Gov. Sean Parnell’s re-election campaign confirmed that he will be participating in at least eight debates leading up to the general election in November, three of which will be before the primary election. So far, Parnell doesn’t have a Republican primary challenger. In the general he’ll be running against Democrat Byron Mallott and Independent Bill Walker.
“Our debate schedule, along with this early announcement, will ensure all Alaskans have an opportunity to learn about our goals for the next four years,” Parnell said in a release.
Indeed, it’s so early that it’s likely that many media outfits haven’t yet scheduled debates. So far, only two of the eight are debates hosted by media. Five of them are hosted by Chambers of Commerce across the state. Jerry Gallagher, Parnell’s campaign manager, said that Parnell is open to adding debates and that Gallagher is working with KTUU Channel 2 and Alaska Public Media to schedule them.
Primary Election Debates
- April 28 – Anchorage, hosted by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.
- April 30 – Anchorage, hosted by AARP in partnership with the Anchorage School District and the Alaska Retired Educators Association.
- August 12 – Fairbanks, hosted by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce.
General Election Debates
- August 28 – Kodiak, hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.
- October 1 – Ketchikan, hosted by the Ketchikan Daily News.
- October 8 – Soldotna, hosted by the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce.
- October 21 – Fairbanks, hosted by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce.
- October 28 – Anchorage, hosted by KTVA Channel 11 and the Anchorage Daily News.
Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com
Poor Sean Parnell having to defend what has happened over the last five years on his watch including; implementation of the largest state budgets in history leading us now into deficit spending that is consuming our cash reserves at about 7 million dollars per day, not creating a comprehensive state energy plan nor identifying transportation corridors to connect the regions of Alaska, the state insisting the AGIA project to Alberta was viable long after shale gas killed the Canadian option then not arguing that the AGIA contract with Transcanada to Alberta was no longer economical thus forcing us into a shotgun marriage with Transcanada to partner with us on the AKLNG project to avoid serious penalty for breach of contract, attempting to force very complex enabling legislation for the AKLNG project through the legislature during this last session of the legislature for no apparent reason other than to have a gas line project on tap before the primary and general elections, creating the situation where to various degree we are now funding three gas line projects at the same time (AGIA, AGDC/ASAP, and AKLNG), granting significant state incentives for Cook Inlet development that has resulted in more gas supply to the point where Conoco will start exporting again yet not consolidating the rail belt gas requirements to ship Cook Inlet gas to Fairbanks forcing them to rely on trucking expensive LNG 414 miles from the North Slope, allowing the Sulfolane spill from the Flint Hills refinery to grow to a plume described now as 3 miles by 2 miles by 600 feet deep contaminating a large area of residential drinking water, creation of a state job for a sitting legislator in direct violation of the Alaska State Constitution, not speaking out immediately on the LIO project or the abuse of the budget process that allowed new construction under a budget appropriation for “critical and deferred maintenance, challenging the tribal courts while ignoring local non-native agency support of the tribal court decision to protect the interests of the 5 year old girl in Fairbanks, not being at all proactive to insure a healthy refinery industry in Alaska even to the point of lending state support to a tank farm to hold imported fuels, not providing viable alternatives for those who might have benefited if he had extended medicade coverage. And he watched all this happen while “choosing respect”.
We have to do better Alaska……
This is an aggressive campaign debate schedule. I salute the governor’s campaiign for their willinness to allow the public to get to know theiir candidates better. Typically speaking, incumbents usually have the most to lose and the governor should be applauded for his courage and leadership.