Today conservatives all around the state are going to walk into their voting booths and not be comfortable voting for the Republican Candidate. For whatever reason, the “completely ignore the fact that there is an election” strategy worked for Parnell in the gubernatorial primary as he beat out pro-development Republicans Ralph Samuels and Bill Walker. However, when conservatives enter the voting booth today they will have a viable pro-development option – Ethan Berkowitz.
Berkowitz created the tone of his debate by setting down a propane tank in Anchorage full of natural gas and announced that it was the first natural gas delivered from the North Slope and he had to go get it and deliver it personally. He illustrated the point brilliantly the Parnell/ Sarah Palin administration has done nothing to help the state deliver natural gas from the North Slope to markets in the lower 48.
Parnell and Palin have actually hindered that process both by signing the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) and Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) into law. AGIA shut the oil producers out of the bidding process for the construction of a natural gas line originating at the North Slope while ACES raised taxes on the oil industry by 400%. All of this happened after Governor Frank Murkowski had the beginnings of a contract ready to be negotiated by the legislature. A strong argument could be made that had Murkowski, Andrew Halcro or Tony Knowles been elected rather than Sarah Palin we would be in the midst of construction on a natural gas pipeline as we speak. Instead we are no further than we were four years earlier when Parnell took office and many would argue that we are further behind than we were.
This current administration has also hindered our ability to bring oil to market. The gigantic and punitive tax increase imposed by ACES. There is little to no new exploration on the North Slope right now. All of the oil companies have cancelled projects that they had planned to carry forward in the next few years and British Petroleum (BP) has been in talks to sell their Alaska holdings. There can be little argument against the fact that right now is the worst climate we have ever seen for oil exploration and production in Alaska. Oh yeah, did I mention that the tax and royalties are between 85 – 90% of our operating budget?
If that were not enough, Parnell has also raised budgets consistently throughout his time in Juneau. We are currently operating under the highest budget in the history of Alaska. Increasing budget by up to 10% every year, we are heading toward an economic cliff and Sean Parnell is slamming on the gas as we head towards it.
By the way, let’s not forget the Parnell hiring of Nancy Dahlstrom and Gene Therriault while they were both sitting legislators, which if not technically illegal was definitely unethical. Parnell has failed in every arena possible, killing the investment climate in Alaska, raising taxes on the oil industry, raising the budget to record levels and showing his severe lack of character. Can Alaska really afford four more years of that?
Berkowitz brings a fresh perspective. He offers new ideas about how to bring about construction of a pipeline to fruition. Berkowitz wants to bring private investment dollars into the picture to help create seed money to build the pipeline. He wants to allow Alaskans to invest their Permanent Fund Dividend checks and then give the opportunity for other private investment. This will not only produce hundreds of millions of dollars in seed money but it will also show the oil producers and consumers that Alaska and Alaskans are serious about building this pipeline.
When conservatives enter the polling booth today, they should consider what it is they are looking for in their leadership for the next four years. Do we, as conservatives, want more of the same? Tax increases, a decline in investment on the North Slope and corrupt practices by the Parnell administration? Or do we want to elect a man with fresh and exciting ideas about how to renew our natural resource state and provide real leadership into the next decade? We have had enough of Parnell’s failures, lets elect the man who is most conservative on the issues that really matter in our state right now.
