Alaska's Gubernatorial Election 2006: Where is John Binkley?

With all the challenges that Alaska's government faces in the coming years, you'd think qualified candidates for Governor would accept every opportunity to share their vision for Alaska.

Not so.

Today at the Alaska Nurses Association candidates forum it was mentioned that Republican candidate John Binkley will no longer participate in any pre-primary debates that are not exclusively Republican in nature. Binkley was the only candidate to decline to participate in today's forum which focused on one of Alaska's biggest challenges, health care.

Meanwhile, he has had no probelms throwing fundraisers in some of the same communities he refuses to show up at gubernatorial debates.

This is a common campaign strategy when the candidate lacks the experience, knowledge and vision to compete on stage with other candidates.

Stay away and just say nothing, especially since he is destined to be in a tough Republican Primary with Sarah Palin and quite likely Loren Leman.

With the specter of Leman entering the race the campaign rhetoric will undoubtedly shift to right. The topic this summer in the GOP primary will predictably about government spending and why current leadership is out of touch with its conservative base. 

Staying away from pre-primary debates and forums will allow him to avoid alienating the far right conservative base that traditionally turns out in a GOP primary.

Binkley can't be arguing in Bethel for more money for PCE or in Fairbanks arguing for more money for the University while telling the voters in Kenai or the Mat-Valley that State spending is out of control. So by hiding, he is trying to have it both ways.

However the question still must be asked; after raising $350,000 in six weeks and obviously being the GOP machines preferred candidate, why in the world is he hiding from Alaska voters?

In my view, John Binkley is hiding because he's scared.

He is afraid of Sarah Palin, he is afraid of Ethan Berkowitz, he is afraid of Eric Croft and he is afraid of Andrew Halcro. In short, the guy doesn't have anything to offer other than cherry picked populist issues. Ironically this is a guy who announced his run for governor in December by saying he wanted to provide leadership for the next generation. 

Having a governor that runs and hides is not the leadership the next generation of Alaskans need.

For the most part he has been absent from key forums. He skipped the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce debate in order to attend a party function in Kenai. But even in those debates he has shown up at from Seward to Kodiak he has arguably been the weakest performer. Pretty embarassing considering this is a guy who raised three times what his closest competitor raised.

It is well known that Binkley was talked into running by a group of special interests, mainly the cruise ship industry. In fact, some of have said he only agreed to run after he received a promise that his campaign would be bankrolled by the industry....and his APOC report tends to support that rumor.

Binkley's seasonal river boat business in Fairbanks garners a large part of its summer business from cruise companies.

According to public records, one of his first donations was a $1,000 (the maximum allowed by law) from the CEO of Holland America Lines on the same day he announced.

Large multi-national cruise companies are worried about the citizens initiative that is on the ballot come August. Today, cruise ship companies take over a billion dollars a year from Alaska and pay nothing in state taxes.

Meanwhile, business owners such as myself are making a payroll and paying state and local taxes in communities like Fairbanks 365 days of the year, when the nearest cruise ship passenger is 2,000 miles away.

Regardless of who is supporting John Binkley's campaign, he should have the courage to stand on stage with Sarah, Ethan, Eric and myself and talk about the critical issues that Alaska faces.

His adopted campaign strategy of hiding below deck sheds light on his experience and ability to captain Alaska.

Looking back, the last well known captain to retreat below deck was Joe Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez.

Enough said.