Meet Sean Parnell (in which he talks about religion, Don Young, Twitter and various issues he faces as governor)

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: July 28, 2009 - 6:31 pm

Comments (0) |

New governor meets the press in the Anchorage office earlier today. (Bill Roth/ADN)

From Lisa Demer in Anchorage --

Even new Gov. Sean Parnell's staff seemed surprised about the crush of reporters, photographers and camera crews in his office on the 17th floor of the Atwood Building downtown this morning. One aide joked that the suddenly in-demand governor couldn't get a cab before.

One media type noticed a fishing sculpture in his office and asked if he was a fly fisherman. He said he was getting into it but wasn't yet accomplished. He also mentioned that he caught a king salmon, on a spinning rod, this summer at Ship Creek, "but that was before all this happened."

As he met with reporters today in Anchorage, Parnell came across as thoughtful and articulate, a lot different from the "Captain Zero" persona U.S. Rep. Don Young tried to stick him with during last summer's battle for Congress.

Here are highlights from the wide-ranging discussion with reporters:

On religion

Parnell, who attends the Anchorage Christian megachurch ChangePoint, said his faith informs his approach to government. He talked in particular about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“I believe that because our creator endowed us with those rights that I need to treat individuals with respect and dignity as individuals. And that’s the underlying philosophy that I’m guided by in government.”

On whether his open-door policy distinguishes him from former Gov. Sarah Palin

"My goal is not to be different. It’s to be who I am. And who I am is a person who works best when I'm able to interact with people.”

On his legacy

"I'm not worried about defining my own legacy. I'm worried about being effective for Alaskans." Among other things, he said, that means moving ahead on a natural gas pipeline and on gas for the Interior and rural Alaska.

On Alaska's dismal high school graduation rates

"I think it's a shame that more are not graduating, more who enter ninth grade are not graduating at 12th grade. And we have a number of initatives that you will see us pursuing. But at this point, I am not ready to make those announcements."

Asked what he thinks about legislation to require kids to stay in school til age 18 or until graduating, or to tie driver's licenses to diplomas, Parnell said "I prefer carrots rather than sticks. ... I want children to be able to earn the right to go to college and to trade school, if they want."

What does that mean, "earn the right to go to college?"

"You are going to find out more this fall," Parnell said.

He has no interest, though, in a state lottery to pay for education.

On his desire to block Alaska's 8-cents-a-gallon gas tax, set to resume Sept. 1

"I went to Kotzebue about a week and a half ago. I saw gasoline at six dollars a gallon, plus. I had families talking with me and saying they couldn't even afford to go to their fish camp as early as they wanted to because they didn't have the money to pay for gas. I think to saddle Alaskans even with a little tax, I think it's too much. ... We are not at a crisis financially where the state needs an extra $41 million. We're at a place though where Alaskans are feeling the strain of this economy."

On Twitter

Will he tweet about what he's doing through Web-based Twitter, something Palin took to in her last months?

"At this point I don't, but if I do, you will find out (laughter in the room). Frankly there are so many details right now that I haven't gotten to, like that mode of communication. At this point I don't plan to, but please don't hold me to that because if I see the value for informing the public through that means, I'll do it."

On Don Young

Since learning he would be governor, has he talked to U.S. Rep. Don Young, who narrowly beat him the Republican primary in August?

"I have. I did. I called him ... and reached out to him and said I want to work with you. I know we've had some disagreements in the past and I just offered to work with him on any federal-state issues we could agree on." Parnell said he had also talked many times with U.S. Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski.

On a possible role in his administration for Sen. Gene Therriault, R-Fairbanks, whom he's been close to for years

Parnell said he hadn't talked to Therriault about anything specific but "would love Sen. Therriault to be able to join me in the administration. ... His fingerprint on legislation, his work for his constitutents, is there throughout the Legislature, even though he hasn't gotten the credit for the work that he's done. I respect that about him. He doesn't need the personal credit, the personal limelight -- he just wants to get the job done."

On a federal moratorium shutting down new admissions to a state-run health program

"There's a lot happening over there and I've been on top of it," Parnell said. He reeled off numbers: a backlog of 1,850 people awaiting annual assessments of what help they need at home. Money budgeted for 23 nurses to do the evaluations. Only 11 of those positions filled. Parnell said he had directed Bill Hogan, health and social services commissioner, to come up with a strategy to get the job done and said that Hogan has a good team working on the problem.

On the loss of the state public health director, forced out over differences with Palin on social issues

Parnell said he would rely on Hogan to find a competent person for the job.

Will social issues factor in?

"I'm not going to put a litmus test on anybody for that position."

Parnell left the meeting with reporters to have lunch with Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan.

On Wednesday, Parnell was going to be in Juneau, meeting with his commissioners.

login or register to post comments