Here’s a letter from Rhonda Boyles, President of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women, urging fellow Republicans to vote for Gov. Sean Parnell. I’m publishing it in full, because I think the comparisons to Sarah Palin are interesting, as is the writing.
Fool me Once Shame on You. Fool me Twice, Shame on Me.
In 2006, our Republican women’s groups helped elect Sarah Palin as governor. We admit that we got burned. If Alaskans follow Sarah Palin again, there is only one place that can lead – back to the chaos and dysfunction that characterized her 18 months as governor.
Sean Parnell came into office on the ruby-red high heels of that bizarre, drama-filled chapter in our state’s history. He quietly took charge and began the messy business of actually governing. The dysfunction dissipated and Alaskans settled into a new normal, minus the media circus.
Sarah needs to claim victory in Alaska to assure continued lucrative contracts with FOX news and other media outlets. She’s back in the news telling a Washington reporter she hopes to run for office someday soon – and she’s supporting her good friend Bill Walker, who’s just like her. Bill Walker skipped the 2014 August Primary. When the Democratic Party met and decided they couldn’t win with their legitimate Primary nominee, they formed an unholy alliance with Walker, a man whose political positions and core values don’t match up with theirs.
Let’s not allow history to repeat itself. This time, let’s really take a stand and truly put Alaska first. Vote for Sean Parnell for governor on Nov. 4.
Walker and Mallott came together because they knew neither one of them could defeat Parnell and then there was the union endorsement .. what about that. There is nothing as noble as a Unity Party going on. It was expedience, not ideals. Had it been ideals there would have been a unified group much earlier…like when we where hearing about Bill Walker and Bill Wielechowski (sorry about the spelling). Now that would have been exciting. Walker/Mallott kind of creep me out which is unfortunate this year. I wanted to be excited about casting my vote for Governor.
The Parnell campaign and supporters continue the lies. Parnell’s campaign has already had to come out and say, “we lied about how much Bill Walker was paid….WE SAID he was paid $2 million one year, but it was actually $200K” (paraphrased). Here is an article that discusses the Alaska Gas line Port Authority and what they were paid for everybody involved and travel expenses and overhead.
http://www.adn.com/article/20141029/port-authority-says-accusation-walker-lined-his-pockets-baseless
Valdez accounting records from 2010 to 2014, showing the payment of nearly $14 million to the Walker law firms which are totally owned by Bill and Donna Walker.
$14,000,000 since January 2010
That is in 55 months or $255,000 per month
The maximum work days in month is 23 (4 weekends)
That is a cool $11,000 per every work day and vacation day.
Or slightly over $3 million / yr.
Remember Alaskans thought the $325,000 that was too much for the President of the University.
Walker has no pipeline to Valdez after more than twenty years advocating for a gas line to Valdez.
Has Walker been worth over $3 million/yr to the citizens of Valdez?
Parnell has taken down their endorsement from the “Alaska Federation of Republican Women” off his Facebook page. Guess that means they have had a change in heart.
At AFN, Walker did bring up his running mate and there’s nothing wrong with that. I was there and what was more disgusting was Parnell saying, “Alaska Natives, I love you! …” Really?! Really?! Just outright pandering without substance. At least Walker was highlighting his running mate and not professing his “love” to try to get votes.
In the end, Walker and Mallott realized they aligned on the issues most critical to Alaska and remain conservative and liberal in their own right, but are focusing on Alaska instead of partisan politics. I am conservative, but in the end, I just want what’s best for Alaska and Walker is going to do that. Parnell has just let us down over the last six years. I’m just happy there is another conservative option in Walker.
How can anyone expect Bill Walker to do “what’s best for Alaska”? Have you watched any of the gubernatorial debates? Do Walker’s rambling platitudes inspire a sense of confidence in his vision for our state? Even at a friendly venue like AFN, Walker had to ring the bell of “my good friend Byron Mallot” at the end of his banal responses in order to elicit applause from a crowd largely pre-committed to his camp.
Why would a true conservative cave-in to the demands of the AFL-CIO and accept a Democrat running mate? And what AK Republican would like to see Democrats holding key positions in the governor’s cabinet?
Walker is a populist, megalomaniac that has enriched himself from public coffers. While that may be par for the course for many politicians, it doesn’t leave me with a warm feeling that Bill Walker is going to do “what’s best for Alaska”.
I agree it is going to be close, but strongly disagree with your statement regarding ads. Just heard one on the radio with blatant lies about Walker and at the end, “paid for by Parnell/Sullivan 2014.” They can’t back away from the ads that they actually made and paid for. As far as poll credibility, it’s hard to say, as Alaska has historically been a challenge to poll. Moore’s poll was not conducted in a biased way, like an insider poll would do, which leads me to believe that it really comes down to getting out the vote.
The lies and deceit you spew are ludicrous. There WAS NO DEAL! That has been asked and answered countless times with the same answer every time, “there was no deal.” Walker and Mallott came together because they agreed on the issues most critical to Alaska, realized Parnell was piloting our state into a downward spiral and most importantly they both are passionate about Alaska and felt we needed a Governor that is always going to put Alaska first. I hope every undecided voter can see through the barrage of lies the Parnell campaign is throwing out there during this final week. We need a Governor of integrity, not one smearing using statements he knows are lies. We need a Governor who doesn’t keep critical public documents a secret because he’s up to something Alaskans would not approve of. Bill Walker is an honest, hard working and trustworthy Alaskan, that will always put the state he loves ahead of outside interests. He’s not a career politician like Parnell, but he can’t sit back idly and watch Parnell take Alaska into the toilet. It’s time for change. A vote for Walker/Mallott, is a vote for Alaska.
Walker tried to find a party to run with in 2010, too. That’s when AIP said no to Walker, no more rent-a-party, He’s always looked to the polls , is quoted saying so in news articles – to see where he can run strongest. I find it interesting that the unity thing is getting through to Alaskans when it was pretty clearly a tactic being used by two people and their supporters, when they knew the numbers showed they could not generate enough votes to beat Parnell on their own.
I don’t think a poll can be taken too seriously when it’s done by someone who actively supports one side. That’s worrisome to me. I have no doubt this race is very, very close, but I’m not going to give much credence to Moore’s numbers.
People seem to be forgetting that both sides have IEs formed that are putting out ads. Walker is benefiting from the IE running anti-Parnell ads. Voters shouldn’t confuse IE advertising with campaigns.
I’m on the same track as Lynn Willis…
Walker/Mallot are not deaf to women’s issues, in fact they are keen to listen to women’s issues in a very proactive way.
…this article is a gutter-smear, Walker/Mallott will NOT Derail Alaska
Maybe you readers would like to know who was the first Alaskan to begin the campaign for making maximum use of Alaska Railroad for hauling LNG both North&South ??
http://www.interiorenergyproject.com/Resources%20and%20Documents/12182013AKRR.pdf
I have irrefutable proof it it was little old me..
I was the guy who first pushed this concept of hauling Intermodal LNG on Alaska Railroad..
..I ran the numbers and calculated that after AKRR installs the PTC-system it has the capacity to haul twice as much gas as the stupid ASAP gasline made with 1950’s technology steel CNG-pipe.
….and it can provide much more positive diversity to Alaska’s economy than the silly bloated ASAP-gasline [designed by morons]
To get the PTC-system AKRR needs to have a dedicated fiberoptic line plowed in parallel to the rails,
and I offer to do that when we plow in a 8″ flexpipe gasline in the rail-ROW, this will kill two lawyers with one stone.
I wrote a bunch of emails on the subject of AKRR-LNG to ANGDA….
….then Parnell/Chenault/Hawker/&Gang moved to crush ANGDA.
Yes, I know how to convert AKRR’s 26 SD70MAC locomotives to LNG-dualfuel for the best price possible.
…but if you carefully watch Parnell’s Gang of Plagiarizing Gas Monopolists they will try to claim that the idea of AKRR-LNG was submitted to them by their favorite contractor; SAIC or RW Beck.
goog: saic fraud
The previous post is from me – sorry about that. Need coffee.
Enough of the lack of transparency canard. 99 percent of the information is out for public review. Bill claims he doesn’t know what the project is about. This is a dodge – and also conflicts with some of his statements that he will stay the course. If wanted to learn the details, he could start with the enabling legislation, he can look at the heads of agreement, the JV agreement, the FERC filing, the DOE export application. He could also listen to the countless hours of public testimony and legislative hearings on AK LNG. Their is a wealth of information that has been made available to the public. A tiny sliver is being held back. And for good reason.
You cannot run a commercial enterprise and disclose every detail to vendors and competitors. Walker understands this – AGPA kept a ton of information from being disclosed. He wouldnt even tell the public the names of the pipeline companies that AGPA had teamed up with.
Walker claims his election won’t slow things down. This is simply wrong. If he is truly uncomfortable with the confidentiality provisions, he will have to renogiate contracts that have been approved by the legislature. This is going to be a disaster.
Walker may have mentioned cuts, but then he backed off. He also has committed to dramatically expanding the government’s budget. I’ve listed some of his promises to do so. You cannot reconcile his claim to cut the budget with this promises to expand the budget. Or at least I can’t. You seem to have very selective hearing.
@Garand: Your attitude towards Republican fanaticism and the attitude displayed from Rhonda Boyles is PRECISELY the reason people under the age of 35 get turned off by the Republican party. The average age at ANY Republican function be it fundraising, speeches, meet and greet etc is like 65. Your party is DONE. If you fail to attract and address REAL issues which are relevant to today’s young people, you will never attract them. And the young under 35 are the future of this country. Issues such as a non-interventionist foreign policy and marijuana legalization are two that come to mind where the Republican party lives in the feudal era of the middle ages. Time to open your eyes to the reality of the situation. If you want to be relevant as a party in the next 10 years, you need to get people under 35 and under 40 crowd in your fold. And the Republicans are doing a horrible job with that. Most people under the age of 35 are either Libertarians or liberals. Very very few are Republicans. The ones that are, have been brainwashed into the war propaganda nonsense.
Nice to see the AFRW engage in some good revisionist history about Palin as governor.
Here’s what they said contemporaneously about Palin as a VP candidate.
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080831/NEWS06/808310452/-1/NEWS09
In support of Palin’s selection as VP nominee, Paulette Simpson of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women said: “Sarah Palin for her entire political career has been underestimated. She’s tough, she’s tenacious. I believe that she does have what it takes to get out there. Again, her ability to connect with voters and make a case is very, very, very strong.”
I watched the debate last night and Walker was the clear winner. He made it clear that Parnell’s secrecy is something we can’t trust. His failure to release important documents including the terms of the LNG pipeline is very disconcerting. And the thousands of emails he won’t release regarding the National Guard scandal. He pushed back the release of critical documents regarding his energy plan for the interior until THE DAY AFTER THE ELECTION. It is so clear that Parnell is sneaky and will NEVER put Alaska first. We need a Governor that will choose Alaska over the oil companies and his political party. It’s time for change and Walker is the guy who will always do what’s best for Alaskans.
Perhaps it’s accurate and it is to the point.
The implication that we should vote for the “Holy” alliance and that the Republican team has been somehow ‘made holy’ marks the point where I get off the bus.
When the Republican party sheds those religious right nut jobs I’ll be the first one to rejoin the party.
Jon,
Sometimes knowing what you don’t want is as important as knowing what you do want and I have plenty of reasons to know what I don’t want as Governor any longer. I am ready to fire Parnell for the reasons I mentioned.
I supported Bill Walker in 2010 as a Republican candidate and understand that Parnell will not defend his record in open debate if he can hide in his office. That is why Don Young named him “Captain Zero”. To me, Walker is a viable alternative and he has at least mentioned a number (16%) of necessary budget cuts which “freaked out” the opposition when cold reality faced them – and it has only gotten worse since then with falling oil prices. Walker understands that we cannot afford to continue to use the E.R. as a primary source of health care for the uninsured so he supports offsetting the medicade charges we face by providing help to 40,000 Alaskans and would pay for it by stopping spending in other places like the now parallel gas pipe line. He said last night he would first cut the DNR while Parnell waffled on the subject. Walker challanged the secrecy of the AKLNG process which is a very serious concern when “we the people” are paying for participation. Walker’s ideas are every bit as viable as Parnell’s. We need to try new ideas under a Governor who will allow all Alaskans to participate in the process. That is important to me. Walker appreciates the serious problems facing us and deserves a chance after five years of Sean Parnell.
You must be real scared then with Walker/Mallott leading by 9 points in the most recent poll. The people of Alaska realize that the fiscal and energy crisis our state is in, are the result of inaction and lack of leadership by Parnell. He’s not a leader, period. And now he, his campaign and a million dollars from outside interest groups are spamming the airways with lies and negativity with hope of scaring Alaskans. What an unethical campaign Parnell is running. Anybody supporting him should be embarrassed. The Walker/Mallott campaign continues to take the high road on it’s path to victory.
I’m a republican and I love the state of Alaska. Walker and Parnell are both conservative, which I like, but the blatant lies and negativity from Parnell and his campaign have really turned me off. Parnell has also got our state’s back against the wall with our current fiscal situation and I just can’t trust him anymore to do what’s best for Alaska. This is why I’ve decided to vote Walker.
Lynn, I wasn’t clear. You have made it very clear why you aren’t voting for Parnell. I do not recall why you are voting for Walker.
You are confused on many, but not all, of the stuff you list above. I may address some of it later.
No thinking person who watched the debates last night on Public Television could possibly vote for the Walker Mallot ticket. Bill Walker made it clear he has no idea how to run state government or even how to describe the scope of the state government oil has built. On the other hand Gov. Parnell revealed an easy fluency in the details as well as in what now needs to be done. More importantly Gov. Parnell showed he is a leader. Parnell won the debate 10 to 4, and it was an impressive performance.
Bill Walker has managed nothing in his career, and he is clueless. If I thought he could win I would be very scared. He is an less than clever Palin clone.
Byron Mallot was completely unable to explain the Walker Mallot ticket, how it came to be, and why he won the Democratic primary but is now at the bottom of the ticket. If he cannot satisfactorily explain it now that almost 8 weeks have gone by since it originated from a closed-door meeting (how’s that for democracy?) then how can any Alaskan accept it?
I don’t think it matters who is Lt. Gov. except in the rare off-chance that he/she is pushed into the top job. However, last night Anchorage Dan Sullivan impressed me very much. He understands oil and gas issues, industries and markets better than I do by far. He had thoughtful answers to every question. On the other hand, his opponent searched for answers exactly like a boy who has not done his homework and is called upon by the teacher. There was a time when Byron Mallot could have won a debate against anyone, anywhere, and seeing him last night reminded me of the stark realities of age and mortality facing every one of us.
I hope my union buddies can see they need to work with this Dan Sullivan and that they can. He is an accomplished, reasonable Alaskan, and he is not going away no matter how the results look Tuesday night. He was left a mess when he came into office in Anchorage. His answers about that last night rang true; the taxpayers cannot and will not long support officials and workers who have a much better deal than does the class of people paying the bills. It works in state government for the moment (sometimes not very well) because it’s oil dollars that pay that guy $600,000 (the fellow and the amount Bill Walker pointed out last night) but it cannot work for city government (because instead of handing out a PFD, the Muni of ANC collects property taxes!). So Sullivan said he had to rebalance, and that is an entirely defensible answer.
I know this it’s overly dramatic to say this but if you don’t have leaders who can identify the need to rebalance and instead the disease Mark Begich initiated in Anchorage before he left is allowed to fester then one day you have chaos. I know people who don’t vote. Some of these people are quite young and some are not young at all. All have read the Constitution and some can recite large parts of it. They don’t all know one another but they all believe Republicans and Democrats are joined in a conspiratorial theater to subjugate us more and more. I tell them that no, there are differences between Republicans and Democrats, and one difference is that Republicans know that democracy is very fragile but Democrats do not know that. When I heard Dan Sullivan describe last night the rebalancing he had to do to fix the mess left by Mark Begich it occurred to me that Dan Sullivan likely also knows that democracy is fragile.
Jon,
Lets discuss “unreliable”…..After five years; from the Anchorage Crime Lab over expenditure, to the support for AGIA long after it wasn’t going to work, to the creating of a job for a sitting legislator (then throwing her under the bus when caught),to allowing the environmental disaster at the North Pole Refinery and it’s final closure being a surprise to him, to the money spent on Cook Inlet with no supply contracts past 2018 and significant consumer price increases, to supporting legislation that would allow the arrest of Alaskans enforcing federal law, to denying health insurance to thousands of Alaskans with no alternative provided for them (all while he has government funded health insurance), to funding a parallel pipeline project to now provide jobs for his political allies, to saying nothing about the LIO sole source contract, to the National Guard scandal being first ignored then turned into a political circus, to paying for studies then not releasing the results until after the election, and finally, despite having line the item veto over appropriations, by creating and approving the largest unaffordable budgets in state history leading to the current deficit spending and now blaming these budgets on others. Yes, Jon you have a “reliable” candidate with a proven track record (and a newspaper endorsement plus a letter from a partisan political group).
Sarah likes the fact Mallott quit being Mayor of Juneau after a couple of months, to take a job with Knowles administration…. it gives her hope of being elected again.
Walker may have stood for something in the past, I cannot tell where he stands now on anything now.
I cannot see Mallott, 71 years old going to the office and securing the state seal daily, therefore I cannot see him enduring four years of being Lt. Gov. If the rumors are true, the deal is Walker gets the first year as Governor to work on the gasline and then Mallott would take over for the next three as Governor.
Best wake up Alaska, not all is what it seems…..
A Republican, a Democrat and an Independant walk into a bar and the bartender says….
“What’ll it be today Mr Walker?”
Mr Walker fits the definition of a “purrfikt politician”. He stands for nothing, yet stands for everything to everyone. Who said “You can’t please everyone all the time”? He panders to whatever audience he is in front of. Fiscally speaking, his words do not add up (I know words are not numbers). He just does not make sense; but he does appeal to people’s emotions. And, unfortunately, that is what many people vote on. Example: Barack Obama.
Someone needs to do a horror/romance novel centered around a few of the Republican woman’s groups in Alaska.
They can start with the Republican woman’s groups in the valley.
Lynn, jeez. There are a lot of non-partisans who could care less about the republican party and that are voting for Parnell for all of the reasons stated here and in the Empire’s endorsement. Basically it boils down to the fact that Walker is unreliable, his plans on two core issues, gas and deficits, don’t add up, he flip flops, and he would jeopardize all of the progress that Parnell has made on gas commercialization. Walker only seems to be capable of grandstanding and blaming others for his own failures. And his surrogates scare me in their lack of knowledge of the oil and gas industry. I don’t think he has the temperament or judgment to be governor.
Bill may be well meaning, but his failure to stick to a consistent message reveals a man that either doesn’t know what he is talking about or one that is craven. Or both. As far as I can tell you have never addressed these concerns.
My hat salutes the Alaksa Federation of Republican Women. Their statement of comparison is accurate and makes the point. Alaska is at an important cross road. We can move ahead with Parnell and continue to advance the pipeline or go backwards with Walker and the failed ideas of Palin. Please Alaska, don’t be stupid.
OMG. After reading the 100 or so Lynn Willis’ comments, I would suggest he do what he preaches and quits using his “unsubstantiated” claims. That would be nice.
Walker leaves a lot to be desired as a candidate. I”ve been disappointed with his poor debate showings. The more I hear about his poorly conceived gasline plan scares me. Now, Palin. Its all too much for me.
I gree
The tragedy of pure partisan politics is reflected in this writing. Many have heard the adage claiming that if you are not a political liberal at age 20 you have no heart and if not a political conservative by age 40 you have no brain. I recently heard that adage expanded to state that if you are not a political independent by age 55 you have neither a heart nor a brain. I totally agree.
I suggest you make up your own mind in this election and support you decision with facts and reason not the unsubstantiated claims and comparisons from those who cannot get beyond a “party uber alles” mentality.