Why Governor Parnell Is Hiding

June 14, 2010: Why is Governor Sean Parnell hiding? Easy. He doesn't want to answer for his record.

This week Parnell skipped his fourth debate in this short primary election season, drawing criticism from his opponents who want to question him on his leadership as governor.

“We’re missing the one guy we all wish was here so we could have a debate,"said Republican candidate Ralph Samuels. “We schedule it, it’s hard but we show up when we're asked to show up. That’s the first criticism I have of this administration, let’s see what you want to talk about. Let’s talk to Alaskans about their future,” Samuels was quoted in the Anchorage Daily News.

Parnell has good reason to stay away; political survival.

Just like the Hippocratic oath, rule number one in politics is first do no harm. With polls showing Parnell's approval ratings high enough that he shouldn't be afraid to debate his challenges, his poll numbers are misleading, hence his debate dodging.

Parnell's approval ratings remain high because he is not Sarah Palin. His ratings are a mile wide and an inch deep, and reflect more on the current name and campaign identification of his opponents than any deep love for him as governor.

These thin poll numbers pose risks to an incumbent that has little to show for his time as Lt. Governor and Governor other than a few bad decisions and a host of shortcomings.

Here are a few of Parnell's liabilities:

Alaska's Economy

The unemployment rate remains high, many industries are hurting, and Parnell refuses to acknowledge this with any solutions. Yes he advocated for reducing the cruise ship head tax, but the state had a shaky legal case defending a portion of the tax because of federal law.

Alaska's biggest (and basically only) taxpaying industry, the oil & gas industry, has been hammered by the ACES tax plan adopted under Parnell's predecessor and supported by Parnell when he was Lt. Governor.

While Parnell advocated for tax relief that eventually died, it wasn't substantive enough and he didn't fight nearly hard enough if he was serious about getting lawmakers to approve the measure.

Meanwhile the industry continues to bleed jobs and investment is declining. By next year oil production (which pays for 90% of the state's expenses) is predicted to drop below 600,000 barrels by industry experts.

Managing Government

The Denali Kid Care legislation, which would have expanded health care coverage to children and pregnant women, that Parnell stated was his priority, was pushed through at the end of legislative session when it appeared dead. "The bill was dead and had little support until the governor pushed hard and said it was his priority, so lawmakers passed it," one legislative staffer told me last week in Juneau.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Parnell turned around and vetoed the bill, even though it never would have passed without his insistence. Parnell's stated reason was that he didn't know funds used to provide health care also went for abortions determined to protect the health of the mother.

This doesn't even pass the straight face test given the Supreme Court has already ruled the state cannot discriminate.

So either Parnell was clueless about his own legislation, or he intentionally pushed the bill so he could veto it later and gain favor with Jim Minnery's crew over at the so called Alaska Family Council. (If these people were at all concerned about families they wouldn't have praised the governor's self serving veto that kept health care from low income Alaskan families)

Another Achilles heel for Parnell is the ongoing saga of the dairy that is bleeding the state's agriculture loan fund. Parnell inherited this problem from Palin, after she was determined to keep her friends and neighbors in business, even if it meant a government bailout.

Last week the Board of Agriculture, still controlled by the cabal of Valley farmers and friends, voted to once again defer loan payments to a dairy that has never paid it's own way the entire time their doors have been open.

An email received on the subject from my source pointed out the political liability of the state throwing good money after bad for the last two years.

"I assume that the noise level will continue to be kept very, very low until after the election. The Board deferred ARLF loan payments for Valley Dairy, Byers, etc to allow time for the election to protect themselves and their friends. The next Administration, Attorney and Staff will deal with the default on these loans."

Parnell has been silent on the entire matter and his Commissioner of DNR Tom Irwin is responsible for this mess (among others) and has escaped any accountability.

But the 800 pound gorilla in the room is the Natural Gas Pipeline.

AGIA

Three years ago Parnell defended AGIA in an op/ed in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner by writing that it was the best way to get a pipeline. He was wrong...dead wrong.

AGIA's open season closes in less than seven weeks and all indications are the Parnell government plan to twist the arms of oil & gas companies to roll over and pay for the most expensive oil & gas project in the history of the United States will fail.

Parnell is loath to have to answer any questions about his obvious shortcomings in handling Alaska's fleeting hope for a pipeline and how his "less government" stance is in line with the government mandates on a private sector project.

His gasline team has spent a boat load of cash trying to gin up something that looks like success, but have failed at every turn. The litigation at Point Thompson continues to hamper progress and his DNR is so anti-oil industry that they make Hugo Chavez look like a capitalist.

The Takeaway

What is amazing to me is that a governor, who over the last few years has taken very populist stances, is refusing to stand up and defend his positions to the populist.

The biggest criticism of Parnell is that he has no leadership skills, no vision and no backbone. The fact that he is hiding from debates as the incumbent, instead of showing up and defending his record is proof the criticism has merit.

We know from history that the captain of the ship is expected to be on the bridge during critical times.

In Governor Sean Parnell's case, he is hiding below deck.

C'mon captain, be a man and show up to defend your record.