ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Democratic candidates for governor Ethan Berkowitz and Hollis French will face off in the primary election next Tuesday, and only one will end up on the November ballot to take on a Republican.The Democrats have worked together closely in the past, but now have very different ideas on how to run the state.
“I've been focused on two issues: renewable energy and education,” French said.
“There's far too much complacency, far too much mediocrity, and we need to be solving problems,” Berkowitz said.
French and Berkowitz were once colleagues in the state Legislature. They still share similar priorities, but each has a different plan on how to pay for them.
“The budgets that the Legislature is looking at right now are unsustainable,” Berkowitz said. “They go up and down too much, they follow the price of oil too much -- they're too erratic.”
Berkowitz says instead of spending Alaska's oil wealth each year, the state should start saving. He wants to put oil earnings in the Permanent Fund and use the interest to pay the state's bills.
French defends the current oil tax system and the most recent budget, which he voted for as a state senator. He says he helped lawmakers save up to $12 billion in recent years, and would like to spend the state's oil earnings on renewable energy projects and a natural gas pipeline -- something the state's already working on .
“We're going to get gas to Alaskans -- that's the pointm and the sooner the better,” French said. “But I subscribe to the Costco theory of gas lines, which is ‘Build the biggest one possible.’”
“What we need to do is make sure that we're starting on a pipeline right away, and if it requires getting out of (the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act), we'll find a way of doing it,” Berkowitz said.
Part of the most recent budget included money to set up a scholarship program for Alaska high school students to attend college and post secondary school in-state. But French says there are not enough vocational schools teaching job skills. He says he'd commit funds to build more, and he says he'd try to make teaching a more attractive career.
“First things first, fix our broken retirement system for public employees -- we have the worst retirement system for public employees in the nation,” French said.
Berkowitz says he would treat each student as an individual and try to eliminate standardized testing. He says another easy change would be to push back school start times.
“I think starting high school at 7:30 in the morning is way too early,” Berkowitz said. “And I could give you studies, but I can also just tell from personal experience, kids don't get up that early ready to learn.”
Berkowitz and French have both worked as attorneys, and as governor would have to oversee multiple state lawsuits against the federal government, on topics ranging from the polar bear’s endangered-species listing to the recent national health care reform.
“I noticed that Sean Parnell has a tendency to sue first and ask questions later,” Berkowitz said. “I think you need a leader who's willing to do first, and talk first before you go to the courts.”
“You know, there's times when you have to stand up and say, ‘That's wrong,’” French said. “I've done that against (former Gov.) Frank Murkowski, I'm happy to stand up against the toughest oil companies, I'm happy to stand up for Alaska when it's called for. But many times you have to work together.”
Berkowitz and French are carefully campaigning so as not to divide their party -- because whoever takes on a Republican this year will need Democrats' full support.
Any registered voter, regardless of party affiliation, is allowed to vote in the Democratic primary election.
On Friday night we'll feature the Republicans running for governor.
Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com
