On September 29 the Juneau Chamber of Commerce held a Gubernatorial Debate featuring Gov. Sean Parnell and Bill Walker which saw a crowd of about 180.
Gov. Parnell began by reflecting on some accomplishments as governor.
Gov. Parnell: “We built three miles of road to Cascade Point and I remain committed to building the road to and from Juneau as well, Juneau residents know where I stand, across southeast I’ve steadily and consistently fought for our timber, mining and fishing jobs. Under my leadership two new ferries are going to be built in Ketchikan, we just announced that next week, two new ferries, for this area, made in Alaska, by Alaskans, it’s awesome.”
Independent candidate Walker took his turn to state his focus.
Walker: “We need to get back to our roots and be Alaskans again, and stop being involved in the partisan battles that have gotten us where we are, and where we are is in a financial crisis. No one mentions that anymore, we’re burning $7 million dollars a day of our savings to do what we’re doing, we can only do that for about four or five years and we’re out of savings. The ten year forecast for this administration shows that in ten years we’ll be in deficit spending for the next ten years. What are we doing about that? That horrifies me, for my children and grandchildren that’s not the Alaska I was born into.”
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Carolyn Clift planned to participate the debate however missed her flight out of Anchorage.