October 5, 2022 — Two candidates running for Alaska governor blasted Republican incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy for missing a longstanding Kodiak debate focused on commercial fishing.
Democratic former state lawmaker Les Gara and independent former Gov. Bill Walker both agreed with each other more often than they disagreed as they shared a Kodiak stage Monday evening, facing a series of questions about the industry. Both said they would hire a dedicated fisheries adviser in the governor’s office if elected; both criticized the current governor’s administration for what they said was inaction on bycatch.
Gara and Walker drew distinctions between themselves and the sitting governor not on stage, criticizing his decision late last year to create a new task force to address issues relating to bycatch — incidental harvest of fish like salmon and halibut by commercial operators that cannot be processed or sold.
“All too often, a task force is used to avoid making a decision,” Walker said. “Every time you turn around, there’s another task force. I want a do-force.”
Both candidates have consistently criticized the governor for declining invitations to debates and forums as the November election draws near. And both have encouraged voters to rank the other candidate second.
“You have to wonder about somebody who won’t share their ideas with you. You have to wonder about somebody who doesn’t come to listen to you,” Gara said Monday. “I’m not ranking Gov. Dunleavy. If he doesn’t have the courtesy to show up to over 90% of the debates, then he’s got ideas he doesn’t want to share with people.”
Dunleavy traveled to Nome on Monday “to check on the recovery/rebuilding process” after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok last month caused widespread damage in communities along more than 1,000 miles of the Western Alaska coast. Asked about the specific goals of the trip to Nome, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner said he had no timeline or itinerary for the trip.
Even before the storm struck, the Kodiak debate was not one of the five Dunleavy had confirmed he would join in an August announcement from his campaign, when Dunleavy said that the selected debates represent “as many interests as possible.” Dunleavy later canceled his participation in one of the five forums he had committed to, in order to respond to the storm fallout in Western Alaska.
“We picked five events out of easily more than a dozen invitations because for a full-time governor it is simply not possible to accept every invitation, and I think the justifications for that is certainly borne out yesterday because the governor was traveling and is still traveling today to Western Alaska to check on the recovery progress,” Dunleavy campaign spokesperson Andrew Jensen said Tuesday. “Certainly no disrespect is intended for the fishing community.”