system to the state’s economy and the communities served by the system. He said he has visited the Ketchikan Shipyard three or four times, and brags about what’s happening there around the state. The Ketchikan Shipyard should be involved in building vessels to replace the aging ships in the AMHS fleet. “I will do everything I can within my power to ensure that the Ketchikan Shipyard is the builder of our new ferries,” Walker said, adding that he’s “horrified” that the state might be pre-empted from building those ships here because it has used federal money on the Alaska Class Ferry project. “My goodness. If we end up building those somewhere in Washington or the NASCO shipyard in San Diego, shame on us,” Walker said. “Those should be built here in Alaska.”

Walker also met with representatives of the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau while in town. He said he can relate to tourism because he has been in the business with a hotel in Valdez. Valdez was hurt in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because they prompted the closure of Alyeska’s marine terminal to tours. “We went from 99 cruise ships in one year in Valdez to zero in two years,” Walker said. “One of the biggest draws for Valdez was gone. And shortly thereafter, the cruise ships were gone. I recognize the benefit that cruise ships bring to Ketchikan.”

Walker met with commercial and charter fishing participants in Ketchikan, in addition to representatives of the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association that operates some of the local hatcheries that produce salmon. “That was very, very helpful,” Walker said. “I’m very familiar with aquaculture because I come from Prince William Sound where we have several … very successful aquaculture programs there.”

Speaking of fishing, Walker said one of the most common questions he hears in Southeast Alaska is where he’ll reside if elected as governor. “My answer’s always been, without hesitation, ‘I’m going to live in Juneau,’” Walker said. “But I’m going to modify that. I’m going to say, ‘We’re going to live in Juneau, but we’re going to fish in Ketchikan.’ Because there’s just something magical about Ketchikan.” He quickly acknowledged that the comment sounded like a political remark from a politician. He apologized, saying, “That’s not what I do. I don’t pander.” “I just, I don’t know, I really enjoy it there,” he said.

Opening the campaign office at The Plaza mall Monday evening was “very exciting,” Walker said. “It’s beautifully set up, and I was so humbled by all that’s been done for our campaign by our incredible volunteers in Ketchikan,” he said. His campaign plans to have a presence in the local Fourth of July parade, and Walker plans to be in town for the Blueberry Arts Festival.

He said he’s been encouraged by the campaign momentum he’s seeing statewide.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign News, Issues, News | Comments closed

Bill Walker, Republican gubernatorial candidate, deserves your consideration

Letter to the Editor by Barb Lander, Ketchikan Daily News, July 3, 2010

Editor, Daily News:
Bill Walker, Republican gubernatorial candidate, deserves your consideration. He is a lifelong Alaskan. Like most real Alaskans, he has a broad background. Most recently he has worked as a lawyer focusing on oil and gas issues, but he has also done construction, commercial fishing and worked as a laborer building the pipeline.

I met Bill Walker by accident and couldn’t care less about a candidate I’d never heard of. I didn’t care much about oil and gas issues either; I didn’t connect them with financial solvency. I am from Ketchikan; oil and gas is a mainland Alaska issue.

But as a registered nurse, I do care about healthcare; I was on my way to Juneau to lobby in support of healthcare issues. Walker listened to my spiel, just as Sean Parnell had listened two months earlier. Walker contacted me with good questions and suggestions five times over the next three days and again a month later when my legislation passed. He heard and understood what I said.

Walker campaigns unabashedly as a one-issue candidate: An all-Alaska liquid natural gas pipeline. He wants to make energy affordable for Alaskans. Bill knows that Alaskans and their can-do attitude can combine cheap energy with Alaska resources and make this state an economic powerhouse. Affordable energy will make everyone’s life better: food, transportation and home heating will be cheaper; the benefits go on.
As my chance meeting with him illustrates, he cares about all issues that affect Alaskans but understands that taking care of anything else is going to take a steady, reliable income. His plan will insulate Alaska from the economic woes plaguing our country and world.

We need Bill Walker for governor while we still have a vibrant state to save; before we are bogged down in the economic woes that plague many other states; before Alaskans face a state income tax; before fiscal necessity shuts down our schools and hospitals and returns our transportation infrastructure to pioneer days.

Please vote for Bill Walker in the Aug. 24 primary and again in November. He has an Alaskan plan.

Barb Lander
Ketchikan

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Editorials & Opinions, News | Comments closed

Why is Gov. Sean Parnell balking at the notion of opening records

Editorial, Anchorage Daily Planet

A rational person would ask: Why is Gov. Sean Parnell balking at the notion of opening records pertaining to natural gas pipeline company TransCanada’s open season – until after the November election?

Why is he citing “logistical” concerns? What are they?

Why would releasing the information on Aug.1, when the information should be available, any different than waiting until November, other than the election?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker had requested Parnell release the records to the public when available. On Thursday, Parnell denied Walker’s request.

Alaskans should be interested in this request and Parnell’s denial. After all, we have at least a half-billion dollars tied up in the proposed large-diameter gas line to move natural gas from the North Slope to points south. We likely will have a lot more invested before it wins Federal Energy Regulators Commission approval.
Read full article online >>>

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues | Comments closed

KTUU: Parnell Turns Down Request to Open TransCanada Records

KTUU, Channel 2 News Staff

Gov. Sean Parnell has denied Bill Walker’s request to make natural gas pipeline company TransCanada’s open season results public.

Walker, a Republican candidate for governor, filed a request asking Parnell to make results public after the open season closes July 31.

Parnell responded Thursday, citing logistical concerns in a letter submitted to Walker, and said results will not become public until after the election in November.

Walker has submitted a request for reconsideration, and is accusing Parnell of keeping Alaskans in the dark about an issue that might determine the state’s economic future.
Read article online >>>

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

There will be mud – Two formidable candidates line up against Governor Parnell in the Republican primary

Brendan Joel Kelley, Anchorage Press

It’s inevitable in a contested primary with an incumbent running that the incumbent—in this case Governor Sean Parnell—will be a virtual dartboard for his competitors.

This race is made all the more peculiar since part of what Parnell—appointed in the wake of former Governor Sarah Palin’s abrupt 2009 resignation—is running is a Palin-initiated program. Many of Palin and Parnell’s fellow Republicans have assailed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA), signed into law by Palin in 2007, which had the support—then—of all but one legislator. That legislator was Ralph Samuels, who’s one of the two primary competitors for Parnell in the August 24 primary.

Parnell has mostly kept his head down—to the point his opponents have labeled him a debate dodger—except for his veto of a bill to raise the eligibility level for Denali KidCare. Denali KidCare is the state’s health care program for poor children and pregnant women, and the bill would’ve changed the qualifying threshold from 175 percent of the federal poverty level to 200 percent. Parnell had supported the bill’s passage during the legislative session, but when the bill and appropriation for the raise in eligibility hit his desk, he vetoed them, saying he was concerned that, by federal law, medically necessary abortions were provided under the program.

Parnell also recently suffered a setback with his hiring of a sitting legislator, Representative Nancy Dahlstrom (R-Eagle River), to a cushy position as an advisor on military affairs. The state Department of Law had originally signed off on Dahlstrom resigning, the position being created, and Dahlstrom’s hiring. Then conservative talk radio host and Parnell critic Dan Fagan began a barrage of criticism which ended with Attorney General Dan Sullivan issuing a decision that questioned the constitutionality of the hiring, and Dahlstrom stepped down.

Both Samuels and Bill Walker, the other primary candidate with significant money and organization, fired with both barrels in press releases against Parnell. And hardly a week goes by without a press release from one of their camps blasting the governor for something. Walker recently filed a public records request asking that the results of the open season for AGIA, in which producers negotiate terms of delivery with TransCanada, the pipeline operator under the act, be publicly released after the open season ends on July 1.
Read article online >>>

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign News, News | Comments closed

Walker Continues Battle With Parnell Over Gasline Secrecy

Anchorage – Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor, recently filed a public records request against the governor demanding that he make public the results of the AGIA “open season” that closes July 31 and release all records related to his decision to veto SB 305, thereby offering $20 billion in incentives to the North Slope producers to commit gas in the initial open season.

On Wednesday, the governor effectively denied the request to make the open season results public as of August 1, citing logistical concerns in a letter submitted to Walker. On the $20 billion giveaway, rather than release the records, the governor indicated that he would “proceed with the response” to the request but made no commitment to an immediate release.

According to Walker, the governor is hiding behind technicalities in hopes of continuing to stall and delay the process so that he can keep the results and details of his failed plan secret until after the elections.

Today Walker submitted a request for reconsideration and fired back at the governor for attempting to keep Alaskans in the dark about an issue that most believe will determine the course of Alaska’s economic future.

“Instead of standing up for openness and transparency in government, the governor is continuing with the same old political games of delay and deception that have plagued this state for far too long. If he truly had Alaska’s best interests in mind, he would bend over backwards to make this information public,” said Walker in a statement today.

The governor has taken the position that the results of the open season, while available to the governor on July 31, will not become public until after the election in November. According to Bill Walker, this is an indefensible position.

“We have paid over $100 million in public funds into this process, yet the governor clearly has no intention of letting Alaskans know the results out of fear of losing the election. Open and transparent government? Not from this governor who is putting his own ambitions ahead of Alaskans’ right to know.”

Timeline

June 24 – Walker submits records request to the governor

July 7 – The governor submits written refusal to Walker

July 8 – Walker submits request for reconsideration to the governor

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline News, News | Comments closed

Upcoming Parades and Thank You to 4th of July Volunteers!

Thanks to the 300+ volunteers in at least 8 cities across Alaska who participated in July 4th parades and celebrations across the state! This massive grassroots effort really captured the momentum that this campaign is gaining every day! Seward 4th of July

Go to our Facebook page (sign up as a fan if you haven’t already) and see the awesome photos from these volunteers who have caught the fever and captured the Bill Will spirit!

Here are the next two parade opportunities and we want to make another huge showing for the crowds that will be in attendance!

Saturday, July 10th, Eagle River Bear Paw Festival

Line up to march with us between 10 to 10:30 a.m. (parade starts at 11 a.m.). You can at the corner of Business Blvd. and Centerfield Drive in Eagle River.

Saturday, July 24th, Fairbanks Golden Days Parade

We will be participating in the Golden Days Celebration in Fairbanks from July 21st to July 25th. The parade is on July 24th at 10 a.m. and WE NEED YOU TO JOIN US in this important campaign event!! More details will be sent out as we get closer to the event.

Posted in Campaign Event, News, Volunteer Opportunities | Comments closed

Walker records request needs clarification, state says

Joshua Saul, Anchorage Dispatch

Bill Walker filed a records request on June 24 looking for information about the bids the TransCanada Corp. open season was bringing in. “When the election comes about, Alaskans need to know whether we’ve had a failed open season or not,” Walker said at the time.

Well, Gov. Sean Parnell’s office replied to Walker’s request late Wednesday — but there weren’t many details on the open season. The letter from the governor’s administrative director, Linda Perez, mostly asks for clarification. Walker asked for documents related to TransCanada’s open season through Aug. 1, but Perez wrote that her office is not able to honor continuing public records requests.

“The logistics of monitoring and responding to continuing records requests would be unmanageable,” she wrote.

Walker had also asked for records related to the veto of Senate Bill 305, the so-called “decoupling” bill that, among other things, would have separated oil and gas in Alaska’s production tax structure. Perez wrote that she could proceed with that request and give him an estimate of how much that would cost.

Perez went on to say that if Walker wants open season documents up to Aug. 1, he’ll need to make a records request once that date has passed. She then asks if he wants open season bids that the state held as of June 24 (the date of his request) or if he wants to wait until Aug. 1.

Walker didn’t like that. In a press release sent out Thursday morning he said Parnell is hiding behind technicalities in hopes of continuing to stall the process so he can keep the results of his “failed plan” secret until after the election.

“If he truly had Alaska’s best interests in mind, he would bend over backwards to make this information public,” Walker said in the release. “We have paid over $100 million in public funds into this process, yet the governor clearly has no intention of letting Alaskans know the results out of fear of losing the election.”

There are currently two pipeline projects in open season. The first is the state-sanctioned Alaska Pipeline Project, led by TransCanada Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. The second is the Denali Project, a joint effort of BP and ConocoPhillips.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues | Comments closed

Alaska gubernatorial candidates tout pipeline, policy to Fairbanks voters

Jeff Richardson, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS — A local audience put the heat under Alaska’s governor candidates during a rapid-fire lunch forum at the Carlson Center on Tuesday, grilling them on resource development, the economy and even their preferred candidate for U.S. Senate.

The forum, sponsored by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, attracted Republicans Gerald Heikes, Merica Hlatcu, Sam Little, Gov. Sean Parnell, Ralph Samuels and Bill Walker, along with Democratic state Sen. Hollis French.

Democrat Ethan Berkowitz and Republican Brad Snowden did not attend.

Candidates gave bite-sized responses to numerous issues during the lightning-fast format, which allowed 60 seconds or less to answer each in a diverse set of questions. The primary election is Aug. 24.
Read full article online >>>

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Walker Takes on Parnell at Fairbanks Debate

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage – Republican candidate Bill Walker questioned Sean Parnell’s leadership ability at a gubernatorial forum in Fairbanks today. Walker took Parnell to task for what he called a complete unwillingness to stand up and fight to secure Alaska’s economic future.

“We currently have a governor who is comfortable sitting back and waiting for someone else to take care of Alaska’s economic future. We can no longer afford delay after delay and business as usual with a governor who is happy to continue playing politics instead of taking action now to provide jobs, affordable energy and economic opportunity for Alaska,” said Walker in a statement at the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce immediately following the debate.

Walker, who recently filed a public records request against Parnell, also blasted the governor for the secrecy surrounding the publicly funded AGIA open season.

“It is clear that the governor is committed to keeping Alaskans in the dark about what is being done with our resources, our money and our future. When you have a governor who’s a former oil industry lobbyist, you end up with a governor who has not slid around completely to our side of the table. Alaska needs a leader who will fight aggressively to protect our interests in Juneau and that is what I will do as governor,” said Walker.

In May, the Governor offered the North Slope leaseholders $20 billion in additional incentives to build a gas pipeline into Canada. Walker’s public records request also demands access to information leading up to that decision as the producers are not on record as having asked for the incentives. July 31st is the last day that companies can submit bids to nominate gas to the proposed Canadian pipeline.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, News, Press Release | Comments closed

Walker fights to open gas pipeline files

By Richard Mauer, Anchorage Daily News

TRADE SECRETS: Candidate for governor believes public funds demand transparency.

Bill Walker, a Republican seeking to take Gov. Sean Parnell’s job, is demanding the state provide details by August about who wants to ship gas through the proposed TransCanada pipeline, months before any final transportation agreements are reached.

State officials say they don’t expect TransCanada to provide that information before year’s end, long after the Republican primary in August. But even if the pipeline company gave the information to the state, they said they couldn’t disclose it anyway.

Walker, an Anchorage lawyer, is a long-term advocate for an all-Alaska gas pipeline from the North Slope to a liquified natural gas plant in Valdez, with spurs to populated areas of the state. His campaign logo shows an Alaska image of blue bisected north-to-south by a pipeline of gold; his slogan is “All-Alaska Governor.”

He strongly disagrees with the strategy of Parnell, and Gov. Sarah Palin before him, for bringing North Slope gas to market with a $500 million state subsidy on a line that may go to Canada. He says the state has given additional tax breaks to oil companies to keep the project alive.

Now, with the TransCanada project two-thirds through its “open season” in search of bidders to fill the line with gas, Walker says Alaskans shouldn’t have to wait till December or January to learn what the bids are.

TransCanada and partner Exxon Corp. say they will build a pipeline to either TransCanada’s hub in Alberta or to Valdez, depending on what the market demands. In the 90-day open season, which concludes at the end of July, they are taking secret bids from shippers, hoping to get enough orders to fill a pipeline and make its construction economically feasible despite a price tag as high as $41 billion.

Because bids are expected to contain conditions, the close of bidding at 5 p.m. Central time July 30 will start a protracted period of negotiations — assuming any bids are received. TransCanada isn’t required to disclose the bids until the negotiations are complete and a contract — called a “precedent agreement” — is filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. TransCanada’s top Alaska pipeline official, Tony Palmer, has said that likely won’t happen till after Christmas — long after both the primary and general elections.

“I’ve had a lot of members of the public saying, ‘We’re going to go vote and not know if we just had an incredibly great open season or a complete failure?’” Walker said Friday. “I don’t think I’m the only one out there saying, really? Why is this being confidential?”

Walker filed a public records request to the governor’s office June 24 demanding the open season bids submitted to TransCanada or the state. His demand letter mistakenly refers in three places to federal law, the Freedom of Information Act, or “FOIA,” as the basis for his request.

Bill McAllister, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office, said Parnell has until July 9 to respond. “There’s nothing to say about it — it is being processed, that’s all,” McAllister said.

But the administration’s top gas line official expects Walker will get very little.

Mark Myers, gas pipeline coordinator in the Department of Natural Resources, said bids in large projects are normally closely held by bidders and the pipeline company as each seeks a competitive edge in negotiations.

“You’re always trying to cut a better deal than the next party,” Myers said.

Negotiating points could include ownership stakes in the pipeline, the level of debt required to build it, and how cost overruns would be paid — all items that could effect future shipping rates.

While bidders are competing against each other and trying to get the best rates out of TransCanada, there’s another wrinkle, Myers said: a competing project, Denali, by BP and Conoco Phillips. Denali begins its 90-day open season July 6, and TransCanada has a commercial interest in keeping bids secret from that pipeline project too, Myers said.

“Given those complications, my druthers would be to not know what the commercial processes were,” Myers said.

Unlike Denali, TransCanada is a licensee of the state under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, which provides up to $500 million for costs and other incentives. AGIA, a centerpiece of Palin’s administration and firmly backed by Parnell, specifically declares that trade secrets and proprietary information obtained by the state are not subject to disclosure under Alaska’s public records law.

Myers said he didn’t think the state would see the bids anyway until negotiations are complete, and so would not have bid documents to withhold from Walker. But he said TransCanada’s Palmer has promised to issue a general statement about bids after the conclusion of open season, and will declare if no qualifying bids are received.

Walker said that’s inappropriate.

“We’ve paid over $100 million for this — we should see what the results are, and also the conditions,” Walker said. “If we didn’t have any public money in there, I wouldn’t have much of an argument. When you take public funds, there’s a certain obligation to the public to know what’s going on.”

Read story on ADN.com

Posted in Gasline News, News | Comments closed

Ex-lawmaker quits disputed job as governor’s military adviser

By Sean Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News

MILITARY ADVISER: Legality of Parnell’s choice is at issue.

Former state Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom resigned Friday as Gov. Sean Parnell’s senior military adviser after the state attorney general said a court might find it illegal for Parnell to have given her the job.

Attorney General Dan Sullivan said Parnell hired Dahlstrom after the Department of Law told him it was legal. But Sullivan said a new, more thorough analysis, prompted by criticism of the hire, showed that initial advice was questionable.

“Although the Department of Law’s earlier advice was not unreasonable, there is an appreciable risk that an Alaska court may not concur with the analysis on which that advice was based,” Sullivan said in a finding released Friday.

The Alaska Constitution doesn’t allow legislators to accept jobs created while they were in office.

Dahlstrom announced in May that she would be resigning from the state House to take a new position as Parnell’s senior military adviser. When reporters questioned that, the Parnell administration maintained her $96,000 job was legal because it would not be technically created until after Dahlstrom resigned from the Legislature.

The matter drew little notice, even after Anchorage activist Andree McLeod and news reports brought up the constitutionality question, until KFQD talk-radio host Dan Fagan began to hammer Parnell on it last month. The attorney general then came on Fagan’s radio show and said his department’s analysis wasn’t thorough and he would do a more complete one.

Dahlstrom is far from the only legislator who’s taken a state job in this way. North Pole Sen. Gene Therriault resigned from the Legislature last summer to take a newly created job as Parnell’s energy adviser. Parnell said he didn’t ask Dahlstrom to resign and expected Therriault to remain in the position.

Previous governors have hired legislators in the same fashion. The Department of Law said Gov. Frank Murkowski hired Robin Taylor, Bill Hudson and Alan Austerman this way. Jim Duncan left the Legislature for a newly created position in the Knowles administration and Keith Specking for the Hammond administration, the department said.

Attorney General Sullivan said Parnell, Dahlstrom and Therriault acted in good faith, following advice of the Department of Law. He said the state’s lawyers knew Alaska governors have been hiring legislators like this for decades, and relied on that fact too much in giving their advice.

“Institutional knowledge may have resulted in not doing the thorough research and analysis that we typically do quite well on almost all the issues we look at,” he said.

POLITICAL FALLOUT

Ethan Berkowitz, a Democratic former state legislator who is running against Parnell for governor, said if Parnell had a “bare shred of competence” he would have been able to recognize that the Alaska Constitution doesn’t allow this.

Berkowitz distributed a 2003 legal opinion from Legislative Legal Services Director Tam Cook that concluded legislators can take state jobs created after they resign. But Cook also said there are questions and it’s not clear how a court would rule.

“You’ve got to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, court cases are clear on that. And this to me smells like every effort was made to circumvent the spirit of the law,” Berkowitz said. “And we’ve had enough of that behavior out of Juneau.”

Ralph Samuels, a Republican ex-legislator also running against Parnell, said Parnell clearly broke the law.

“This whole sorry episode reeks of politics as usual, doling out highly-paid, made-up jobs to political friends. But in this case, what is most troubling is the governor’s clear intent to sidestep the Constitution,” Samuels said.

Bill Walker, another Republican candidate for governor, said, “Parnell secretly offered a job to a sitting legislator, illegally created the position, illegally hired her and let his attorney general take the blame.”

LEGAL ‘CLOSE CALL’

Parnell said Friday he did nothing wrong hiring Dahlstrom. He said he believes the point of the law is to assure legislators cannot be unduly influenced in anticipation of a job.

Parnell said he waited until after this year’s legislative session ended before talking to Dahlstrom about taking the position.

“In my opinion, we followed both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law,” Parnell said.

His attorney general, Sullivan, agreed. “We conclude the same thing. As interpreted by the Department of Law after (Parnell) sought our advice, the letter and the spirit of the law was followed. But we looked at this in a very, very thorough way and we’re the ones who are providing a change of course,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the issue was a legal “close call” and no court has specifically addressed the question.

He said the Alaska Constitution does not forbid governors hiring legislators, except for positions created while the legislator was in office or those for which the legislator voted to increase the salary. Sullivan’s memo says legislators are attractive candidates for such jobs because they’re knowledgeable about public policy.

Parnell said he hired Dahlstrom as military adviser to implement recommendations of the state’s military advisory committee on how to bring more military missions to Alaska. “She’s one of the few legislators who shows up for every military event and has the respect of the leadership here,” he said.

Dahlstrom said Friday she felt good about taking the position when the state’s lawyers said it was OK, but that changed when the new finding came out.

“Once I read that, it was very clear to me the only honorable thing to do was resign my position,” she said.

Read full story on ADN.com.

Posted in Alaska Government, News | Comments closed

Bill Walker Statement on Parnell’s Illegal Hiring of a Sitting Legislator

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage – Sean Parnell’s illegal hiring of a sitting legislator is further evidence of an absence of open and transparent leadership according to Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor.

Last week Walker filed a public records request with Governor Parnell’s office demanding public disclosure of: 1) the AGIA open season results that will be available July 31st, but which Parnell intends to keep secret until after the general election in November; and 2) all records relating to Parnell’s recent decision to veto SB 305 resulting in approximately $20 billion in handouts to the North Slope leaseholders to submit bids in the open season.

“None of the leaseholders are on record as having requested the incentives and Alaskans have a right to know what may have gone on behind closed doors resulting in the Governor unilaterally serving up $20 billion in public money in a desperate attempt to manipulate a successful open season,” Walker stated.

“And now we learn that Parnell secretly offered a job to a sitting legislator, illegally created the position, illegally hired her and let his Attorney General take the blame. This is weak leadership at best and just another example of the kind of compromised integrity that has plagued Alaskan politics for far too long.”

Posted in News, Press Release | Comments closed

Deep breaths: Bullet line idea needs some more stress tests

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Editorial

Enthusiasm for the proposed bullet line to deliver North Slope natural gas to the Railbelt needs to be tempered with some hard questions.

The report released Thursday estimated that a mid-size line, among those analyzed, could cost up to $8 billion. If the line’s cost were spread across about 500 million cubic feet per day of gas, the transportation charges would be about $9 per thousand cubic feet.

That seems to create an opportunity for much lower prices than Fairbanks customers are paying today for natural gas trucked up from Cook Inlet.

However, a base pipeline tariff of $9 per thousand cubic feet — which doesn’t count several other potential costs — is hardly a deal when compared to prices throughout the country. Gas is selling at about half that price at major supply hubs Outside.
Read more >>>>

Posted in Gasline Development, Gasline News, Issues, News | Comments closed

In-state gas line and facilities could cost from $6 billion to $11 billion

Dermot Cole, Fairbanks Daily News Miner

A 24-inch pipeline from the North Slope to Southcentral, with a 12-inch lateral line to Fairbanks and associated facilities needed for the project, would cost from $6.4 billion to $11.8 billion, a state study released today says. That puts this project in the $9,000 to $15,000 per Alaskan range.

This is Susitna dam territory. While it would take far longer to build a dam than a gas line, the dam would last much longer than the in-state gas line. A recent estimate put the cost of the “low Watana” dam at $4.9 billion.

The pipeline part of the in-state project would cost $3.8 billion, an estimate that has been part of the discussion for many months.

But billions in other facilities, including compressor stations and gas treatment equipment, would be needed to make the pipeline work. A state consultant said the numbers are an “eye opener” and will be a challenge. That’s the understatement of the day.
Read more >>>>

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Where’s Sean?

By Mike Dingman, Alaska Standard Contributor

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the University of Alaska Anchorage College Republicans State Convention at the Petroleum Club on Tuesday June 22nd. Until recently, the College Republicans (CR’s) have had a very short and fairly non-existent history at UAA. Jason Cline, Ryan McKee, Jeremiah Campbell and others have resurrected this club with the help of Casey Reynolds and the Alaska Republican Party and have transformed it into a significant and contributing member of the political scene in Alaska. This event was a testament to that fact. The atmosphere was top-notch, the food and drink were first class and the room was filled with all of the Alaska Republican power brokers.

In attendance were most of the high profile candidates and elected officials such as Ralph Samuels, Jay Ramras, Joe Miller, Dan Saddler, Eddie Burke, Janette Reddington, Senators Lesil McGuire and Kevin Meyer, a large contingent from the Bill Walker campaign and many others. These candidates have seen what most everybody else has also noticed – the CR’s have proven their value in the winning Dan Sullivan mayoral campaign and the very successful Andy Clary and Adam Trombley Assembly campaigns in which two completely unknown candidates nearly defeated their well-known opponents. One campaign that obviously missed the memo was the Parnell campaign, since they were the only large scale statewide campaign that sent nobody to this important event.

Now, it is easy to understand that the Governor could not make it to the event, after all he has a busy schedule creating new state positions for sitting state legislators, nonetheless you would think that someone supporting the campaign would have been in attendance. I have heard many refer to the Parnell Campaign as a “paper campaign”. I have never met anybody from the Parnell campaign at any local political events. I have seen no Parnell supporters waving signs, showing up to various public gatherings or doing any sort of campaigning. Where is the Parnell campaign? Has a missing persons report been filed? If you can find a Parnell supporter – well find one first, and we will go from there.

Parnell’s Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) report reads like a “Who’s Who” of lobbyists, labor unions and political action committees with relatively few individual donors to be found. There is seemingly no grass-roots or active community within the Parnell campaign at all. When is the last time you met a person excited to elect Sean Parnell? Those who are excited to elect Samuels or Walker are coming out of the woodwork. When you ask any Samuels or Walker supporter why they support their candidate prepare yourself to be there a while and listen to them gush about their candidate like a cheerleader talking about the star quarterback. Those supporting Walker and Samuels are sporting bumper stickers on their cars, t-shirt and buttons – every possible accessory they can find. Those supporting Parnell, must be doing so very quietly because they are not seemingly visible to the general public.

Unscientific polls on the websites of various news organizations show a tight race between Walker and Samuels because those types of polls draw the rabid supporters of candidates. There seems to be no passion out there for the Parnell campaign. The primary election should be about the grass-roots. It should be about the members of a party reaching out to tell the party where they stand and who they support. It should be about the members of the party expressing their views on the issues through the votes that they cast. Every member of the party should be excited to rush to the polls on August 24th and pull the lever for their candidate.

The success of the College Republican’s statewide convention is a good sign for the future of the Alaska Republican Party. It shows that there is a vibrant base of young Republicans passionate about politics and about conservative candidates. The absence of this passionate, grass-roots, supporter driving style campaign on the ground for Parnell is in sharp contrast to the success of the CR’s and hopefully shows the difference between the incoming power structure with a proven successful track record and the outgoing power structure leaving with a legacy of failure.

Read story on the Alaska Standard.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign News, News | Comments closed

AFL-CIO endorses Walker in GOP primary

Article from Anchorage Daily News

JUNEAU — Alaska’s largest labor union has endorsed Bill Walker in the Republican primary for governor.

On the Democratic side, Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, said the union was unable to choose between state Sen. Hollis French and former lawmaker Ethan Berkowitz. He said both have strong labor records.

Candidates were asked to respond to questionnaires, and Beltrami said Walker was “right on” with issues that concern the membership, including the need for good jobs and benefits.

Walker is among the highest profile contenders in the Republican race. Among the others, Beltrami said former legislator Ralph Samuels returned a questionnaire but Gov. Sean Parnell did not.

He said the union will meet after the August primary and look at whether to endorse the remaining candidates.

Read more: ADN.com

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Alaska Republican Party, Campaign News, News | Comments closed

June Newsletter: Bill Walker Blazes Campaign Trail!

…and blazes past his opponents in a poll conducted by the Alaska Republican Party this week!

Alaska Republican Party Poll

The Alaska Republican Party ran a Facebook poll this week and Bill took the lead by a 2-to-1 margin:

Voters Percentage
Bill Walker 208 59%
Ralph Samuels 110 32%
Sean Parnell 32 9%

Our path to victory is clear. The electorate understands that Bill Walker is the only candidate in this race with a concrete plan to secure Alaska’s economic future. His plan will create jobs, deliver low cost energy to Alaskans, replace oil revenues that fund essential government services, ignite further oil and gas exploration, provide value added industries to the Alaskan economy and open this state up for business like never before! Bill Walker is a fierce advocate for Alaska’s interests and will fight aggressively to take back the future of our state.

Standing up for Alaska’s families

Although Bill and his opponents are engaged in a spirited Republican primary, there remain those issues that unite us; which supersede those that divide us. A prominent issue at this time, is the Parental Notification Initiative -Ballot Measure 2. What a message it would send to Alaskan voters to see Republican candidates come together, putting individual campaign fundraising efforts aside for one evening, and standing united to raise critical funds to help assure passage of the initiative on August 24th.

For this reason, Bill and his wife Donna are hosting a fundraiser at their home in Anchorage to raise money in support of the Alaska Family Council’s Parental Rights Initiative. In an effort to unite Alaska’s Republican Party the following candidates have agreed to co-host this event:

  • Don Young
  • Sheldon Fisher
  • Joe Miller
  • Ralph Samuels
  • Sean Parnell
  • Mead Treadwell
  • Jay Ramras
  • Eddie Burke

Bill Walker challenges Parnell on gasline secrecy

Last week Bill filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding that the Governor make public the results of the open season. Bill also requested information to provide better explanation of why the governor decided to offer a $20 billion state subsidy for a Canadian gasline.

“Now more than ever, we need openness in our government. Our governor continues to play hide-and-seek with Alaska’s future. Open the books. Show us the results. Our jobs and our economy depend on it. We can no longer afford delay after delay and business as usual with a governor who is happy to continue playing politics instead of helping Alaskans create jobs,” said Bill in a statement released after his FOIA filing.

Media Highlights:

Walker submits request for TransCanada open season records
Walker challenges secrecy around Alaska’s open season
Walker to file records request against Parnell
Walker wants pipeline, tax bill documents.

Walker vs. Berkowitz

Bill was chosen by the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce to face off with Democrat candidate Ethan Berkowitz in a head-to-head debate. He focused on his plan to provide jobs, affordable energy and economic opportunity for Alaska’s families and businesses. Click here to view a clip of the debate.

Passing the torch

Earlier this month Mrs. Ermalee Hickel hosted a fundraiser for Bill at her home in West Anchorage. Over 150 guests were in attendance to contribute to the campaign and hear about Bill’s plan and vision for the future of Alaska.

After the event, Mrs. Hickel encouraged us to start playing a revised version of our TV ad featuring Governor Hickel. The ad can be viewed online by clicking here.

Media Highlights:


The late Hickel still a player in the governors race
.
Walker campaign draws on Hickel support

Building Momentum

The state is lighting up with Walker energy! June marked the opening of Bill’s 5th campaign office (in Ketchikan)! Contact one of our regional offices to get bumper stickers, yard signs and learn about volunteer opportunities with the campaign.

All-Alaska Campaign

We are running an all Alaskan grassroots campaign. Bill thoroughly enjoys traveling the state and meeting the hardworking Alaskan men and women who are concerned about the direction Alaska is currently headed. From our fisheries to our education system, he has a concrete plan to take back Alaska’s future. Bill will build the All-Alaska Gasline, strengthen our families and serve as a fierce advocate for Alaska’s interests in resource development, standing up to the federal government and making state government more accountable to the people.

All Alaska, All the Time

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign News, News | Comments closed

Walkers for Walker Wanted for Five July 4th Parades

 Walker Logo

Bill Walker supporters are coming to a City near you!

Team Walker will be participating in five, yes five! Independence Day parades and we need YOUR help!

Check out the times and locations below. If you’re going to be in one of these areas for the 4th of July and want to walk with fellow Walker for Governor supporters, we have got a hard hat and sign with your name on it!




Wasilla:
  • Meet at the Vally Performing Arts parking lot at 10am.
  • Contact: Larry 907-355-5933

Kenai:

  • Meet on Trading Bay Road, by the court house, at 1pm. 
  • Contact: Debbie 907-252-2273

Seward: Bill Walker will be there!

  • Meet on 1st Avenue, in front of the Westly Building near the hospital at 12:45pm.
  • Contact: Sandy 907-831-0347 or Bill Walker 907-223-8530

Ketchikan:

  • Meet near Tatsuda’s by 11am.
  • Contact: Ann 907-247-8233 or Bob 907-254-5262

Valdez:

  • Meet at West Egan at 11:30am.
  • Contact: Debbie 907-835-2331

A special thank you to all the organizers and volunteers who have made this massive effort possible. We could not have gotten these events off the ground without your help. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Posted in Campaign Event, News, Support | Comments closed

Search for consultant smacks of cronyism

by Paul Jenkins, Anchorage Daily News

Here’s something odd: Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration is chomping at the bit to hire a $2 million consultant quickly — very, very quickly — to take a peek at any proposals from the oil industry or lawmakers to change Alaska’s oil and gas taxes to promote construction of a gas pipeline. Did I mention the state guys want the consultant very quickly?

The state’s Request for Proposal by the Department of Revenue was issued June 17 to fill an expiring contract. Bids are due back by 1:30 p.m. June 30. That is a very short turnaround. The next day, July 1, the contract will be awarded and the new consultant immediately will attend his or her first meeting and begin collecting a wad of dough. The only thing shorter than that time frame is Sarah Palin’s temper. Bidders who lose, if there are any, will have about 32 minutes to appeal.

Read full story

Posted in Gasline Development, Gasline News, Issues, News, Uncategorized | Comments closed

Walker submits request for TransCanada open season records

by Rhonda McBride

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sean Parnell’s office has been served a records request regarding TransCanada’s natural gas pipeline.

Bill Walker, one of Parnell’s opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary, submitted a letter Thursday at the governor’s office in Anchorage, requesting documents related to TransCanada’s open season negotiations, which began on April 30.

During the three-month period, producers are trying to strike deals with TransCanada to ship their gas through the company’s proposed pipeline.

Although the open season concludes July 31, the Parnell administration does not plan to release information until next year when the process ends.

Walker says a lot of state money has been invested in the project, so the public has a right to know immediately whether the open season is a success or a failure.

“Some may not want to have that information available before the election — I think that’s wrong,” Walker said. “Alaskans need to know how their money was spent, and what the results of the 100-plus million dollars was spent on.”

“There is a commercial interest, a proprietary interest, that TransCanada and its partners have with regard to their own commercial position,” said Joe Balash, a special assistant to the governor on the pipeline. “Broadcasting where they are in the middle of a negotiation isn’t a commercially reasonable place to be.”

The Parnell administration says that under the provisions of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, TransCanada has certain protections, including one that restricts the state from releasing proprietary information.

Walker also wants records on Parnell’s veto of Senate Bill 305, which would have decoupled oil and gas taxes to create separate taxation structures.

Parnell said when he vetoed the bill that it was premature to take up oil and gas taxes, and that it would be better to address them after the open season process concludes.

The competing Denali pipeline project is also conducting an open season this year, but TransCanada was awarded the state’s license for a pipeline to the Lower 48.

Producers are expected to place bids with conditions on them, so negotiations are likely to continue after the open season closes.

AGIA opponents, including Walker, have called the process a sham — and say that some of the bids made on the TransCanada project may have too many conditions to make a gas line feasible.

Walker, as well as Parnell’s other opponents question the timing. They claim the public won’t know if TransCanada’s open season was a failure until after the election.

Attorney General Dan Sullivan will review Walker’s Freedom of Information Act request to determine what the state can legally make public.

Read story on KTUU’s website.

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Walker wants pipeline, tax bill documents

The Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska – A Republican challenger to Gov. Sean Parnell has filed a records request seeking documentation of any conditions on bids as part of a proposed major natural gas pipeline.

Anchorage attorney Bill Walker also wants a better explanation of why Parnell vetoed a bill that would have changed Alaska’s system of taxing oil and gas production.

The best approach for getting gas from the North Slope to market has emerged as a leading issue among the Republican candidates.

The first of two open seasons on competing pipeline projects is set to end weeks before the August party primary. And Walker campaign manager Taylor Bickford said – given the issue’s importance and the role it could play in deciding a nominee – the public needs to know what producers will want from the state.

Read more >>>

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Bill Walker Files Freedom of Information Request on Governor

FOIA Request to Release Open Season Results

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Today gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding that the Governor make public the results of the open season for a natural gas pipeline.

Walker said, “Now more than ever, we need openness in our government. Our governor continues to play hide-and-seek with Alaska’s future. Open the books. Show us the results. Our jobs and our economy depend on it. We can no longer afford delay after delay and business as usual with a Governor who is happy to continue playing politics instead of helping Alaskans create jobs.”

“Over $100 million of public funds has already gone into the Governor’s sham process, and the public has the right to know the results. Our governor should not keep Alaskans in the dark while secretly negotiating with the industry for a gasline into Canada. This is Alaska’s resource and our future,” Walker added.

The Governor has taken the position that the results of the open season, while available to the governor on July 31, will not become public until after the election in November.

In May, the Governor offered the North Slope oil companies $20 billion in additional handouts to build a gas pipeline into Canada. Walker’s FOIA request also demands access to information leading up to that decision as the producers are not on record as having asked for the money. July 31st is the last day that companies can submit bids to nominate gas to Parnell’s proposed Canadian gasline.

Read the FOIA Request Letter.

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Talking the Talk

Andrew Wellner, Frontiersman, published June 17, 2010

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.
Read full article >>>

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The Late Hickel Still a Player in Governor’s Race

The Associated Press, published June 17, 2010

JUNEAU, Alaska – More than a month after his death, former Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel is still playing a role in state politics. He’s featured in a campaign ad for Bill Walker, a Republican seeking his party’s nomination for governor.

Walker’s campaign uploaded the video to YouTube on Thursday. Campaign manager Taylor Bickford said it’s substantially the same TV ad that aired before Hickel’s death. It features Hickel stressing the importance of an “all-Alaska” gas pipeline and pledging his “full support” for Walker, who’s campaigned heavily on the issue.
Read full article >>>

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Ermalee Hickel Hosts Fundraiser for Bill Walker

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage- On Monday, June 14, over 150 guests gathered at the home of Mrs. Ermalee Hickel to raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bill Walker. The late Governor Walter J. Hickel endorsed Walker’s candidacy last fall and Mrs. Hickel has pledged her full support and endorsement of Walker.

The standing room only crowd listened to Walker present his plan to secure a stable economic future for Alaska’s next generation. It will take bold, decisive leadership and a Governor who is willing to make some tough, potentially unpopular decisions, explained Walker.

Walker told the crowd that if elected he would make two commitments. “First, there will be no more gas line studies; we are now studying the studies. Let’s stop studying and start digging,” Walker said. “Secondly, we will begin construction of the All-Alaska Gas Line within three years.”

Other components of his vision for the future of Alaska included the need for more vocational education opportunities, an increase in marketing for tourism and better care for Alaska’s senior citizens.

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The Truth, the Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth – after the Election

Paul Jenkins, Anchorage Daily Planet

While Gov. Sean Parnell is busy ducking election campaign debates and telling us how he did the two-step around the Alaska Constitution to hire Nancy Dahlstrom, he is not bashful about trotting out minions to give us the good news about his administration, such as it is.
Read the article online >>>

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Red Face Test Failed: Governor’s Use of Loophole Violates Spirit of Law

Anchorage Daily News Editorial

Sean Parnell says he acted on the advice of his Department of Law when he offered then-Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom the job of special adviser for military affairs. That same Department of Law is taking a longer, second look at its advice, and for good reason.
Read more >>>

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Bill Walker Statement on Bob Poe’s Campaign Decision

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage – Today, Democrat candidate Bob Poe announced that he will be ending his campaign for governor. Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bill Walker, made the following statement:

“I enjoyed getting to know Bob on the campaign trail. While we may not agree on every issue, Bob and I share a mutual passion for Alaska. I appreciate his contributions to the process and for always striving to elevate the discussion about Alaska’s future. I know that long after this election is over, Bob will remain committed to finding solutions to the challenges facing our state.”

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Walker’s Pipeline Plan is Best for Alaska

Larry Wood, Alaska Dispatch, published May 31, 2010

Those in the Republican race for governor are a picture of contrasts, with some surprising similarities. The incumbent, Sean Parnell, is a former legislator and an attorney. Ralph Samuels is a former legislator and a businessman in the tourism industry. Bill Walker is a former mayor of Valdez and an attorney and businessman. Samuels grew up in the Dillingham area, Walker Fairbanks, Big Delta and Valdez. Parnell is a Fairbanks homeboy. In spite of differing backgrounds and geography, they all share the common attributes of being born and raised in the greatest state in the Union.
Read article online >>>

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Governor Debate Now Down to Three

Andrew Wellner, Frontiersman

MAT-SU — The list of candidates participating in the second round of local events leading up to the gubernatorial election has been winnowed to three. Initially, the greater Palmer and greater Wasilla chambers of commerce said that after Thursday’s forum they would choose four candidates from among the 12 seeking the state’s highest office to return Thursday for a debate.

Scheduling conflicts caused one of the candidates, Republican Ralph Samuels, to decline the offer to return. So the chambers offered his slot in the lineup to Democrat Hollis French, who initially accepted. But on Friday, Diana Straub, who is organizing the series of election-related events, said French also has a conflict.

So the chambers have decided to go with three candidates instead of four. Those three are: Republican Bill Walker and Democrats Ethan Berkowitz and Bob Poe.
Read full article >>>

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Anchorage Daily News Covers Parnell’s Continued Debate Dodging: Walker only GOP Candidate with Perfect Attendance

Sean Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sean Parnell was a no-show at last night’s gubernatorial candidate forum in Wasilla, after not appearing at the debate last month in Fairbanks. That wasn’t a surprise because they were never on Parnell’s list he’d attend. But that didn’t stop his opponents from hammering him on it.

Read the full article>>>

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Parnell Misses Another Debate, Bill Walker Advances to Next Round

Andrew Wellner, Frontiersman

WASILLA — At least to judge by the eight candidates who showed up at Thursday’s gubernatorial forum at the Alaska Club, a natural gas pipeline is the dominant issue facing the state right now.

The gathering was the first of a series of forums and debates the greater Palmer and Wasilla chambers of commerce are putting on this election year. The four no-shows among the 12 candidates were Gov. Sean Parnell, Republican Brad Snowden, Libertarian William Toien and Alaskan Independence Party candidate Donald Wright.

After the forum, the candidates were ranked on their performance and four of them — Democrats Ethan Berkowitz, Bob Poe and Hollis French, and Republican Bill Walker — were asked back for next week’s debate in which they will get to argue with one another rather than take turns answering questions.
Read more>>>

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Cheniere Energy Prepares for LNG Export From U.S. Terminal

Edward McCallister, Reuters, June 4, 2010

New York – Cheniere Energy late Thursday unveiled plans to build the first liquefied natural gas export plant in the United States for 40 years, another clear sign of the market revolution caused by unconventional gas development.

In an about-face for a company that in 2008 built the biggest LNG import terminal in the United States, Cheniere now plans to produce and export LNG by 2015, as U.S. natural gas demand lags and production grows.

“We believe current market fundamentals have created an opportunity for the U.S. to offer natural gas to global markets at competitive prices,” Cheniere chief executive, Charif Souki, said in a statement on Thursday.

Cheniere estimates Sabine Pass — which would still be able to import LNG — can accommodate up to four LNG production trains with capacity to each produce 3.5 million tonnes per year of LNG.

The initial plan would be to build two trains with further expansion based on customer interest. It has already received initial interest from potential LNG buyers and producers interested in committing supply to the project.

LNG is natural gas cooled to liquid for transport overseas in specially designed tankers.

This would be the second U.S. export project, following the Kenai plant in Alaska which has exported LNG to Asia since 1969.

The United States has a string of import projects on the East and Gulf Coasts that were built with the expectation that the United States would be a major LNG importer in the coming decades.

But the recent rise of domestic unconventional gas production, including shale gas, has left the United States well supplied, pressuring gas prices and denting LNG demand.

Read full article >>>

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Viewpoint from Lawrence “Snapper” Carson, Ketchikan

Opinion Letter from Lawrence “Snapper” Carson, Ketchikan, Alaska

Stories In The News, Ketchikan, Alaska, June 4, 2010 – As Alaskans we have a lot to be thankful and grateful for. What a beautiful place to work, play and live. Its stewardship should be of utmost importance to us all. We have the opportunity this year to elect a governor who has the interest and ability to make Alaska a better place for all Alaskans. His name is Bill Walker, he was born in Alaska and has worked and raised his family as a life long Alaskan.

I hope as fellow Alaskans you will take a look at his candidacy and help him become our next governor.

Stories in the News, Ketchikan, AK

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Something’s Fishy

Bill Walker, published by Alaska Dispatch, June 4, 2010

This weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the annual Kodiak Crab Festival, which featured a very unique gubernatorial debate last Friday. The Kodiak Debate is important because of its primary focus on Alaska’s second largest employer, the seafood industry. The debate preparation alone gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in the myriad of issues impacting this heritage industry that makes vast contributions to Alaska’s economy.

Once the debate got underway, the candidates addressed the challenges facing the industry, such as high energy costs and state funding for seafood marketing and other fisheries programs. Inevitably, this led to the topic of oil and gas and the continued decline of oil throughput in the pipeline, now operating at two-thirds empty, which funds 90 percent of our state government. Alaska’s economy is on course for a freefall if we do not get more oil in the pipeline and build a large scale gas line now.

During the question-and-answer segment of the debate in Kodiak, I had the opportunity to ask Governor Parnell specifically why he recently decided to offer the North Slope leaseholders — BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon — a $20-billion incentive to take our gas, jobs and economic opportunities into Canada. It is no secret that I have been a strong critic of Governor Parnell’s dogged insistence on pursuing a faltering Canadian gasline project, and this was not the first time I had taken him to task in a public setting over his willingness to put the future of his political career over Alaska’s future.

Parnell danced around the question uncomfortably before finally stumbling to the conclusion that had he not made that decision, it would have amounted to a tax increase on Exxon, BP and Conoco. What? Clearly, the Governor of Alaska could not be on stage next to me making this argument. So I asked again and still the same vague, nonsensical response.

At a recent debate with Parnell at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, I had asked who requested this $20-billion subsidy. No one from the industry was on record asking for this concession. Did Parnell unilaterally decide to give $20 billion in incentives to try to salvage a highly anticipated failed open season in a desperate attempt to secure his election as governor? Parnell has not disclosed who asked for the $20-billion giveaway. The proposed pipeline’s open season ends on July 31, yet he plans to seal the results until well past November 4th. The people of Alaska have paid for half the cost of this open season — over $100 million — and deserve to know what is being done with the resources that we collectively own. Something’s fishy and Alaskans should be outraged.

Parnell was quick to forget this exchange, releasing a hollow, self-proclaimed statement of victory via his campaign website. Rather than take his word for it, I would encourage all interested parties to download the full debate at www.kmxt.org and decide for yourself who the victor was. You will note that when Parnell boasts of his accomplishments and priorities, he always speaks of the various social programs that he has championed. What he fails to explain is that without an economy, without oil and gas projects putting revenue into the state coffers, these programs will not have a funding source in the coming years. When the state has to slash its budget by 90 percent, there will be no way to pay for these programs, much less our schools, public safety, roads, harbors, tourism and seafood marketing and essential government services.

Parnell dodges discussion of the elephant in the room: Alaska’s uncertain economic future. Instead we race head-on into a failed open season, which will lead to another failed open season in another two years and on and on we go. At that point, we will be paying ninety cents of every dollar Exxon and TransCanada spend while the window of our last opportunity to commercialize our gas on the world market via the All-Alaska Gasline LNG project closes.

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Bill Walker Files Declaration of Candidacy

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage – Today Bill Walker filed his paperwork declaring his candidacy with the Alaska State Division of Elections. Walker issued the following statement:

“I am running for Governor because I am ready to make tough decisions. We cannot be content when our economy continues marching toward a cliff with drastically declining TAPS oil revenue and higher unemployment. I will not wait for others to act in our best interests. I will be an independent voice and leader for Alaska at this critical juncture in our state’s history.

“The time for talk is over, and we must begin construction of the All Alaska Gasline. This project will create thousands of long term, high paying jobs, ignite the economy and provide affordable energy to the hardworking Alaskan families that so desperately need it.

“It is time for a governor with experience, courage and grit — not just another seasoned politician.”

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Bill Walker on Track to Emerge as the GOP Frontrunner for Governor

The All-Alaska Gasline is the People's Project

This is Why I am Running for Governor

This is Why I am Running for Governor

Recent debate clips highlight that Bill Walker is the bold new leader Alaska needs to secure its robust economic future. The poll results following the clips confirm that Bill Walker is on track to become Alaska’s next Governor.

 

Bill Walker will emerge as the frontrunner in the Republican gubernatorial primary as soon as the campaign heats up and voters become familiar with each candidate’s proposed natural gas pipeline project, according to a new poll conducted by Craciun Research. The survey targeted likely voters in the Republican primary election:

Question: Each of the three Republican candidates for Governor supports a different pipeline project:

Bill Walker supports the All-Alaska Gasline

Sean Parnell supports the AGIA pipeline

Ralph Samuels supports a small volume bullet line

Knowing that information, if the primary election were held today and the candidates for Governor were Bill Walker, Sean Parnell and Ralph Samuels, who would you vote for?

Voters Percentage
Bill Walker 156 39%
Sean Parnell 115 28.8%
Ralph Samuels 46 11.5%
Undecided 83 20.8%

Our path to victory is clear. The electorate understands that the All-Alaska project is the only project that will deliver low cost energy to Alaskans, replace oil revenues that fund essential government services, provide generational jobs for Alaskans, ignite further oil and gas exploration, provide value added industries to the Alaskan economy and open this state up for business like never before! Governor Hickel’s very last words to Bill a few weeks before his passing were, “Build the All-Alaska Gasline!” That is exactly what Alaska will do under Bill’s leadership.

Once our media campaign begins and voters become engaged in the issues, Bill will be well positioned amongst his opponents to win the Republican nomination. We need your help to spread Bill’s message and vision for the future of Alaska. The time is now to get involved in what promises to be one of the most important elections in Alaska’s history.

Volunteer Meeting

Please join us for an urgent meeting next Tuesday to learn how you can play a role in electing Bill Walker as the next Governor of Alaska.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 1st

WHERE: Anchorage Campaign HQ (245 W Fireweed Lane)

TIME: 5:30pm

If you plan to attend please RSVP by responding to this email or calling us at (907) 332-2455. For those of you located outside of Anchorage, please contact us to learn more about campaign activities in your area.

Alaskans across the state are stepping up to help us in this effort. Bill is humbled by the support of Mrs. Ermalee Hickel who remains as committed as Governor Hickel to see his 20/20 vision for Alaska materialize through her continued endoresement of Bill’s candidacy. For this reason, Mrs. Hickel is hosting a fundraising event in her home on Monday, June 14th

We hope you will join us for what promises to be a wonderful event.

Bill Walker for Governor fundraiser.

Media Highlights

Since day one, our campaign has thrived on the energy of a passionate grassroots team. Bill has had a busy month traveling around the state, conveying his vision for Alaska, and listening to the hopes and concerns of fellow Alaskans. Click on the links below to catch up on what he’s been doing!

Parnell Absent from Gubernatorial Debate

Walker, Samuels Joint Press Release

“Walker, Samuels Call Parnell Debate Dodger”

FERC decision just a “bump in the road” for the All-Alaska Gasline.

Bill’s interview by the Alaska Dispatch about the home he built for his family

Bill criticizes Parnell for failing to protect Alaska from multi billion dollar “AGIA Bailout”

Bill fondly remembers Governor Walter J. Hickel.

Alaska’s Future is on the Line: Bill’s Plan to Build the All-Alaska Gasline.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Campaign Update, News | Comments closed

Walker, Samuels Want Rules so Parnell Won’t Dodge Debates

Taylor Bickford (Walker), Willis Lyford (Samuels)

(Anchorage) Republican candidates for Governor Ralph Samuels and Bill Walker joined forces today in saying that they won’t allow stand-ins for Governor Sean Parnell at future gubernatorial debates and forums. Samuels and Walker made the declaration after a Fairbanks campaign event Sunday that Parnell did not attend but instead submitted pre-recorded answers to questions on videotape, and a state employee who works in Parnell’s official office stood in for Parnell.

“Clearly, it is the Governor’s intention to limit his appearances at campaign events where his challengers are present. By his unwillingness to participate, Sean Parnell reveals both how little regard he has for the election process and how unwilling he is to defend the misguided policies of his Administration,” Samuels and Walker said.

At the Sunday Fairbanks events, Parnell delivered pre-recorded answers on videotape, prepared ahead of time, rather than appear in person, Walker and Samuels noted. They also objected to the presence of a state-paid official, Gene Therriault, who participated in Parnell’s absence.

“This was a campaign event, and for the Governor to have someone on his official staff represent him blurs the lines between official and campaign functions. The Governor has a campaign organization, and paid campaign staff. There is no excuse for permitting official staff to participate, except that this is part of a planned and organized effort by this Governor to use his official offices and his official staff to promote his re-election,” the two said.

“Sean Parnell has adopted a Rose Garden strategy of campaigning in his official capacity. Well, he should get out from behind the rose bushes to where real Alaskans are and he will learn just how concerned voters are about his misguided policies and our state’s future,” said Samuels.

“It is troubling to see Sean Parnell consistently avoid public discourse about the issues that will determine our future. As candidates for Governor, we all have a responsibility to engage the people of Alaska and that is what I am committed to doing for the remainder of the campaign. You have to ask yourself why a person would run for the highest office in our state if they are not comfortable defending their positions in a public forum,” Walker said.

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Republican Gubernatorial Prospects Vie for Votes at Fairbanks Debate

FAIRBANKS — The Republican candidates for governor squared off at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks on Sunday, discussing resource development, education and health care issues in a 90-minute debate.

Former state Rep. Ralph Samuels and Bill Walker, the ex-mayor of Valdez, appeared at the forum, which was sponsored by the Fairbanks Republican Women. Gov. Sean Parnell, who had another commitment and didn’t attend the debate, addressed the questions in a taped video response.

The Alaska primary election is set for Aug. 24.

Parnell’s absence was noted several times during the event by Samuels and Walker, who mentioned to the crowd of about 100 people that they’d found time to make it to Fairbanks during the busy campaign season.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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Bill Walker Statement on Recent FERC Decision

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently made a decision to require that the permit held by the Yukon Pacific Corporation (YPC) for the proposed LNG Terminal at Anderson Bay in Valdez be updated to reflect current safety and regulatory requirements enacted since the permit was originally issued. Today, Bill Walker made the following statement in response to this decision:

“This permit, when issued, established a three year period for the start of construction of the LNG facility at Anderson Bay. Since construction had not begun, YPC had previously been granted extensions of the start date for the LNG terminal. I believe their decision to now require an updated permit may be a sign of things to come for resource development in Alaska following the recent Gulf Coast oil spill.”

“Those who have reviewed the Yukon Pacific permits have consistently said that it is the environmental data that had been collected over a period of approximately ten years that is critical. Updating a permit to reflect changes in the regulations represents a minor road bump, not a significant detriment to the project as some are suggesting.”

In a letter to YPC, Jeff C. Wright of FERC stated very clearly that their action only impacts the LNG terminal permit at Valdez and not the export license or pipeline permits. The decision “will not have any direct bearing on any future consideration of an LNG export option.,” said Wright last week.

In an interview with the Alaska Public Radio Network Walker explained that supporters of the All Alaska Gasline have long known that some existing permits might have to be updated. “That sort of goes without saying that something that old is gonna have to be updated and we’ve always said that,” commented Walker.

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The 49th Estate: Coastal Trail lookout

Joshua Saul | May 10, 2010, Alaska Dispatch

Bill Walker raised four children in an Anchorage home that overlooks the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Walker grew up in a Delta Junction home without plumbing, so his West Anchorage digs are a little more comfortable. Summer nights at the Walkers’ mean soccer and basketball in the backyard, and in winter it’s time for hockey and maybe a quick ski on the Coastal Trail. Walker is also running for governor, and some of his favorite memories are from when his family hosted the late Wally Hickel for dinner and got to hear stories about the Hickels’ early courtship.

Posted in Biography, Video | Comments closed

Bill Walker at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce Gubernatorial Debate

At the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce’s gubernatorial debate on Wednesday, Bill left no doubt as to why he is running to replace Sean Parnell as Governor of Alaska. Enjoy the media coverage and video clips below!

Gulf Oil Spill Shadows Gubernatorial Debate

Alaska Dispatch by Joshua Saul, May 5th

Six candidates for governor, including the guy who currently holds the job, stumped Wednesday at an Alaska State Chamber of Commerce candidates’ forum, where oil and gas — and the Gulf of Mexico spill — were on everyone’s minds.

Republican Bill Walker, a lawyer who is running on the platform that Alaska needs to build a gas line immediately, banged Gov. Sean Parnell and his policies both during and after the forum. Walker said the Gulf spill puts offshore drilling in even more limbo than it was in before, which makes it even more important to build a gas line right away.

“When you have a governor who’s a former oil industry lobbyist, you end up with a governor who has not slid around completely to our side of the table,” Walker said.

Click here to read the full article.

Bill Walker at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce Gubernatorial Debate

Debate Clip, Part I

Bill Walker at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce Gubernatorial Debate

Debate Clip, Part II

The next major gubernatorial debate will be held in Kodiak from 7pm to 9pm on Friday, May 28th. Hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, this debate will be broadcast statewide via KMXT and APRN. Call 486-5557 or click here for more information.

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Bill Walker Fondly Remembers Governor Wally Hickel

Bill Walker, Anchorage, AK

Today Alaskans awoke to the news that one of our greatest leaders, Governor Wally Hickel has died. Bill Walker made the following statement:

“Two years ago today I was in Beijing with Governor Hickel as part of a delegation to explore market options for Alaska’s gas. As another member of that delegation, Scott Heyworth reminded me this morning, ‘two years ago to the day we stood on the Great Wall with a great man.’

“Governor Hickel’s vision and exuberance for Alaska will always be remembered. I was so fortunate to have worked and traveled with him in pursuit of our shared goal of delivering Alaska’s North Slope gas to Alaskan homes, businesses and into the world markets via an All Alaska gas line. Governor Hickel was an incredible inspiration to me and I will never forget the dinner in our home with him and Mrs. Ermalee Hickel just prior to my announcement to run for Governor. With my entire family around the dinner table, Governor Hickel shook my hand and offered his full support if I would choose to run. That is a moment my family and I will never forget.

“Governor Hickel was instrumental in putting Alaska on the world map. He will be remembered as our finest, feistiest champion and ambassador.

“I remember a couple of years ago I was at a Commonwealth North luncheon where Governor Hickel headlined a panel discussing gas line options. He was revving up as he built his case on pursuing the All Alaska Gasline “now”! Well past his allotted time, the moderator politely interrupted him and told him it was time “to wrap up.” Governor Hickel pounded his fist on the table and fired back, “I’ll wrap up when I die!” The crowd rose to its feet with thundering applause.

“Our family extends our deepest sympathy, as well as our gratitude, to Mrs. Hickel and the entire Hickel family for the sacrifices they have all made in sharing Wally with all of us throughout the decades.”

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Walker Continues Criticism of Parnell’s “AGIA Bailout”

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

On Wednesday at a gubernatorial forum hosted by the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, Bill Walker continued his criticism of Sean Parnell’s decision to veto SB 305, a bill aimed at protecting the state from giving the North Slope producers $20 billion to ship our gas and jobs into Canada.

“This is why I’m running for Governor because I can’t stand to watch us give our resources to a neighboring country and our kids are looking for work and we have unemployment in Kenai at 12.6%. It is wrong what Parnell is doing – trying to make sure AGIA is successful at all costs. I would end that,” said Walker in front of a packed house at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage.

Sean Parnell responded directly to Walker saying that the number one reason he made the veto was because it represented a “tax increase” on the oil industry.

“That bill, if I would have signed it, would have amounted to a total tax increase on the industry,” said Parnell.

According to Walker, Parnell’s response was misleading and inappropriate.

“Protecting the people of Alaska from a $20 billion mistake that was accidentally built into the original AGIA contract does not amount to a tax increase,” said Walker. “Along with delivering affordable energy to communities across Alaska, the primary goal of a natural gas pipeline is to offset declining revenues from an oil pipeline that is now two-thirds empty. Sean Parnell has decided that his primary goal is instead to protect AGIA at all costs, even if that means putting us in a position to effectively pay the North Slope producers to take our gas into Canada, with no real benefit to the state of Alaska.

“It was never the intention of AGIA that Alaska residents would pay Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips $20 billion to take Alaska’s gas into Canada,” concluded Walker.

Bill Walker is a lifelong Alaskan. He served as mayor of Valdez at the age of 27 before entering the private sector as a successful business owner (construction, tourism, real estate, law). He has decades of experience in Alaska’s oil and gas, tourism, local government and other issues and is a longtime advocate for the development of Alaska’s natural resources.

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Walker Blasts Parnell For Failing to Protect Alaska From Multi-Billion Dollar “AGIA Bailout”

Press Contact: Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage, AK – In a Thursday press conference, Sean Parnell stated that he vetoed a bill aimed at protecting the state from giving away upwards of $20 billion in revenue to BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon, because it “represents a tax increase on the oil industry.” Bill Walker, Republican candidate for Governor, said Parnell’s comment should serve as a lesson to all Alaskans that in a state that receives 90 percent of our revenue from oil taxes, we just cannot afford to have a former oil industry lobbyist as our Governor.

Walker said he watched in amazement, as Sean Parnell struggled to explain the idea that Alaska would have done undue harm to these companies had we decided to not provide them with a multi-billion dollar subsidy to ship our gas into Canada.

The proposed giveaway would amount to the state of Alaska paying for roughly 50 percent of the cost of construction of a pipeline into Canada that will be 100 percent owned and controlled by TransCanada and the North Slope producers. Walker said he finds it ironic that the very same members of the Parnell team that quit Governor Murkowski’s administration in protest of his attempt to give the producers concessions on oil taxes in exchange for a gasline are now promoting a significantly more expensive version of the very same concept.

According to Walker, it does not appear that any North Slope producer publicly requested that this $20 billion subsidy remain in AGIA. “One has to wonder what went on behind closed doors,” said Walker. “This certainly doesn’t come as a surprise when you consider that Parnell also plans to conduct in secrecy the gasline negotiations set to follow the open season this fall. Alaskans deserve to know why their Governor decided to thwart the will of the legislature to protect a tax scheme that he himself stated could be easily tweaked at a later date,” he continued. “If it will be no trouble to eliminate the subsidy, then why did Sean Parnell so urgently rush to protect it?

“By vetoing this bill, Sean Parnell decided for all of us that saving himself the embarrassment of a failed open season represents a proper use of public money,” said Walker. “Sean Parnell needs to recognize that those resources, and the revenues they produce, rightfully belong to the people of Alaska, not Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips or anyone else for that matter.

“Just as the CEOs of these companies are required to maximize value for their shareholders, the Governor of Alaska is obligated to lookout for the best interests of our state,” he continued. “As Governor, I can tell you that my allegiance would not be to the boardrooms in London or Houston, but to the Alaskan living rooms in Barrow, Ketchikan and everywhere in between.

“Consider how that $20 billion could be spent to actually benefit the people of Alaska. We are talking about over $90,000 for every Alaskan household or 15 million permanent fund dividend checks taken at last year’s total. For $20 billion we could construct virtually every proposed infrastructure project in this state. We could build docks, roads, bridges, rail extensions and more, providing high paying jobs and real opportunities for economic growth in communities across Alaska.

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Parnell’s “AGIA Bailot”

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Anchorage, AK – Today, Sean Parnell opened the door for upwards of $20 billion in oil tax concessions to Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips.

Parnell’s veto of SB 305 will result in the state of Alaska subsidizing a collapsed Canadian gas market, according to Bill Walker, Republican candidate for Governor.

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to save AGIA at all costs,” said Walker in a statement released today.

The primary benefit of a gas pipeline to Alaskans, other than providing access to affordable energy for in-state and industrial use, is that taxes and royalties from gas sales will offset those from declining oil production.

Posted in Gasline News, News | Comments closed

Global Gas Thirst Set to Surge, Says Senior Shell Executive

“We see global gas demand growing by at least 2% a year over some decades, so by 2030 we look at gas demand hitting 4.5 trillion cubic metres of gas per year,” Reuters quoted Malcom Brinded telling an oil conference. “That’s 50% up from today’s level.”

Brinded was equally bullish on prospects for liquefied natural gas, which he saw growing “a lot faster” than overall gas demand, driven by China’s economic growth and higher demand in Europe and countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

“Despite the difficult market we’ve had in the last year in the recession, we… expect global LNG demand to double this decade,” said Brinded, who expects China’s gas demand to “double or treble” by 2020 from around 100 billion cubic metres today.

This boom in LNG demand will need to be matched by a similarly rapid increase in supply, which is currently growing by at least 6% to 8% per year, he said.

Brinded said he was confident this was possible.

“There is enough gas around, this is increasingly clear,” he said, citing data from the International Energy Agency showing recoverable gas reserves worth 250 years of current production.

He added about $5 trillion would be needed over the next 20 years – or $20 billion per year – to extract this gas.

“These figures are staggering,” he said. “The gas is there, it is going to take investments and it needs a lot of new technology… This is truly an energy revolution.”

Brinded added: “People are looking for certainty around three key issues: availability, affordability and environmental acceptability of gas. I think gas wins on all points.”

Read full article on UpstreamOnline.com >>>

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For new TransCanada boss, Alaska fails to top list of priorities

By Jeffrey Jones, Reuters

CALGARY – The Alaska gas pipeline project will be vital for TransCanada Corp. in a decade, but the company’s incoming chief executive said he is more focused now on moving forward with $22-billion of projects that garner far fewer headlines.

Russ Girling, a company veteran who takes over as CEO in July, said Thursday the multibillion-dollar Alaska proposal would help TransCanada keep its Alberta and Canadian main line gas systems running at capacity as conventional western Canadian production dwindles in the coming years.

But Girling, 47, said in an interview he is still more focused on major investments that will come to fruition over the next eight years, such as its Keystone oil pipeline system to the United States in June and its subsequent expansions.

Read more >>>

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SB 305 Course Correction is a Victory for Alaska’s Future

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Juneau, AK – Following Senator Stedman’s lead, the state House made a last minute course correction tonight when it passed SB 305, the so called “decoupling” bill that will separate production taxes on oil and gas, potentially saving the state upwards of $20 billion in lost oil tax revenue.

Despite opposition from Governor Parnell and his administration, House members made the right decision and scored a strong victory for Alaska’s future, according to Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker.

“The intent of AGIA was never to have Alaska subsidize a collapsed Canadian gas market, yet that is exactly what could happen if oil and gas taxes are not separated,” said Walker in a statement sent out earlier today after the House originally rejected the bill.

“Senator Stedman is correct in his assessment of this potential $20 billion subsidy by Alaska of the collapsed Canadian gas markets. Governor Parnell’s support of this subsidy is indicative of his ‘AGIA at all costs’ position.”

The primary benefit of a gas pipeline to Alaskans, other than providing access to affordable energy for in-state use and industrial use, is that taxes and royalties from gas sales will offset those from declining oil production.

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Governor Parnell Pursues AGIA At All Costs

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

uneau, AK – The state House has voted to reject Senator Stedman’s proposed “decoupling” of production taxes on oil and gas today in the waning hours of the 2010 legislative session.

This move will result in the state losing potentially $20 billion under likely pricing scenarios as a result of the unalterable tax structure of AGIA. Governor Parnell, a proponent of the billion dollar giveaway, is not confident that there can be a succesful open season without such an arrangement, according to a statement from his spokesperson, Sharon Leighow.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker sees Governor Parnell’s plan as an attempt to save an uneconomic project by shifting the consequence of Canadian price collapses from the North Slope producers to the state.

“The intent of AGIA was never to have Alaska subsidize a collapsed Canadian gas market, yet that is exactly what could happen if oil and gas taxes are not separated before May 1st,” said Walker in a statement released today.

“Senator Stedman is correct in his assessment of this potential $20 billion subsidy by Alaska of the collapsed Canadian gas markets. Governor Parnell’s support of this subsidy is indicative of his ‘AGIA at all cost’ position.”

The primary benefit of a gas pipeline to Alaskans, other than providing access to affordable energy for in-state use and industrial use, is that taxes and royalties from gas sales will offset those from declining oil production.

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Bill Walker Statement On TransCanada Announcement

Taylor Bickford, Campaign Manager

Juneau, AK – According to an article in yesterday’s Calgary Herald, building an Alaska gas pipeline under the AGIA framework will not be a top priority for the company in coming years. Russ Girling, a TransCanada veteran who takes over as CEO in July, said he is “still more focused on major investments that will come to fruition over the next eight years
such as its Keystone oil pipeline system to the United States in June and its subsequent expansions.”

The full article can be read on the Calgary Herald website.

Meanwhile at the Alaska Republican Party’s state convention in Juneau, Governor Sean Parnell reaffirmed his adamant support for the AGIA process despite partner TransCanada’s own admission that the Alaska pipeline will take a back seat to other, m projects.

Republican candidate for Governor Bill Walker said it is no surprise that getting Alaska’s gas to market is not a priority for TransCanada, since they now have the exclusive license under AGIA. “That is the major flaw of AGIA,” said Walker. “It leaves the future of Alaska in the hands of third party companies with conflicting projects all over the world. It assumes that someone else will look out for what it is in our own best interests and that is just not going to happen.”

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Walker shares his vision for AK gasline

By Melissa DeVaughn
Alaska Star

Bill Walker is convinced that what the state needs is a full-scale gasline that runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. A bullet line is a stopgap and a line to Canada would be giving away our resources, he says.

If Walker’s elected governor, building that gasline is the one thing he vows to get done, so “that we will be laying pipe in three years.” No more studies, he said, no more committees, no more passing the issue on from one administration to the other.

“One common denominator (among administrations) is that we’re waiting for someone else to do it,” Walker said March 31 at a Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce-sponsored “Pancakes and Politics” event at Johann’s Restaurant. “Until the State of Alaska is willing to step up, we’re going to argue about fiscal responsibilities and get nowhere.

“The government’s role is to be involved in infrastructure,” he continued. “When did we stop being Alaskans? It’s time for us to stand up and take some risk and start this.”

Walker, a lifelong Alaskan who was born in Fairbanks and grew up mostly in Valdez, said the gasline issue is the most compelling reason that spurred him to run for governor.

Also vying for the GOP ticket in the August primary are Gov. Sean Parnell and Ralph Samuels. Democrats Ethan Berkowitz, Bob Poe and Hollis French are seeking their party’s support.

As an attorney who has spent nearly 30 years focusing his practice on oil and gas issues, Walker said he brings to the table the in-depth knowledge necessary to make an all-Alaska gasline a reality. For too long, he told a crowd of about 20 people at the event, the state has dragged its heels.

“We need to turn the ship of the state away from bureaucracy,” he said. “In the past, we couldn’t afford to study it, so we built it. Now we study it and can’t afford to build it.”

At least a quarter of those in attendance at the breakfast were associated with the Chamber. Others included community business owners, a local Assembly member and concerned citizens. They quizzed Walker on how he would combat government bureaucracy, grow jobs, improve education and manage natural resources.

He said he is an advocate of improving vocational educational opportunities for students, growing jobs by becoming more independent and making our own products in-state rather than seeking them outside.

He said he would look at reorganizing the Department of Natural Resources, work for in-state hire on gasline jobs, improve tourism with better marketing and manage fisheries based on what’s best for the resource, not for politics.

Walker said he is not – as has been suggested – a one-issue governor obsessed only with bringing an all-Alaska gasline to fruition.

“I’m running for governor because I’m very worried about our state,” he said.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, April 8, 2010.

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Yard Signs & Heart Run Team!

RunnerThe Anchorage Heart Run is just around the corner & we are looking for volunteers to join the Walker for Governor Team. The race is on Saturday, April 24th at the UAA campus. If you would like to run or walk on our team, please register here & make sure you join the team Walker for Governor in step 2.

All participants will receive a free Walker for Governor t-shirt (or optional if you’d like to contribute $10 to cover cost) that can be worn race day. Please email tessa@billwalkerforgovernor.com once you have registered and let us know your shirt size. Shirts will be distributed at the race.

Walker T-Shirts
We will have a team of Runners & a team of Walkers. If you register before April 17th, the cost for an untimed entry is $20. So don’t delay! The untimed race begins at 10am, so our team will meet at 9:15am at the UAA Arts Building near the start line. Click here to view the course map and the location of the Arts Building. Look for the red t-shirts!

SnowmachineYard signs are ready to be picked up! Stop by one of our offices to get yours!
Anchorage: 245 W. Fireweed Lane, Corner of C St. & Fireweed. (907) 332-2455
Mat-Su: 6623 Blue Lupine, Palmer. (907) 332-2455
Kenai Peninsula: 805 Frontage Rd.(Benco Building) Suite 100B, Kenai. (907) 395-3944
Valdez: Harbor Landing General Store. (907) 835-5228
Fairbanks: 901 1st Avenue. (907) 378-5835

4′ x 8′ signs are also available. Email info@billwalkerforgovernor.com or contact the campaign office nearest you if you have a location to post one or are available to volunteer to secure additional locations for 4′ x 8′ and/or yard signs.

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Poll Results Are In!

Press Contact: Taylor Bickford, Bill Walker for Governor Campaign Manager

Anchorage, AK – Likely Republican Voters Overwhelmingly Support Bill Walker’s Vision for Alaska! In 2002, 138,000 Alaskan voters cast ballots in favor of the All Alaska gasline, passing the All Alaska Initiative by a margin of 62% to 38%. Today, support for the All Alaska gasline has risen to 77% and far exceeds all other gasline proposals, according to a recent study conducted by Craciun Research. The study, conducted for the Walker campaign, surveyed 600 randomly selected likely voters in the August Republican primary.

Summary of key findings:

  • Fully 93% percent of respondents want to see a gasline built, including 74% who consider it to be very important. The overwhelming majority of these respondents (95%) want to see the state pursue a large diameter project.
  • Amongst the various large-diameter proposals, support for the all-Alaska gasline far exceeds all others. The project was supported by 77% of respondents, including 56% who feel strongly about it and only 8% who object.
  • Governor Parnell’s AGIA plan, on the other hand, is opposed by 31% of respondents with only 39.6% who support it. Similarly, the large diameter Denali Pipeline project proposed by BP and Conoco Phillips was favored by just 40% of respondents with 27% who oppose it.
  • Only 4% of all respondents believe that the state should be pursuing a small-diameter bullet line to the exclusion of a large diameter project. Fully 90% of respondents want to see a gasline project that will provide a steady source of income for the state, which the bullet line cannot provide.
  • While the overwhelming majority of respondents (96%) do not believe that the state should be pursuing a bullet-line exclusively, there are some (49%) who do support it as part of an overall strategy that includes the construction of a big line. Of those who support a bullet-line, 84% also support the all-Alaska gas line.

The results of a recent study conducted by Craciun Research do not come as a surprise to Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor and longtime advocate for the All Alaska Gasline. “I am as committed now as I was then to pursuing the project that is best for the people of Alaska,” said Walker.

Governor Parnell’s blind commitment to a failed strategy will not bode well for him at the polls in August, according to Walker’s campaign manager, Taylor Bickford. Currently, only 38% of likely voters support the plan with fully 31% who oppose it. The survey shows that Ralph Samuels, a third Republican candidate now promoting the construction of a small-diameter “bullet-line” to the exclusion of other projects, will find himself in an even worse position than the Governor.

“Sean Parnell’s AGIA plan is floundering and Samuels’ plan is supported by just 4% of all respondents” said Bickford. “While his opponents continue with the same old politics as usual, Bill Walker remains steadfast in the belief that future of our state should be decided by the people of Alaska, not outside interests or campaign strategists.”

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Gov hopeful Walker cites new survey, knocks Parnell

Rena Delbridge, Alaska Dispatch

Results of a survey just released by gubernatorial hopeful Bill Walker show a gas pipeline is an absolute must-have for voters this year, and there’s not a lot of faith that a line proposed by TransCanada under the state’s AGIA process will be built.

The press release with the survey results (.doc) includes a jab at Gov. Sean Parnell, who enjoys a high approval rating among voters, according to other surveys. Parnell told Alaska Dispatch in a recent interview that he is sticking by the Alaska Pipeline Project that TransCanada is taking to producers in an open season this year, but is also pursuing in-state natural gas pipeline plans to make sure Alaskans’ bases are covered.

Read full story >>>

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Copper River Record article on Bill

Please click to enlarge.

Copper River Record article on Bill

Copper River Record article on Bill


Copper River Record article on Bill

Copper River Record article on Bill

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In surprise move, Stevens calls for trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez

by Dermot Cole, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS — Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens says the AGIA pipeline plan has flopped and the state should put up billions to pay half the cost of an in-state natural gas pipeline project to Kenai.

It also should switch its support to the building of a trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez that would export liquefied natural gas to Pacific Rim nations, Stevens told Anchorage businessmen during a Commonwealth North meeting Friday.

“Let’s move ahead. We don’t need any more open seasons; we don’t need any more periods for analysis. We need an emphasis on getting the job done,” Stevens said.

Read more >>>

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Great event, Letter to the News-Miner

To the editor:

In February while in Fairbanks participating in my gubernatorial campaign activities, I visited the World Ice Art Championships with my brother. As lifelong Alaskans, myself having been born in Fairbanks, we could not believe that neither of us had experienced this event that has been a part of Fairbanks’ history for more than 20 years.

I could speak only in superlatives when telling my wife about this phenomena, so when she accompanied me to participate in Winter Carnival events a couple of weeks later, seeing the ice sculptures at night was at the top of our “to do” list. Donna’s anticipation heightened after hearing the reports shared at the breakfast table at the Four Seasons B&B with guests from Florida and Kentucky who had traveled to Fairbanks specifically to enjoy the winter fun — ice fishing, viewing the northern lights, mushing, sled dog races, Chena Hot Springs — and the extraordinary ice carvings.

For decades, I have seen various communities struggle in an attempt to create “winter tourism.” Having been in the tourism business myself in Valdez for many years, I am well aware of the impact that winter tourism can have on the local economy. I was astounded to learn that the ice carvings draw 40,000 park entrants from nearly every state and more than 40 countries each year. And what a boost for the winter morale with all of the volunteer opportunities, the full slate of activities and the bustling economy in February and March, typically slow months for many communities.

Fairbanks’ “can do” spirit has accomplished great things in the way of winter tourism. The entire community is to be applauded for this success. You have taken your extreme winter temperatures that could be viewed a negative and turned that into an advantage to host world-class events and attract visitors and news media from around the globe. Note to all Alaskans, next winter, get to Fairbanks and partake of the wonder and the fun. This is Alaska at its best!

Bill Walker

Read letter at www.newsminer.com.

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Crunch Time is Now for All-Alaska Gas Line

Anchorage Daily News
Bill Walker

When oil began flowing through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) in 1977, it was the dawn of a new era in Alaska. In Valdez, we literally danced in the streets. I served as mayor of Valdez during those early days. The goal I had then remains unchanged today — construct a gas line so we still have reason to celebrate long after the last barrel of oil has been loaded onto a tanker.

Yet here we are 30 years later, facing an economic meltdown we have done virtually nothing to prepare for. Our economy is still 90 percent dependent on a single source of revenue from TAPS oil that will dry up in coming years and we are paying some of the highest energy prices in the world.

How have we let this happen? How much longer are we going to watch our energy policy fall victim to election cycle after election cycle? This is the fundamental flaw in energy policy in Alaska. For far too long we have let politicians with little or no real world oil and gas experience wait for third party companies to decide our state’s future.

My work with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority over the past 10-plus years has sent me around the world to meet and negotiate at the highest level with the companies that actually build pipelines, buy gas and make projects happen. These experiences led me long ago to the same conclusions reached by former Sen. Ted Stevens, former Gov. Wally Hickel and others — the time is now for a true all-Alaska gas line that can deliver affordable energy in-state and export our liquefied natural gas (LNG) to lucrative Asian markets. The way to accomplish this, while assuring the lowest possible tariff, is for it to be built, operated and substantially financed by the private sector but owned by Alaskans.

The fact that some are mischaracterizing former Sen. Stevens’ call for a world class export project as an exclusive endorsement of a small volume “bullet line” further highlights the fundamental flaw of letting politics drive policy.

A bullet line might be part of our strategy but only as a backup plan to a larger volume all-Alaska gas line project. This would be a single line from Prudhoe Bay to Glennallen, where it would branch into a “Y” with one leg to Valdez and one leg to Southcentral to tie into the existing gas grid. This would allow for value-added opportunities, in-state use and LNG export from the Valdez and Kenai terminals. I testified to the Senate Resources Committee after former Sen. Stevens and thanked them for their efforts in focusing on in-state solutions but reminded them of this very point.

As one Exxon executive in Houston told me, the bullet line is a “ragged Band-Aid at best.” Others have dubbed it “a garden hose.” Both terms accurately describe a project that:

  • Leaves little room for export and does nothing to replace the oil revenues that fund essential services such as public safety, education, transportation and general infrastructure;
  • Is not economic on its own merits and therefore cannot deliver affordable in-state gas without a substantial government subsidy;
  • Lacks the capacity for transport of sufficient valuable liquids and chemical byproducts that will invigorate an in-state value-added revolution;
  • Starts from scratch without the permits, rights of way, environmental impact statements and hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of data previously acquired for the all-Alaska gas line; and
  • Does nothing to open up the North Slope for additional exploration for both oil and gas.

To solve Alaska’s big problems, we need leaders willing to pursue big projects. The Alaska I knew from my rural Alaska childhood and years working on the construction of the TAPS pipeline was built on this frontier spirit. We were not afraid to dream big because we saw that there is no limit to what Alaskans can accomplish when united in the belief that we alone have the responsibility to look out for our own best interests.

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Ted Stevens calls for priority on in-state gas pipeline

By Sean Cockerham
Anchorage Daily News

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Friday there’s not enough market for Alaska natural gas in the Lower 48 to justify a pipeline through Canada, and that the state should instead pursue construction of pipelines to Kenai and Valdez to export gas to Asia. Read more on adn.com >>>

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Stevens calls for trans-Alaska gas pipeline, exports to Pacific Rim

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens says the AGIA pipeline plan has flopped and the state should put up billions to pay half the cost of an in-state natural gas pipeline project to Kenai.

It should also switch its support to the building of a trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez that would export LNG to the Pacific Rim nations, Stevens told Anchorage businessmen at a Commonwealth North meeting Friday.

Read more on newsminer.com. >>>

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Polls, Parades, Pups & Path to Prosperity

With less than 6 months to go until the Republican primary on August 24th, Governor Parnell can no longer hide behind fluffy approval ratings and misleading polls conducted by outside political consultants. This election will be decided by the people of Alaska, not hired guns from Washington D.C.

Governor Parnell seems content to let the state’s economy continue marching toward a cliff with drastically declining TAPS oil throughput, the revenue from which funds the lion’s share of our state budget. As your governor, I won’t let the state get to that point, because I will not wait for others to act in our best interests.

Governor Parnell’s “wait and see” approach on the gasline is simply unacceptable at this critical point in our state’s history. Alaska deserves a governor who will make decisions based on what is best for Alaska, not his approval ratings. I applauded Senator Ted Stevens’ announcement this week that he now supports a gasline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez for LNG export shipment to the world market. He has made this course correction after advocating for a Canadian route for decades because he realizes the U.S. gas market is oversaturated and the line through Canada is no longer a viable option. I agree with Senator Stevens that the State should dispense with the studies and open seasons and contests and start immediately to advance the Valdez project. Governor Parnell on the other hand has reaffirmed his doomed Canadian line strategy.

I invite you to join me in the fight to take back Alaska’s future. We have a long campaign ahead of us and as you can see from the pictures and links below, my team and I are working around the clock to get my message delivered across the state. Alaska needs a leader with experience, courage and grit — not just another seasoned politician — to step up and lead us to prosperity and economic security for generations to come.

Photos from Around the State

Lincoln Day Dinners

 A Month of Meet and Greets

Fur Rondy Parade

Fun Fur Rondy Events

Iditarod

Media Highlights

Below are many great news articles, radio and television clips from this past month:

Larry Wood’s article on Alaska Dispatch
My article in Juneau Empire
Juneau’s front page article about my candidacy
KST Radio covers my speech at the Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce Meeting
Video Interview by Alaska Internet Network in Juneau
On the Mike Porcaro Show (begins minute 32)
Newsminer article about Stevens’ announcement
Front end loader & parade team video

Check the Videos page for the latest TV ads!

Upcoming Events

If you missed the Kenai Campaign Office opening, be sure to stop by to pick up bumper stickers, yard signs, and find out how you can help!
Benco Building ( Suite # 100-B ) 805 Frontage Road in Kenai

March 20 Grand Opening Fairbanks Office
Fairbanks office: 901 1st Ave. Fairbanks
(corner of 1st and Cowles.)
Noon-3pm

March 22 Grand Opening Anchorage Office
245 Fireweed
(at the corner of Fireweed & C St.)
5-7pm

No day passes without new volunteers coming on board or an encouraging word received from a supporter or some extraordinary effort being made on my behalf. These things keep me charging full speed ahead in my run for governor. Every dollar donated, every hour volunteered, every yard sign posted, every bumper sticker displayed makes a difference. And we are having fun in the process! So if you haven’t joined our team, consider doing so today. Together we will build a bigger, brighter future for this great 49th State!

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Bill on the Mike Porcaro show

Listen to Bill’s interview with Mike Porcaro (it begins at minute 32).

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues | Comments closed

Walker: Alaska should build gasline itself

Story by Deanna Garrison, KSTK Stikine River Radio

Image by Deanna Garrison

KETCHIKAN, ALASKA (2010-02-17) With the Trans Alaska Pipeline nearing the end of its useful life, gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker says Alaska needs to stop waiting for someone else to build a gas pipeline and build it itself. The Republican discussed the gasline and other state issues during a wide ranging speech at a Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday.

Visit KSTK website to hear the radio report of Bill Walker speaking at a Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

© Copyright 2010, Rainbird Community Broadcasting

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Walker Says Governor should act now to remove us from the failed AGIA process

February 26, 2010 – In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Department of Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin told the legislature for the first time that under likely pricing scenarios a pipeline through Canada will result in the State losing, not making, money.

According to Bill Walker, Republican candidate for Governor, “this should remove any doubt the State must withdraw from AGIA immediately and pursue North Slope gas exports to the world markets.”

“It appears that Governor Parnell’s plan will accelerate the loss of state revenues at a time when we should all be working together to come up with solutions that will off-set declining oil production on the North Slope,” Walker continued. “Our future will remain in jeopardy as long as the Governor and his administration continue to ignore the economic realities of a changing world. The people of Alaska deserve a leader who is willing to admit when he is wrong and Governor Parnell is dead wrong on the one issue most critical to the economic future of Alaska.”

Under AGIA, Governor Parnell’s plan attempts to shift the consequence of Canadian price collapses from the North Slope producers to the State. The primary benefit of a gas pipeline to Alaskans, other than providing access to affordable energy for in-state use and industrial use, is that taxes and royalties from gas sales will offset those from declining oil production.

Yet Commissioner Galvin has indicated that under likely pricing scenarios a pipeline through Canada will result in the State losing potentially $2 billion per year as a result of the unalterable tax structure of AGIA which gives huge tax breaks on North Slope oil to Exxon, BP and ConnocoPhillips when Canadian gas natural gas prices are low. This scenario would be locked in for 10 years, resulting in a $20 billion loss to state revenues.

“Natural gas prices are low now and will remain this way for years to come due to the discovery and development of shale gas in North America. Governor Parnell’s continued effort to mislead the Alaskan people about the viability of the lower-48 market is not just out of touch – it is out of line.”

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Walker for Governor at the Fur Rondy Grand Parade

Several people traveled hundreds of miles to participate, others cut weekend plans short to deliver coffee for the crew, spent hours making homemade signs and gathering hard hats, flags, and stickers, and exposed fingers to the 14 degree temperatures to take pictures and video of one of the most memorable floats of the 2010 Fur Rondy Grand Parade.

Bill Walker, Republican candidate for governor, drove a front-end loader draped in campaign signs and banners for the duration of the parade, to the surprise of a crowd more accustomed to seeing politicians riding comfortably in the passenger seat of a convertible than behind the wheel of a piece of heavy machinery.

“Looking in the rear view mirror as I drove a front end loader through the streets of Anchorage, I was extremely grateful and humbled by the nearly 80 supporters wearing hard hats and waving signs who walked behind me in support of this effort,” said Bill Walker, reminiscing about the event.

Walker’s field director, Sandy Moore, was excited to see such large turnout this early in the election season. “We are so encouraged by the outpouring of support we are seeing throughout Alaska.”

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Bill Walker video interview by Alaska Internet Network CEO Bradley J. Fluetsch, CFA

Bill Walker takes a few minutes to be interviewed by Alaska Internet Network CEO Bradley J. Fluetsch, CFA, February 18, 2010 in Juneau, Alaska.

Bill Walker, Candidate for Alaska Governor from Brad Fluetsch on Vimeo.

View more videos on our media page

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All-Alaska Gasline Drives Candidate, Juneau Empire story

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker has positions on many Alaska issues, but he has passion for developing the state’s huge reserves of natural gas.

And he has a preferred strategy, markedly different than that of fellow Republican primary candidates, incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell and former House Majority Leader Ralph Samuels.

Walker endorses what supporters call the “all-Alaska gas line,” a pipe running through the state from the North Slope’s gas wells to a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Valdez.

Read more at the Juneau Empire’s website

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All Alaska Governor February Newsletter

Dear Alaskans,

The New Year has blessed us with new opportunities, new supporters, and new life to an already thriving campaign. Here is a quick rundown on my campaign happenings in January:

A VOICE FOR ALASKANS
billradioJanuary was a month filled with opportunities for my voice to be heard on talk radio in various communities. The callers from Cordova, Glennallen, Valdez, Anchorage, Mat-Su and the Kenai Peninsula further confirmed that Alaskans are struggling. They need jobs, affordable energy for homes and businesses and firm assurance that Alaska has a strong economic future to provide for education, infrastructure and essentiaL services. The All-Alaska Gasline is the answer and I am the leader with the knowledge, experience and the courage to get the job done.

HISTORICAL ELECTION
I also spoke to the Young Republicans alongside fellow gubernatorial candidate, Ralph Samuels. While we both agreed that AGIA was a dead-end road for Alaska s natural gas, I was the only one who articulated a concrete plan to commercialize Alaska’s gas and deliver it to Alaskans. A week later, the candidates for governor faced off again at the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference. The economic challenges we are facing underscore that this election will be one of the most critical in Alaska’s history.

CAMPAIGN EXPANSION
I am pleased to announce that the campaign found a location in Kenai to call home. Stop by and see us in the Benco Building with offices alongside those of our Congressional delegates. That office will be run by a contingent of volunteers jointly coordinated by Blaine Gilman and Debbie Brown. We also welcome Valdez campaign coordinators, Lynn Chrystal and Tom Gilson.

IN THE NEWS
The Seward Phoenix Log and the Valley Frontiersman wrote great articles last month about my vision and passion for bringing the All Alaska Gasline to fruition. This month we will be releasing two new ads. Click here for a sneak peek!

REAL ALASKANS FIGHTING FOR ALASKA
headsignsJanuary’s fundraising events were highlights as well. To have folks going door to door in the dead of winter to invite their neighbors to meet me; to have dozens of supporters bringing homemade dishes to events; to have new and old friends open their homes and lavish Donna and me with hospitality; to share ideas with Alaskans from a variety of cultures and backgrounds; to have voters changing party affiliation to vote for me; and, to have a family whose home recently burned to the ground donate to my campaign — these things deeply move me. They also ignite me to keep fighting for what is right for Alaskans!

AN ALL-ALASKAN CALL TO ACTION!

billpioneerhomeThis grass roots campaign is building momentum daily all because true Alaskans are realizing that my passion is Alaska and that my desire to get Alaska s gas to market is free of any political or personal agenda. My critics are quick to say that I am a one issue candidate, but let’s get real. If we do not energize Alaska by capitalizing on this incredible opportunity to secure our economic future, then shame on us! All of our problems are exacerbated. There will be no funding for education, roads, public safety and essential services. Talk about generational theft! Alaska, this is a call to action! We have had our opportunities. This election will determine if we are choosing the road to deny those same opportunities to our children, and their children. Don’t sit on the sidelines! Get involved today! The success of this campaign is the direct result of the hard work of individuals coming together with fervent determination to change the course of our state s future.

I want to extend a very humble and heart-felt thank you to all of my supporters for standing up for me, this campaign, and Alaska. God bless this Great Land and may He give us the wisdom and the courage to stand up, be strong and be fearless in our fight to take back Alaska’s future.

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Candidate Calls Gas Line No. 1 Priority for State

BY TODD L. DISHER
Frontiersman
Published on Monday, January 25, 2010 7:53 PM AKST

WASILLA — With a yellow line running down a blue map of Alaska, it’s clear from Bill Walker’s campaign logo what issue No. 1 is for this gubernatorial candidate.

“I am very concerned about the economic future of the state,” Walker said on a recent stop at the Frontiersman office. “We are a state 85 percent dependent on oil and the pipeline for our revenue. But that is declining every year. … An all-Alaska gas line will replace that 85 percent.”

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Bill Walker, a candidate for Alaska governor, during a recent visit to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Bill Walker, a candidate for Alaska governor, during a recent visit to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Instead of trying to run a pipe through Canada down to the Lower 48, Walker would like to see gas flow from the North Slope south to Valdez. A spur would run west from Glennallen to fuel Southcentral.

While this concept is certainly not novel, Walker said he would like to see the state pay for the in-state pipeline’s construction. This could be done, he said, by putting 20 percent upfront and financing the remaining construction costs using bonds paid for with revenues generated once the pipeline is operational.

With 15 years as an oil and gas attorney in Anchorage, Walker said he has met with all the major energy executives around the world. He has seen how other countries build and operate their pipelines and said the state is typically the one who constructs the lines.

He likens it to any other infrastructure project. California built aqueducts that now support an agricultural industry. Alaska built a road to Fort Knox Mine, he said. You would not expect Princess Tours to build the Parks Highway in order to take tours to Denali National Park. Even more so than roads, he said, it’s to the state’s advantage to build the pipeline, as the state owns one-eighth of all the gas in Alaska.

“That’s the role of government — to step in and do infrastructure where the private sector doesn’t,” Walker said.

The fact that the private sector has not built the All-Alaskan line does not mean it is not a good investment, he said. The rate of return on the construction investment is set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at 12 percent, Walker said. In all honesty, he said, the major producers don’t what that much capital tied up in a regulated return.

If the state puts $4 billion to $5 billion upfront, it is guaranteed that 12 percent return on the initial investment, Walker said. Additionally, he said the lease contracts the producers have with the state say they must ship their gas if there is a feasible way to do so.

“We really have a dime holding up a dollar here,” Walker said.

Walker said the state has the rights-of-way necessary to build the line. All the permits and environmental work has already been done. He compares the situation to a job site in a 40-degree below zero Fairbanks winter. The foundation is done, the building materials are sitting around the property. Alaskans are huddling around a fire pit asking why won’t someone build a house for them to warm up in, he said.

The need for the All-Alaska pipeline will be even more apparent after the 2010 open season for the pipeline running to the Lower 48 fails, Walker said. Bids will come in, he said, but the conditions will unreasonably high.

“We are going to wait for the phone ring, and wait and wait and wait,” Walker said.

This is because the producers are looking at the project that has the greatest risk and highest likelihood of failure, he said. Canada has not resolved the right-of-way issues with its First Nations, the project is waiting in line behind another pipeline project in Canada, and shale exploration is upsetting the price of natural gas, he said.

Not only would the All-Alaska pipeline provide cheap energy to the Railbelt, but it could be compressed and shipped to villages off the road system by barge. Other businesses would spin off by creating products from natural gas byproducts. The gas coming out of the line would not be subject to price volatility from shale, as it would be liquefied in Valdez then sold at a price set through 30-year contracts.

Other than a natural gas pipeline, Walker said he is committed to supporting the educational and tourism infrastructure. But all of this depends on Alaska having an economy, he said. The price of oil is rising faster than the decline in production. This has insulated the state from the fact that oil is drying up, he said. But at some point, the producers will turn off the tap.

A gas pipeline needs to be in place before that happens, Walker said. He said an in-state line could be up and running within seven years, and he would be committed to it from Day One, if elected.

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Gasline Development, Issues | Comments closed

Bill Walker’s One Issue: Securing a Strong Future for All Alaska

Posted in Alaska Governor's Race, Issues, Video | Comments closed

Hickel Reaffirms Support of Bill Walker

Bill Walker and former Governor Hickel

Bill Walker and former Governor Hickel

I am humbled by Governor Hickel’s continued support of my candidacy. Today, he made the following statement in an opinion piece that ran in the Anchorage Daily News:

“Unless we have a change of direction in the coming election, we will return to the closed-door negotiations that Gov. Frank Murkowski utilized to guarante…e “fiscal certainty” (locked-in tax rates) for the world’s largest corporations. The terms of the gas line contract he negotiated were so skewed to benefit the producers that the Legislature, to its credit, wouldn’t even take a vote on it.

Fortunately, Bill Walker, the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to the All-Alaska natural gas pipeline, has entered the race for governor. Both a builder and an attorney, Bill knows the oil and gas industry well, gets along with it, but is unafraid to stand up for Alaska.

His first priority will be to implement the law overwhelmingly passed by Alaska’s voters in 2002 to build a state-owned gas line from Prudhoe to Valdez. That is the surest and fastest way to get Alaska’s vast energy supplies to Alaskans and to sell the additional trillions of cubic feet of gas to the most lucrative markets in the world.

Each year, the oil flowing through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline is dropping by roughly 6 percent. When it comes to the gas line, if we allow the current charade of “study and delay” to continue, the state will soon be in deep trouble.

Fortunately, there is an alternative. We may not be able to influence the decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court, but whom we elect in Alaska is completely up to us.”

Please help spread the word by forwarding this to your friends and email contacts. Together, we can take back Alaska’s future.

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Pt. Thomson Ruling About Procedure, Not Politics

Three months into my campaign for governor, I am disappointed to see that the level of political discourse has already degraded into finger pointing and name calling. As a state facing a worrisome and uncertain future, our leaders must step forward and focus on constructive solutions to our problems.
Continue reading on Alaska Dispatch >>>

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RSS News Feed & YouTube links now available

We’ve recently added RSS to our website, which makes it easier than ever to keep up-to-date on Bill’s campaign news. Also, we’ve added a YouTube link that brings you right to all of Bill’s videos. Both are located in the side bar on the right. Thank you all for your interest and support.

RSS Feed

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Bill Walker Campaign Youth Meet and Greet a Great Success

On Dec. 28, 2009, the Bill Walker Campaign for Governor held a young Alaskans meet and greet. The Alaska Republican Party said that this was the largest turnout of young Alaskans for any candidate that they could recall. Nearly 100 Alaskans under 30 attended the event. Continue reading on Examiner.com >>>

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All Alaska Governor January 2010 Update

YOUNG ALASKANS FOR BILL WALKER.
After a great month of meetings and events on the Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks, Willow, Valdez and Anchorage (including an in depth radio interview on KFQD), 2009 finished with an exclamation mark when nearly 100 young Alaskans gathered at an event organized by volunteer extraordinaire, Mary Graham, and her family. My wife, Donna, surprised me with a funny, moving introduction and then I shared my vision for a prosperous Alaska with an enthusiastic crowd. When I talk about assuring that Alaskans fill the large percentage of current North Slope jobs held by out-of-state workers as well as those that will be created by the All-Alaska Gasline, I am preaching to the choir with these young adults who are hoping upon hope to be able to build a future in Alaska. Continue reading >>>

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Walker for Governor Campaign to Host Parental Rights Notification Petition

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker is proud to support the efforts of Alaskans for Parental Rights and its Parental Consent Initiative campaign.

“I often speak with urgency about strengthening Alaska’s economy. But today I speak with urgency about strengthening Alaska’s families.

January 15th is the deadline for signing the Parental Rights notification petition. My wife Donna and I were early signers and supporters. Parental involvement laws are supported by a majority of Americans no matter where they stand on abortion.”

Starting today, petitions will be available for signing the Walker for Governor campaign office at 731 N Street in Anchorage.

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Bill Walker pushes parental notification measure

Taken from Alaska Politics website.

Bill Walker is expanding his campaign for governor beyond his promotion of “All-Alaska’ natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez.

The Republican candidate is now using his campaign office to promote a ballot initiative seeking to make it illegal for teens to get an abortion without telling their parents. He put out a statement this afternoon saying “I often speak with urgency about strengthening Alaska’s economy. But today I speak with urgency about strengthening Alaska’s families.”

Walker is making parental notification petitions available at the Walker for Governor Campaign office at 731 N Street in Anchorage. He’s trying to get people to sign the petitions by Jan. 15 so the initiative can appear on the August primary ballot.

Walker himself faces Gov. Sean Parnell, Ralph Samuels and Gerald Heikes in the August Republican primary.

The ballot initiative is sponsored by former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, Mia Costello and Kim Hummer-Minnery, whose husband is president of the Alaska Family Council, a Christian pro-family, anti-abortion group that is supporting the effort.

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It’s Time to Face the Facts on Gasline Development

Today Bill Walker issued the following statement:
Governor Sean Parnell’s recently released budget includes $150 million to be divided between ExxonMobil Corporation and TransCanada as part of the AGIA 2010 open season process. According to Governor Parnell’s outgoing gas czar, Harry Noah, “The state is frozen waiting for a pipeline to the Lower 48 to happen.”

Continue reading >>>

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Bill Walker Statement on Ralph Samuels’ Announcement

Today Bill Walker issued the following statement regarding Ralph Samuels’ announced campaign for governor:

“Ralph Samuels’ announcement that he is entering the race for governor will present Alaskans with well defined choices in the August primary. I did not run based on who the competition might be. I believe Alaskans understand that my campaign theme of “All-Alaska Governor” is not just about an All-Alaska Gasline but it means All Alaska jobs, affordable energy to All Alaskan homes and businesses and economic stability for Alaskans for decades to come.

Continue reading >>>

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All Alaska Governor December 2009 Letter to Supporters

BillSpeaking
We are in full stride with the campaign. This past month I have had the opportunity to address the Alaska Municipal League, UAF student government, the Valdez Commerce group, and other groups in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Several speaking engagements are already scheduled this month and I welcome all invitations. I am especially enjoying getting out to community events and talking with Alaskans one on one. A highlight for Donna and me was attending the Bridge Builders International Potluck where Anchorage residents representing over 50 cultures joined together to share food, entertainment and ideas for building a stronger, more unified city and state. Continue reading >>>

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No shortage of backup plans for Alaska’s gas

While Alaskans wait for a decision on whether a 4-foot-diameter gas pipeline will be built between the North Slope and North American markets, Gov. Sean Parnell has pledged his ongoing commitment to studying a “Plan B” linking energy-hungry residents with their resource.

Two voter-created authorities are forging ahead on related plans of their own — in some cases tied to the success of the state-sanctioned Alaska Gasline Inducement Act project, and in other cases assuming failure.

The state has planted its full weight — and $500 million — behind a large-diameter pipeline proposed by TransCanada through the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. The Canadian pipeline building company plans to lay out expected tariffs and take bids on pipe capacity during an open season May 1 to July 31.

A separate project by major oil companies BP and ConocoPhillips, dubbed Denali, also plans an open season in 2010.

Continue reading on Alaska Dispatch >>>

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Success or failure in the open season

The next big test for either of the proposed big gas pipeline projects is the so-called “open season,” expected to be conducted next year.

The battle to define the natural gas open season as a success or failure in the public mind has already started, along with the political season.

“Open season” is the term that refers to the period in which companies that control natural gas have the option of making commitments to ship that gas on a proposed pipeline. Those commitments, worth tens of billions of dollars, can be used as the basis for getting companies to loan money to finance a project.

Continue reading on Newsminer.com >>>

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