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.