A recent column from Bill Walker’s political operative left out more than a few inconvenient facts. In a screed of attacks on Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Scott Kendall pulled out all the stemwinders an experienced attorney can and ploughed through the thesaurus to find every juicy adjective a southern soapbox shouter uses to degrade someone.
There’s an old saying: When you have the truth on your side, speak the truth; when you have logic, speak logically; when you have neither, pound the table and talk until you are silenced. Mr. Kendall, and all associated with Bill Walker’s former administration, are pounding a lot of desks right now.
The Walker administration was a case study in the spoils system. His dismantling of the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Project and awarding of contracts to outsiders for hundreds of thousands of dollars rightfully drew the ire of the Legislature and the public. That Walker found his strongest allies with the communist government of China is proof of his failure. It should be a red flag that Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree that it is bad to do business with China, but Kendall and Walker were and are ready to cozy up to them.
When he wasn’t jetsetting with his family to far-flung destinations like Shanghai, Walker instigated a fight over the Permanent Fund dividend. His veto of the dividend, and inability to produce a solution, created the worst of all worlds: The dividend is now a bargaining chip, and there are no rules and no protection for the earnings of the Permanent Fund.
There are so many instances of failed ideas and policies from the Walker/Kendall administration it makes sense that instead of reminding us of what they did, Walker’s former chief of staff (and leader of the failed Recall Dunleavy effort) is engaged in a full-scale communications war. The strategy is simple: Look at the barking man on the corner and hope Alaskans forget how badly you failed.
— Matt Steele
Wasilla
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