ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican incumbent Gov. Sean Parnell stood by his natural gas pipeline strategy during the GOP primary, beating gas-line-based challengers Bill Walker and Ralph Samuels by wide margins. Parnell finished the night with 49 percent of the vote to Walker's 34 percent and Samuels’ 14 percent.
On the day after the primary election, after Republican voters decided to pair Parnell with their nominee for lieutenant governor, Mead Treadwell, some introductions are in order.
“I've known Mead for a large amount of years: he has a large amount of international experience, state and federal experience, solid business background,” Parnell said.
“My goal in the next few days is unity,” Treadwell said. “We've got to bring the party together, the state together, because we have a very important agenda to accomplish.”
Parnell says he and Treadwell have worked together occassionally in the past on Arctic policy issues, and are still learning more about their similarities and differences. One thing they already have in common is their message for voters.
“Clearly the Berkowitz-Benson team is aligned with the Obama administration on resource management issues, on health care, on spending,” Parnell said. “We're different: I think we're more aligned with Alaska values when it comes to developing our resources.”
