Bill Walker, the former Valdez mayor who took one-third of the vote in a six-way race, saw an “outpouring of support” last month and responded by holding his campaign together to review options, spokesman Taylor Bickford said.
“He’s considering, very seriously, running,” Bickford said.
Walker could run as a write-in candidate or under a third-party banner. Bickford said he’s heard suggestions — from outside the campaign — mentioning Walker running as a substitute candidate for the Alaskan Independence Party.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Don Wright of Fairbanks, the party’s candidate, had withdrawn from the governor’s race.
Bickford said Walker will likely decide next week whether he’ll try to run and will then select the best option available.
Walker is an Anchorage attorney and serves as project manager for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority. His primary campaign, supported in part by $300,000 of his own money, included advocacy of a natural gas pipeline to Valdez.
Walker lost last week to Gov. Sean Parnell, who took 50 percent of the primary vote. Walker collected 33 percent.
Mead Treadwell won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.
“Sean Parnell and Mead Treadwell believe the voters spoke loudly and clearly on primary election day,” said Michelle Toohey, Parnell’s campaign spokeswoman, in an e-mail. “Switching parties now seems more about personal gain than advancing Alaska’s agenda.”
Bickford said Walker sees a chance to win, given his extensive support. He would run if he thought it furthered Alaska’s interests, Bickford said.
“If he decides to do this, he’s playing to win,” he said.
Contact staff writer Christopher Eshleman at 459-7582.
And why not? Haase can go back home to Oregon with his pockets full, and leave us Alaskans to clean up the subsequent mess.
Do the names Winton C. Arnold or Albert White ring bells with anyone? In the 1940s and 1950s, they manipulated the territory's elected officials behind the scenes, to the point where nothing could be accomplished.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, as people like Austin E. Lathrop and Walter J. Hickel became filthy rich and made substantial contributions to our way of life in the process. In this day and age, they would have been taxed to death first, or even shut out of any opportunities in the first place.
Anyway, I'm starting to see the parallels with Halcro. Hopefully, everyone knows that his daddy was the money man for the Republicans in Alaska for years. At least he has the pedigree for it.
Thanks, too, for the update on the Libertarian Party. I haven't kept up with it much since the days of yore and don't know a lot about the post-Vogler Era in Alaska. I have kept in better touch with the national movement and it's from that that I drew my conclusions about the likelihood of a harmonious Murkowski-Libertarian match.
I knew both Joe Vogler and Dick Randolph going back to the 1970s, so I don't need to be educated about their respective parties. I can say rather a lot about the Libertarians after Randolph's departure.
Between 1985, when the Ayn Rand fanatics kicked Randolph and his supporters out of the party, and 1990, when the folks who came along to replace them sabotaged both the party and the campaign to prevent re-criminalization of marijuana, things were in pretty sad shape with them. About the only thing close to a shining light the party had was a member of the State House (Andre Marrou), who performed a similar butcher job on his career and wound up leaving Alaska before his term in the House even expired.
I hope he's still around town in some form or fashion, but there's a guy named Ed Hoch who could probably tell you all about it. Unfortunately, if you go back to the 1986 gubernatorial race, you can see that Hoch was a major part of the problem.
Anyway, after 1990, the LP regulars who actually live here kind of drifted apart. There is a specific reason for that, but I don't feel at liberty to divulge it at the moment. Suffice to say, they've existed pretty much the past twenty years based on the willingness of national party activists to move to Alaska and, well, be placeholders, for lack of a better term.
The Libertarian Party is a recognized political party by the State of Alaska for one reason. Their registered voter total exceeds the legal threshold. What most folks don't know is how they achieved that. The LP runs a booth every year at the Palmer Fair, in which they con people who don't know any better to register to vote as Libertarians. No other reason than that.
I'm pretty sure of what I said about Haase. I don't think there's much more I can say about it without identifying myself to the whole world.
But perhaps you didn't know that he is suddenly taking up that baton as well as his usual interests?
AIP is not a rent-a-party, but they are a third party and not as well-funded as the Dems or Republicans, which means that they have to choose their battlegrounds quite carefully. They don't always front a full candidate roster for the same reason.
At least twice before they have picked up mainstream Republicans, and in the case of Wally Hickel, they won the governorship. That gave them a real boost in terms of being recognized as a legitimate political party.
The Libertarians don't usually pick up candidates for the General, and the idea that Lisa Murkowski would be a viable Libertarian candidate is simply bizarre---a testament to the fact that the people suggesting it don't know Lisa's voting record and don't know what Libertarians stand for, either.
Either way, both these smaller political parties have earned their stripes and are fully recognized, viable, long-standing entities with their own philosophies, platforms, candidates, and agendas. Any potential candidate has to meet their standards and agree to their principles.
Bill Walker would have no problem accepting the AIP platform and AIP voters would probably like him, too. I do not think that Lisa Murkowski's values are at all in line with those of the Libertarians, so that match is unlikely.
My point to you is that these parties operate differently because they have less money and fewer candidates, but they are well-established political parties in Alaska and both worthy of respect.
Your comment about Haase ---Libertarians don't necessarily share the herd feeling for territory as much as they value commitment to their philosophy. They probably don't care if their candidate is from Oregon, so long as he pledges to stand solid for personal liberty and Alaska. But I would double check my information if I were you....
Bill really is open minded and practical. If he can see a better way of doing things, count on him to do it. I've known him long enough (1987)to be sure of that much.
I am personally no fan of Sarah Palin's. As far as I can see, she gave the oil company Denali Pipeline a new name, added a $20 billion dollar price tag, and handed us the bill for it.
And almost as bad, she and Sean have left us sitting here for another four years on idle.
And I am thrilled at the prospect of BillW becoming an Akipper like my old pals Joe and Wally.
-- 5 billion cube-feet per day of methane can be shipped 800miles across Alaska in a 20" cryogenic-LNG-gasline.. At first I was reluctant to dream this up in my computer because I didn't like spilling off too much heat into the Arctic Bowl.. but I soon figured out how to deal with the excess heat...
I sent Bill an email in January about how to assemble an airlift of LNG to Railbelt supplying 1million gallons LNG per day without building a gasline.. he liked the possibility of it and replied quickly.. but alas I realize, most humans are a failed species, and most Americans from Miami to Savoonga are dumber than the boobtube they are glued to watching. Alaskans need to be educated about the subtle yet profound differences in pipeline architecture, and this a more daunting task than building the AllAlaska Gasline by myself and the help of a dozen knuckledragger friends.
If 5bcfd of cryo-LNG showed up in Fairbanks we could convert AK-RR to LNG fueled lokies.. and we could convert Eielson to a global air-cargo hub with the help of Boeing's new green-fuels initiative combined with Tupolevs expertise and Skunkworks stratospheric fuels program... LNG fueled jet-aircraft is a fun project for Fairbanks to run with. LNG-LOX aerospace fuels is already a favorite too.
http://www.tupolev.ru/English/Show.asp?SectionID=82
Ethan Berkowitz knows more about Tibet than he knows about oil and gas. Can you imagine Ethan in charge of building a gas pipeline???
Or Parnell, either?
Let's not linger on such ridiculous thoughts. Let's just hope and pray that somewhere on the Kenai a kinder and more just fate is being prepared for the people of Alaska....and that we get a second chance to vote for Bill Walker.
We have even more gas on the North Slope than they are stating, because they aren't even beginning to count the impact of gas hydrates. That is, as you have pointed out, a tremendous resource and entire industries can be built around just the NGLs in North Slope gas. GTL, plastic feedstocks, you name it.
It only makes sense to build a big pipeline to transport gas as efficiently as possible,because doing so drops the price of gas to the consumer. Whether the gas goes into a polypipe grid to heat our homes or into a GTL plant to produce millions of gallons of liquid fuel or into a HDPE plant to make sewer pipe----or all these and many other applications, we need the big pipe to reduce the overall unit price of shipping the gas.
I would like to sit down with you and learn more about the plastic pipe now available and talk about tunneling,too---but more important, I'd like you to get in the loop with Bill Walker. I can almost guarantee you that Bill doesn't care if the pipe is made of steel or plastic---whatever makes better economic and engineering sense, is what he'd go with. I can also virtually guarantee that he's not stuck on digging a 800-plus mile trench, if there's a better way to do it by tunneling.
Don't be frustrated and throw the baby out with the bathwater, just because it seems nobody is listening to you sometimes. We're listening. We're interested. Just get in front of the wagon with the rest of us and push for the main gas pipeline and bring your ideas to dinner---if we get Bill elected there will be about two years to hammer out all the material and engineering options on the big pipeline. If we don't get him elected, we can kiss any chance of a real project goodbye.
These are desperate times and we need that pipeline to avoid a total Oil Bust in Alaska. Please get behind it and pray that Bill Walker shows the grit he is famous for. Let's hope that AIP does the same.
http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209/DistantThunderbolt/?action=view¤t=6inchgaslineP2FBX.jpg
==========
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/901659049.shtml
Everybody will be thunderstruck when they finally realize how such an easy/quick project has amortized itself in 6 months and has an operational lifespan of 100 years.. and there is nothing stopping you from building several little gaslines just like this one.. heck, run one thru Anaktuvuk Pass south to Donlin Creek too, or thread one thru Carter Pass down to Arctic Village too....
There are plans to build a big fiberoptic mainline between Asia and Europe via Nome and Barrow, so why not combine this with a plastic-composite conduit that is a fully functional subsea gasline too ???
http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209/DistantThunderbolt/?action=view¤t=CryogenicGasline1.jpg
YellowFang: Ethan Berkowitz and Left Gara own the Snow City Cafe. Simply because of that, I'm sure there are a bunch of leftie lawyers in downtown Anchorage who think of Berkowitz as a real economic engine.
Obviously, everyone has taken the discussion into the direction of dwelling on either The Little Governor That Could or on Gerald R. Ford over there. Is anyone willing to discuss the party issue?
First off, why is there no explanation as to why Don Wright withdrew? Other than the fact that he's 80 years old and no one is going to vote for him, but that was known from the beginning. Did the AIP put him on the ballot as a placeholder simply so that they could really offer the nomination to a bigger name down the line? If not Bill Walker, perhaps someone else of note? The AIP didn't even field a candidate for lite gov. More fuel for that notion.
When this story first hit, I recall brief mention of the "Rent-A-Party" issue, then people quickly stopped talking about it. I'm not quite as worried about the AIP in that regard as I am the Libertarian Party. When the Senate primary race was still in limbo, didn't I hear someone from the LP suggest that they wouldn't sell their party to Lisa Murkowski, but they would to Joe Miller?
BTW, this Haase guy who the Libertarians are running? He really lives in Oregon. His girlfriend is a former Anchorage resident and LP activist, and apparently still owns her Anchorage house. I guess that makes for a convenient Alaska address for political purposes, but have you noticed that this guy is only running for congressional offices? There is no requirement for length of residency in a state to run for Congress from that state.
--The N-slope gas is 12.5% non-methane--
They are economically inefficient in a world where methane is going to be stuck at $4/mmcf for the next thousand years, and way beyond the life-expectancy of the current shale-gas plays.. Syn-Gas technology is getting cheaper every day until it gets to the point they are as plentiful as BBQ's - everybody has one, they either bought it at the store, got it as a wedding present, or the made their own.
The N-slope gas is .5 non-methane... funny how this matches the 1/8th Royalty Rule when they "split the baby" -- counting molecules, this our heritage resource... BigOil can still make trillions from methane-GTL, and playing their market monopoly games... but Alaska's ethane/propane/helium is as vital to us as the Yukon River.. or should we just give the Yukon River to Canada, or maybe back to the Russians.??
We have plenty of gas-condensate on hand to make a thriving polyolefin thermoplastic industry in Alaska that can export over $50billion annually as finished products.. just the Lower48 desperately needs $500billion of HDPE-pipe to rebuild it's crumbling corroded century old steel-pipe infrastructure.
New composites technology makes new HDPE-resins that are the superior choice for LPG liquid petroleum gas pipelines.. the ASTM D2513 gas pressure de-ratings have been revised dramatically upward for the new graphene-copolymer trimonomer pellets.. and all this at a very competitive price.
So I still don't see why you are always griping about the All Alaska Gas Pipeline? All it would do is reduce the cost of gas feeding into your polypipe system, thereby making gas less expensive for consumers and making your polypipe grid more affordable and desirable?
I don't have any problem with a polypipe grid in tandem with fiber optics or with buried electrical cables, either. It makes more sense than digging up the tundra three times. What I don't understand is your ire toward the All Alaska Gas Pipeline, which as I said, would only cut the cost of gas to the consumers who would be using your polypipe grid.
...get on your frozen knees and dig for gold by following this link
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=DistantThunder&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=100&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=newsminer.com&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images
the following link is a persistent page that doesn't evaporate like the daily blurbs we masquerade around with.
http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?discussion-building our own gas pipeline &id=5333308
99712: Dead on and funny, too.
Enough already. The current gang in Juneau hasn't accomplished a thing, either under the Tsarina, or her hand-picked lackey. Walker would give us an actual choice.
As for the claims that he'll be a spoiler, Bill won't split the vote and let the Democrats in. The Democrats will come in third. Then maybe, at long last, after far too many tries, Berkowitz and Benson will finally figure it out and leave us alone.
(Nah, that's too much to ask.)
If Walker runs, he's got my vote.
..it's a lot of little gaslines-&-fiberoptics going everywhere all over Alaska.
---the following excerpt is copied from another article in the noseminer today..
it dovetails nicely with the polypipe-gasline & fiberoptic-conduit going together like pie-&-icecream... fiberoptic-SCADA is a necessary component to any gasline network [just google it so I don't have to explain it to ya]::::
"""Pat Gamble, UA's president, said the state would reap benefits from major investments in fiber optic, which currently runs north to Deadhorse but is available almost nowhere else in northern and western Alaska. Access to research and academics would expand. Broadband also represents a significant economic development tool, he said.
"The payoff for something like this, and what it will provide for our future, (would be) huge value to the state," Gamble said of proposed fiber optic projects.
A number of firms, including Kodiak-Kenai Cable Company and GCI, are proposing to ring western or northern Alaska's coastlines with submerged fiber optic cable to reach new communities.
Steve Smith, the university system's top information technology specialist, said those projects would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could receive federal stimulus funding. Smith said the university and GCI are looking into cheaper fiber optic options, such as stringing lines — unburied — across tundra or along riverbeds.
Smith said federal communication agencies want to give millions of homes access to the type of broadband service available only with fiber optics. Rural Alaska's existing systems, such as Western Alaska's DeltaNet network, work well locally but fall far short of "connect(ing) to the rest of the world" at higher speeds, he said"""
My advice is to lay out your proposal in terms so clear anyone can understand it, and go for it.
If you can offer a decent plan at a decent cost, you should take it to the legislature post haste. Otherwise, you should shut up.
And in any event, stop carping at the only people who are trying to develop Alaska's gas for Alaska. The pipelines to Canada are just that---pipelines taking our gas to Canada, where we will never get the benefit of developing value added products and all the jobs and infrastructure that goes with it.