earn more, and move from government dependence to work. growing up as a kid, i do not remember anyone in my class who said, hey scott, someday, when i grow up, i want to be dependent on my government. freedom and prosperity does not come from the government. it comes from empowering people. that is the american dream. i want to help everybody live their piece of the american dream, and that is why i ask for your vote. >> i know wisconsin can do better. i know that by ensuring that everyone has a fair shot, it -- we will do better. governor walker has had four years, and his approach, the push those at the top ahead of you, just is not working. we are dead last in the midwest in terms of job creation. and it is not getting any better. 2014 is on track to be the worst year in job creation of the last five years.

tax cuts for millionaires and special interest does not create jobs. growing the middle class does. if our economy had just kept pace with the rest of the country over the last three years, our economy would be $4 billion a year bigger. that is $4 billion tickets spent in local communities and businesses. it is a tax base to fund infrastructure while reducing taxes. think about what that means to you. a better neighborhood school for your children. college that is more affordable. greater economic security in your retirement. the failure of the last four years is far too real for far too many. the average family has seen their real income declined by $3000. i will put politics aside and focus on what works. i do not care if an idea is a democrat or republican idea, just that it gets results.

along with ensuring a fair shot for everyone, i want to change the tone. governor walker's approach, in his own words, has been to divide and conquer. that is not the wisconsin way. we have to remember that we are all on the same team, and it should not matter whether democrat or republican, we have to put politics aside and just get the job done. with the direction that i have laid out, i know that, based on my experience with business, we can do this. we can be a top 10 driving economy, the leader in the midwest. my career has been about seeing the possibilities, taking on challenges. whether it is from leading european operations, expanding the boys and girls club, serving as secretary in the department of commerce, or creating an educational initiative that has opened doors for nearly 1000 teens, i see the possibilities in the work that we can do in wisconsin to move wisconsin

forward. i cannot wait to get to work as your governor. we have everything that we need to be a growing, thriving, innovative state that is a leader across the country. i ask for your vote on november fourth, and to join me in building a wisconsin that works for everyone. thank you. >> that wraps up the second of two debates. thanks to the candidates, our panelists, and viewers. thank you and good night. >> that concludes the debate between the wisconsin gubernatorial candidates, democrat mary burke and republican scott walker. wisconsin television and radio stations work together to produce this debate in order to ensure that every citizen of wisconsin has an opportunity to

hear and see the two leading candidates for governor. the debate has been sponsored by and aarp ofdation, wisconsin. we would like to thank the candidates for their participation, as well as tonight's moderator, and panelists. remember to vote on november 4. on behalf of the wisconsin the broadcaster's association, thank you and good night. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> our campaign 2014 coverage continues with a week full of debates. on monday night at 8:00 eastern, the georgia governor's debate between nathan deal and jason carter. at 8:00, live on c-span two, the montana u.s. senate debate.

tuesday night and 9:00 on c-span, the south carolina governor's debate between five candidates. c-span campaign 2014, more than 100 debates for the control of congress. in alaska, republican governor sean parnell faces two challengers in his reelection bid. independent party candidate bill walker and libertarian party candidate carolyn clift. it is an hour. >> welcome to the 2014

gubernatorial debate. it's good to see so many of you here today. thank you for coming out. i will have some quick things to bring up right at the start. to reduce the possibility of some interference, the management here at the civic center recommends turning off the cell phones, please. along those lines for the candidates, if we could request during your responses in the openings and closings in the interest of time to please stay seated and we will use the mics there in front of your tables. thank you very much. ofally, thank you to those you who submitted your questions ahead of time for the debate. our attention is to post the

remaining questions for the candidates during interviews at a later time. thank you for sending those questions in. we have three gubernatorial candidates with us today. our first relates to our current governor, governor sean parnell. carolyno his right is clift, and to her right is an independent candidate, bill walker. today's moderator of the event is nick bowman. reporterthe ketchikan who covers ketchikan and the state of alaska. >> this bill be a 70 m-minute debate. each candidate will be given the same opportunity to speak. the moderator will determine who

is to speak and when. the opening statement re will begun with governor san per nell. the first request will be directed to carolyn clift. then the order will be bill walker and governor parnell. after the first question, who starts will be rotated amongst the three candidates. the closing statements will begin with bill walker, followed by miss clift and governor parnell in that order. opening statements will be two and a half minutes each. answers to the questions will be given two minutes each. closing statements will be three minutes each. the timers in the front-over will display the appropriate flag, the yellow, 30 southbound remain -- 30 seconds remaining, red means your time is fully elapsed. speaking after the red flag is displayed will result in reduction of time for closing arguments for the one who exceeds husband or her -- exceeds husband or already tomb. please hold your applause until

the do but a's conclusion. we'll begun with opening statements. governor parnell. >> thank you, and ketchikan, it's great to be back, and a week and a half ago i was here to make that announcement about the two ferries being built in alaska, but built in ketchikan and that was exciting news elm the kind of economic opportunity that was strong leadership, visionary leadership, and a strong community, we can accomplish together, not just here in ketchikan but across the state. at your governor i have worked to grow opportunities for alaska yan, not just here but throughout alaska. here in ketchikan i have fought for you, for your local jobs and local businesses. fought authorize see she shipyard, alaska fores build by alaskans in alaska.

i nailed down the marine highway headquarterses system and i loved it when i saw pfeifferys sitting out there -- five fores sitting out there. together we brought the cruise ships back. refueling alaska's and ketchikan's small businesses, the identify -- fire hall. the bridges, and i know that infrastructure is key to quality of life and economic development. protected the jobs associated with our timber industry and resource development in the timber industry throughout southeast, including here. supported the fishing industry with state investment and management, marketing and infrastructure. you all know where i stand. and for all alaskans i am the candidate who is optimistic

about our future. see we have a bright future because alaskans know how to grasp opportunity in front of us. i'm running for re-election because the job of creating opportunities is not done. that path of opportunity needs to be wider and deep are for us and future generations. we'll drive more economic development to southern and southeast. we're going to create even more tubs for the young people. i started with the alaska performance scholarships that over 3,000 alaska young pool earned. we're going to get a gas line and blow out career technical out caution opportunities. just make those even more possible for our young people. my policies are thoughtful, consistent, stable, and certain. always for alaskans. always with our future in mind, and i'm ask for your vote in november. thank you. >> miss clift. >> so, do i push thus? >> the mic should be on. >> oh, caw. all right. well, first of all i want to say, thank you for inviting me. i really enjoyed my stay here in ketchikan. stayed to gillmor hotel last new england, and ate at anna p.m.'s and it was awesome, and everybody has been just

wonderful, and i've never been here before and i really have enjoyed it. i am the clubber -- the libertarian candidate for governor. the party was founded in 1971 as a protest to the two-party system. we felt there was really no difference in the two major parties, and one of the parties based on the principles on which this coup triwas founded. recent events here in alaska bear out there really is no difference between the republican and the democratic party. today, you, the voters of alaska, need to make a chows between the big government candidates and the candidate who represents individual liberty. you need to make a choice between a woman who will fight for your individual freedom and minimize government, or you may choose career politicians who will do or say anything to get elected. alaska has a libertarian history. back in the mid-'70s, early '80s

we had bib her tareans in th-- libertarian ned the state legislature. alaskaons today enjoy a permanent fund dividend and no state income tax. that is why we need a libertarian governor today. i'll be able to trim and slash state budgets until we get down to the bear bones government that we can afford, with oil revenues dwindling, only a libertarian governor can keep us from going back to the state income tax. we need to keep revenue flowing into the permanent fund. for investments. so that our permanent fund dividends will continue. alaska was founded on the pioneer spirit of rugged individualism and alaskans want to be able to take care of. thes and their own families instead of relying on big government to supply their needs. so, i am the best choice for governor today. and i believe a good leader shows by exam that she -- by example that she has high principle. i'll be able to work on both

sides of the aisle because i am neither democrat nor republican and i'm not conservative or liberal. i always milwaukee decisions for smaller -- make decisions for smaller government, individual privacy, and i'm out of time. so, thank you very much. >> mr. walker. >> good afternoon. it's great to be back in depth can. quite a story getting here. we had an opportunity to into also but more of southeast by the fog in juneau, my running meat and -- running made and you were automobile -- able to come through cake and meet some folks and then on to ketch cab. it's another chapter of an incredible story we have had. toes that don't know me, i'm a pro love christian, husband of 37 years, father of four children, grandfather of two, and soon to be two more grandchildren.

was born in the territory of alaska in fair banks and grew up in a construction family. i grew up poundings nails at an early case in valdez, before the earthquake. when the earthquake became shaking we became house movers. i worked construction on the oil pipeline. the first time i swung a hammer and actually got paid for it in the family business we didn't get regular pay checks of. i have commercial fished and owned many businesses. working as a builder i put myself through college, through law school. my wife and i have opened a law firm in average, and we specialize in municipal law, oil

and gas law, representing municipalities. my mission or what brings me to run for governor has a lot to do with the future of this state. when i ran the first time, governor hickle came to me and said you run as independent. i did not follow his advice. and when i see emily hickle she says, wally told you to run as an independent, and i am, and it feel goods. i'm very honored to be running with byron mallot as my running meat. it's about our mission and why we are running together. it's really about the future of the state. we think we need leadership. we need to have a vision for the state, long-term plan. we're very concerned about the fiscal situation in our state. i'm sure that will come up in the debate today. but that's not -- what excites me is not the fact we'll be able to fix the fiscal situation. we have a great future in the state. the most resource-rich state in the nation. we just have a distribution problem. so we'll build the

infrastructure we need make that happen. thank you very much for this opportunity. i hope to have your vote on november 4th. >> we'll start with our questions. the first question is regarding health care and start with miss clift. would your administration reconsider expanding the availability of medicaid in alaska and how will it address the increasing difficulty many alaskans have in finding affordable health insurance? >> i was not a -- excuse me -- no, i would not be expanding medicaid at this point.

it's only two years now until the end of the offer we had from the federal government. and at the end of that two years of time, the state government would have to take over if the payments for medicare and it would be the matching funds it is currently with the rest of the medicaid payments. so, i don't think that's a good idea because we're going to get people on medicaid and then they'll feel they're entitled, and then two years they will not be -- we'll not be able to afford it anymore. as for expanding access to health care, i think we need to use a lot of healthcare professionals that are not mds so that we have a lot more opportunities for people to get access to health care, so we'll

be hiring a lot of professionals that will be working with mds but they can work kind of like the community health aide system, i where they have contact with a doctor if they need one. and that would help people get access and would also help keep the costs down. >> mr. walker. >> i will be accepting expanded medicaid immediately. the reason is that it helps somewhere between 26 and 40,000 alaskans and is not the numbers for me that helps alaskans. i'll make decisions about what is best for alaskans. there are a number of reasons i'll be doing that. number one can is we have already paid for it. somebody is getting the benefit of what we paid, just not alaska. let me put the proviso. the acceptance of if witness the -- assuming the federal government funds it 100% which they're contracted to do for three years. if that changes we'll revisit it. in the meantime we'll be helping thousands and thousands of alaskans that do not presently have health care. the other issue creates approximately 4,000 new

healthcare jobs in alaska and brings down the cost of health care in general. those individuals get health care by going to the emergency room and we pay for that. that's not a healthcare plan. by the time they do that, there's preventive health care they could have received prior to going to the emergency room. so i'm certainly in favor of that. we intend to do everything we income alaska to bring down the cost of health care. there's a number of things we can do that we have not done to bring down the cost and we have to be pro-active. it affects every area of our life. affects workers comp rates. we have to bring down -- some of the highest healthcare costs in the nation and have to do everything we took bring it down. so so i will be accepting expanded medicaid. >> governor parnell? >> i chose not pursue expanded medicaid. obviously we need more accessible, affordable health care, but i want to speak to why i did not. alaska has 700,000 people and 151,000 of those are currently on medicaid. our current medicaid system is not sustainable. nationally and on the state -- from the state perspective as well.

151,000 people, the total spending and total spending on those people, who qualify, is approximately 11,000 per person. to expand medicaid requires us to pay $44,000 per person for those expanded -- for expanding medicaid. that is to my way of thinking not a smart way to go. think we can develop a smarter way to move here. bill walker indicated we have already paid for it. we have not. our nation has a $17 trillion debt. we will be borrowing money to pay for expanded medicaid. our kids and grandkids have to pay that debt if we take the billions from the federal government today. i think there's a smarter way where we can provide accessible, affordable health care. i tasked an advisory group to work this year to come up with a way. mr. walker also indicated that

it would add 4,000 jobs. also false. that was from a report that made some bad assumeses, and the assumption was that there are 43,000 people who don't qualify for medicaid. there are actually 10,000 to 12,000. also made the assumption that those people do not have access to primary health care, which they do through the community health centers and the public health centers and the tribal network that we pay for with tax dollars. there's a smarter, more efficient way to get access for those at the poverty level or below. i'll continue working with the medicaid review group to do that. thank you. >> our next question will start with mr. walker. regards the alaska marine highway system. the state of alaska's building two ferries and designing a replacement for the aging ferry that serves southwest, a. how will your administration address the half century old mainline ferries and maintain the vital service between southeastern alaska, washington stayed and british columbia. >> i had the pleasure of riding on some of the inaugural journeys of the ferries. that was very exciting. i seem to be getting older and the ferries are getting older and it's time replace those. i applaud what has happened recently on the announcement. i applaud the bipartisan coalition that in the legislature that created the funding. we have to place those and my first choice is the replacement is done here at ketchikan at the

local shipyard. i brag regularly about what goes on in ketchikan because you actually make a product. i love when i go to the shipyard and meet a young lady and ask her where she says and she -- a welder, she says i was born here in ketchikan. the next young person was bon here. i love that. that's a rarity in our state. so you're the shining examples. we need tree place the ferries and need a funding vehicle. we need to make sure there are ferries that can be used year around and withstand the weather in alaska, go out as far as dutch harbor, so you -- our business in valdez would totally depend upon a ferry showing up on schedule, and i think that's critical. and it's the main stay of our economy in this state, not u.s. >> southeast in south central and western alaska as well. i'm fully support tv of the highway system. >> governor parnell. >> the alaska marine highway system is southeast0s highways. it connects us as communities. i can say that as a juneau resident. connects us as businesses. it enables our livelihoods. i'm fuelly committed to ensuring

the sustainability and the perpetuation of the alaska marine highway system. i'm also cognizant that it takes strong leadership in communities, in companies, like vigor alaska today, alaska ship and dry dock yesterday, and a leader who recognizes the opportunity that is here to build alaska ferries here. i have a responsibility as governor to make sure that the money that the legislature gives me appropriates for me to negotiate a ferry, again-spent widely. vigor alaska said they could get us two ferries built in ketchikan for that total of $120 million. that was appropriated that i actually proposed in my budget to fund those two ferryies. through some touch negotiations the shipyard came through. they do what alaskans do, and they won the bid. it was something that was -- i think it's going to be -- it's just going to set a conerstone on a foundation -- cornerstone for a foundation on alaska having the corner on the maritime industry.

a new industry for alaska, but here in ketchikan is where it starts. so i'm excited about those twoer in ferries being built here. that will give the ketchikan shipyard a leg up when the next mainline ferry is built. i helped to secure funding this the its $40 million or $50 million on the first mainline ferry. but let's get the ferries best interests here, built well, on budget and on time and ketchikan will see years of ship-building to come. thank you. >> miss clift. >> think the alaska marine highway is a wonderful concept and it has been the main transportation for this area for many, many years. i think that all of the state transportation money that is dedicated to this area should go into keeping the marine highway maintained and in production, and i'm ecstatic we're getting the two ferries built here in

ketchikan. i'm hoping there will be lots of jobs for the people here in this area because of the shipyards going into production on the two ferries, and i think that's a wonderful thing. i know there's a lot of talk about the road systems in this area. but they all depend on the ferries, so the ferries are the main idea that we need to keep going, and we need to keep money flowing into that system and into maintaining the system. >> our next question relates to logging and will begin with governor parnell. how important is timber harvesting to your plan to spur economic growth in southeast alaska? >> timber harvesting is incredibly important to the job citizen families represented by those jobs in southeast alaska as well as south program and the interior as well. i fought for your timber jobs, not just in alaska but in washington, dc and the secretary's office. on several occasion is spoke with him and advocated for the

big horn sale which we took a step forward on. one of the issues is d.c. has taken control away from regional decisionmaking, from local decisionmaking, and that is a huge problem because the forest is there for us as southeast residents to use and to access, and when the federal government throws locks in our way, whether through endangered species listings, whether through delays in permitting, whether through impeding access in terms of road-building, it just doesn't -- doesn't just -- for a place for a rain forest, for tonga's forest that is supposed to be multiple use to be held on to for a single purpose. when -- when the u.s. forest service is starting to charge money to take pictures of the forest we have a federal government that it out of control. i will tell you that i can speak

with secretary vilsak in a respectful manner. when he called me and said sequestration will require me to take back the timber receipts, i didn't just give him a knee-jerk no-no. i said what's your legal basis for making that request? and you could have heard the crickets. there was no legal basis and i said no. and they went and found the money elsewhere. so i will always stand up for timber jobs and will continue making sure that our families here have that opportunity. thank you. >> miss clift. >> alaska ya's natural resources must be developed. that's the way we have economic liberty, and timber is a very important resource in this area. so as a libertarian, i would like to get the feds away from

alaska. there's too many rules and regular layings. there's too much control. there's too much epa interference. there's delays that by -- and environmental studies and there's all kinds of things they have put in our way. road blocks in our way, and i will fight with every power that i have to make sure that those road blocks are removed and we can have a viable timber industry going on from now on. we believe in economic liberty. economic liberty provides an environment that means more dollars on the table and more jobs for alaskans and as governor that's what i will bring.

>> mr. walker. >> driving forest for us to become a state what our timber resource opportunitys and to have better control over that ourselves. we have watched that dwindle over the years and virtually tom could a complete halt. i'm glad to see some small sales taking place bus not enough to sustain an economy. there's much more we can do. when the president of the united states come to alaska i'll meet with him. i'll meet with him and when he is on his way to a trade mission to asia i'll meet with him with my suitcase say, where is my seat, we have some things to talk about on the flight. we need to engage the administration. when they come to alaska we need to show them the respect that they're entitled to, whichever party they are, and encourage them to understand our state. the roadless rule has taken a toll on timber harvest in this area. infrastructure is what i'm all about.

my building background, the role of government in alaska is to create the infrastructure for our economy to work, and so i will be very aggressive in that regard, very respectful but i will deal first hand with the federal government to help them understand what we need to do, and i know there's lots of litigation associated with timber sales. we certainly have seen that. i think there's -- i would like a different approach with that. i think the approach is certainly very aggressive on the state side and also sit down and say, we need an economy, we need to work. we have the resources here, so i will be very aggressive on timber sales in alaska. thank you. >> this next question will start will misclift and it is regarding social ills. it was submitted via e-mail and asks: what are your plans to reduce sexual assault, domestic violence, substance abuse, and suicide in alaska? and how specifically do you intend to reduce or prevent the impact of these social ills on children and adolescents. >> let me get that repeated so i can touch each of those things.

there's a lot of stuff there. >> what are your plans to reduce sexual assault, domestic violence, substance abuse, and suicide in alaska, and how specifically do you intend to reduce or prevent the impact of these social ills on children and adolescents. >> first of all, i have studied this quite a bit. i would like to say that we -- it all starts with education. we need to make sure that people understand that pain and suffering is not part of affection for your family, and i think this is something that is engrained in certain cultures, there's some kind of pain involved with being in love with somebody else, and i think that

this is -- we have got to be educated. people have to be educated about the fact that when you love somebody, you don't hurt them. and i think this is a terrible thing, and there's a lot of people that are dependent on these relationships and they think they have to put up with a lot of abuse in their home to maintain the relationship. so that's the first thing that i would do about domestic assault, is i would make education available. i would also make support groups available in each village and in all of the towns where we can find out where there will be somebody to call if you are in a situation where you need to get out of that situation, you need to have somebody to call, a friend to go to.

you need all of that. substance abuse, again, it's a problem with education, it's a problem with people taking personal responsibility for their own lives. a lot of our villages are dry villages but that doesn't keep people from using drugs or alcohol just because ovillage is dry or because it's illegal. suicide is a factor of not having enough future ahead of you, of graduating from school or leaving school and not having a goal, not understanding how you can advance yourself. i think, again, it all starts withthe children and adolescents and we need to protect them. thank you. >> mr. walker. >> alaska unfortunately has the highest rate in all those of anyplace in the nation. we have that that for many, many

years. i want to see what happens in the states that the lowest rate. which state is that? what do they do differently? i would choose action and the action consists of the following. aaron's law, passed by 19 states, says -- provides for education of our young people about domestic violence, sexual assault, as age-appropriate levels. and the best way to defend for our children's to defend themselves is with education. the greatest defense we can have, as far as what is inappropriate and who to call. that's absolutely critical. i will also -- when someone comes to my office, as governor, and -- to tell me about sexual assault going on in the national guard,'ll do an investigation immediately. i will not wait four years. i dealt with that professionally for clients and that's the way it's handled when someone makes an allegation. an investigation should have been done a long time ago to not do that sends the wrong message to victims and others in a similar situation. in the suicide rates in rural

alaska, young alaska native men are the 13 higher than the national average. there are a number of ways to bring that down. we need an economy in rural alaska in order to have an economy we need to break down the cost of energy. allow them to have a path forward out of the situations they may find themselves in and we can only do that with career training and lower cost energy. it is a number -- a very, very high problem in our state, is this sexual assault domestic violence, and suicide rates. >> governor parnell. >> i was taught by my parents to address a big lie head on so i'm doing it right now. what bill walker said, did nothing in the face of sexual assault victims coming to my office is an absolute falsehood. i went in, went to my leadership in the national guard and investigated. in 20. in fact, multiple times in 2011, 2012 as well. senator begich did the same thing in 2012 and found the same thing, everything appeared

reasonably handled. senator found the same thing. i wasn't until i had specific facts how our command structure was failing victims that i called in the office of complex investigations to do that deep dive. so, so i want to set the record straight. going back to this epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault, had a person who thanked me last march for what the choose respect initiative has done for their community. a community of 400 people. five years ago she said the woman said she came interest the community as a new teacher and was told that 100% of the girls in her high school would be sexually assaulted in, high school, and the was floored. the said that changed today and started with the choose respect initiative. it started because people in the community were raised up and became mentors for the young people in the high school. and i said how can you know that nobody in that high school has been sexually assaulted. she said becaused to every one of them has a healthy relationship with an adult and they would speak of it. so the choose respect initiative is about prevention, about intervention-getting more vpsos and troopers in the commune that didn't have any, and being about supporting shelters and the counseling services there. so thank you.

>> the next question will start with mr. walker and deals with coastal zone management. the state of accurately does not have a coastal zone management program in your view do coastal communities have adequate opportunities to participate in development decisions that affect them and would your administration support any changes to the status quo? >> i come from local government. that's my background. valdez as well as my professional work representing municipalities.

i believe in local input. one reason that causes myself and byron mallot to seek the office is we're concerned about the lack of -- over the years we're pulling more and more control, opportunity for input from local government. coastal zone management provided that. i'm not aware of the process stopped but providing input early on and that's important at a local level. there should be input early on, not every a decision is made and then you have three minutes to testify and give your input. the problem when you take away local input is then the only tools available is for them to seek legal redress and that's what you don't want. you want them to have an opportunity to provide input at the table early on. i was from valdez. there's an organization created after the oil spill, funded by the industry and they work on joint projects. there's no issue and because of that we end up with a safer shipping lane, shipping traffic out of prince williams sound and the give of alaska.

so i'm a big believer in having local input as early on in the process as possible, and that is the more expose dishes way rather than to take it away -- -- i'm very supportedtive of local government having input early on in the process. not on a veto basis but provide input early on. >> governor parnell. >> the people have spoken, and the people spoke in the form of turning down the re-establishment of the coastal zone management in the initiative process. so we'll not be returning to the coastal zone mansion. process. but local government, local people have input and a seat at the table on every environmental permitting decision. and i have to ask the question, the opposite of what mr. walker just said. name one project that has moved forward today to permitting that shouldn't have and wouldn't have if the coastal zone management process had been in place?

nobody has been able to name one, and the reason is because there are multiple opportunities for alaskans to have the input and to bring their own science forward for people -- for the decisionmakers to consider, and you have decisionmakers who get held accountable for their actions. so, at this point, the people have spoken, and i'm sticking with that vote. thank you. >> miss clift. >> coastal zone management was rejected, and i think that the local input is most important input for all of this. so, i agree with actually both of you said the same thing, that local input was more important and i believe all of our natural resources need to be developed in the most environmentally safe way, and the people to do that are most closest to the environment, people that are actually doing the job, and they will protect the environment and they will protect the coast in their areas. so, that's my position on that. i don't have a lot of background in this, but i do believe that the local input is the most important piece of this. >> in the next question starts with governor parnell and regards the education lawsuit filed by the ketchikan gateway

bureau. the bureau sued the state of alaska, claim that alaska's constitution requires the state to fully fund local public schools. do you adeor disagree with the lawsuit? >> do i agree or disagree with the lawsuit? i agree that the state of alaska has a constitutional obligation to fund a public school system in alaska, and we do that through the legislative process, and so as this state's governor i've been proud to support funding for cache can schools, the entire state of alaska. this year i sent forward the more -- the alaska education opportunity act and that act created more opportunities for choice within the public school system, and created more funding. i've had this kind of weight on my shoulder, saying parnell is not increasing funding for education. we have increased funding for k-13 from 1.3 billion to $1.10 billion over my years. it's up to us as your representatives, of the public purse to hold districts accountable for performance in the classroom for our kids. i think our kids deserve the best education they can get. so i will continue working to

tie any funding to new opportunities for our kids to advance. for example, championed the alaska scholarship. over 3,000 kid have earned the right to those scholarships by taking more courses than are required to graduate from high school, and its has set them up for tuition payments to the university of alaska system and to job training programs around the state. we're going to make it through that 90% graduation rate. we have been growing that graduation rate but it's going to take more than new funding. it's going to take new funding and new tuns. thank you. >> miss clift. >> the alaska constitution says very clearly that k-12 education will be fully funded. so when i am governor, that will be the one area of the budget that will not be cut. if we -- it will be fully funded, and one of the problems i have seen in reviewing what is going on, is that the revenue sharing that is also in the constitution, and by state statute, has not been going on as it should be. there should be revenue sharing between the state and the municipalities and the burrows, and we're not getting the full revenue sharing that is required.

there are certain things in the constitution where they say that certain entities are exempt from property tax, for instance, and there's also state statutes that say that, for instance, seniors are exempt for the first 150,000 of their property. and the state should be reimbursing for those property tax exemptions, and that's not going on. >> mr. walker. >> i have had the opportunity to review that -- piece of litigation, actually saw it before it was filed as part of the alaska municipal attorneys association. and there was a tremendous amount of support in the organization for that. a tremendous amount of empathy and acknowledgment that something had to be done. it's a bold move for ketchikan to do what you did. i've been involved in a few bold moves myself and i know it can be kind of lonely out there when you take that first step, but there are communed and local governments around the state that are watching carefully and applauding what you're doing. this is the fiscal situation that local governments find ourselves in, and the concern is that there are other areas that funding could be shifted to local governments as well, and that just isn't the way the constitution is set up. think it's a bold move. die support what you're doing.

i think it's time to step up and say enough is enough, and so i certainly am sorry we reached that point. i'll put it that way. and i know there's lots of things that must have been done prior that point but at some point you have to say enough is enough and stand up for what you feeling right, and i applaud your efforts on that. >> this next question will begin with miss left and regards mining in british columbia. proposed large, scale mines in british columbia have raises concerns about the potential impact on southeast alaska's fish stocks and other resources. how can the state of alaska ensure our southeast alaska resources are protected from any ill effects from bc mines? >> that's an ex-len question. -- excellent question, especially that we're looking at the pebble mine that is also going to be impacting fishing in the bristol bay area. we're looking at what happened in canada, and there has -- canada had a treaty. they've had a treaty with us

1909. they were supposed to be taking care of the damage they're doing, and when there's pollution that comes from their mine operations into our waters, it interferes with our fishing industry because we are known for our pristine waters, and this is an important piece -- makes a really bad image. and the -- so i think that we need to hold canadians responsible for what is going on. and we need to act in that way. we need to force coalition with the canadians to make sure we

clean up that problem with the mine. i'm not sure that answers the whole question. >> okay. mr. walker. >> i think we have a treaty between alaska and canada, british columbia, on those issues. i think we need to be concerned, be aware of what they're doing, monitor what they're doing. i'm sure concerns about what we may be doing, fish is a very valuable renewable resource in the state, and is so mining. so it's not one or the other necessarily in this situation.

i've seen the correspondens from the governor's offers on this, or the department. i thought it was good. appropriate, asking to be involved in the reviewing the processes going on so we're cognizant of what is going on. we just need to be very aware of what they're doing to see if it's going to impact our fish. we need to be aggressive in that regard. it's more of a collaborative arrangement available to us and i think we ought to take advantage of that and i believe we are taking advantage of that. so potentially it's a very serious issue. it's going to impact our fish so i'm glad we're doing what we do. i believe we might be able to be

a bit more aggressive but i'm glad the administration is doing what they're doing on that. >> governor parnell. >> thank you, bill. >> appreciate it. >> i do. bc and fish and game have been incredits my - incredibly active on this issue. they're making sure that they understood what was released and are monitoring it with the canadian government to understand whether there will be any impact on fish and the fraser river that influence our own stocks. we injected ourselves in the canada process on other mines and that is a key steep as well. so, knowing what is happening on the other side of the border and being a part of those discussions, making sure we have a seat at the table because the impacts we'll feel on our residents if something happens

on the other side of the border just makes sense and is something we have undertaken as our responsibility, as the administration serving you. thank you. >> this next question deals with alaska's elders. we'll begin with mr. walker. the question is the alaska commission on aging compares the increase in alaska's senior population to a silver tsunami. how will your administration address health care, housing, care-giver support for the growing segment of alaska population. >> i've never heard that term, silver tsunami. not sure i'm part of that or not. how you treat -- how we treat our elders tells what kind of population we are. my father spent his final years in the palmer pioneer home and i'll never forget the kind of care he received there. that is a very important thing that we do, and the concern i have is that on the -- some of the state employee retirees, the

insurance coverage has been weakened over the years, and i'm very concerned about that. i've heard from a number of people in that regard, but what i would like to see is make sure that the aging population is able to stay as long as they can in their own residence. i just know there's programs available for -- to allow for that. assistance for that. i think that that's -- my emphasis will be to enable them to -- for as long as possible, as long as they're comfortable and safer to be able to remain anywhere own residence -- in their own residence. we have been growing the pioneer home program in alaska, is absolutely phenomenal. all over the state and that's great. there's tip clay waiting list everyplace to get in. that's one of the things i want to have a growing economy for so we can afford to do more for

that population. that's concern i have that if we don't, some will need to leave alaska and not be in their region where they live. i was in kodiak recently and saw the number that could stay within the kodiak area, not move to another region away from their family and loved ones. so keeping them in their own area is absolutely critical. >> governor parnell. >> with aging parents and with us aging, it's clearly an issue for us. and it comes down to probably three values, and one is just the family, dignity and safety, and when i think about staying at home for as long as a person can, i think bill is right there i absolutely do. and we have a pretty good and wide-ranging network of community based services for that. that's something at some we could potentially augment if we're working smart in some areas areas and the areas are working well. when it comes to personal dignity, i just visited the veterans home, the pioneer home there in the mat moussa valley win the last week and saw our wonderful veterans who are being cared for there, and was

thankf for the care they received and how it dignifies them as human beings and veterans of our state, and keeps them safe as well. our administration invested with the tribal healthcare system in elder leveling facilities in rural alaska, but i think we have to do more, and one of those areas that we're exploring currently, one thing i'm proposing, is to incentivize assisted living facilities and a construction and operation of them in alaska. i've already invited several of your ketchikan residents into the conversation, and i will be doing more of that, but bottom line is we have to do our best to keep our elders, our seniors, in the state, in a home or family setting, for as long as we can, and after that, in assisted living facilities that give them the dignity they deserve as human beings, and provide that safe, loving and caring environment. thank you. >> miss clift. >> i hadn't heard that term before either, the silver tsunami. yes, we do have an aging population, and that is a big plus.

i think that keeping our aging population here in alaska is really important because it -- we do have a lot of people that go down to the lower 48 for part of the year just to get to the warmer climates and have more comfortable life. so we need to think about that, keeping our elders comfortable here. one of the things that works is a little less expensive than putting people in a home, is to have home health care come into the home and it's something that doesn't have to cost as much as residential care, and that's one way we can increase that home health care and that will help the situation with our state coffers having enough money to take care of these things. also, it was interesting that bill walker brought up the trs, pers healthcare program, which is part of the state of alaska

employees programs, and one thing that i myself am part of that, and one of the things i noticed is that when your medicare -- when you get old enough for medicare, then you -- your premiums change because you have to start paying for the medicare on top of paying for your premiums for your state health care. have an aging population, and that is a big plus. i think that keeping our aging population here in alaska is really important because it -- we do have a lot of people that go down to the lower 48 for part of the year just to get to the warmer climates and have more comfortable life. so we need to think about that,

keeping our elders comfortable here. one of the things that works is a little less expensive than putting people in a home, is to have home health care come into the home and it's something that doesn't have to cost as much as residential care, and that's one way we can increase that home health care and that will help the situation with our state coffers having enough money to take care of these things. also, it was interesting that bill walker brought up the trs, pers healthcare program, which is part of the state of alaska employees programs, and one thing that i myself am part of that, and one of the things i noticed is that when your medicare -- when you get old enough for medicare, then you -- your premiums change because you have to start paying for the medicare on top of paying for your premiums for your state health care. so, there's my yellow card. i think home hospice is a way to go. i think that home health care is the way to go. it costs a little better and more comfort for our elders. >> okay. this will be our last question.

it will start with governor parnell. >> ongoing drug trafficking arrests in ketchikan indicate that state ferries continue to be among drug traffickers favorite mes to bring drugs into the alaska. what can the state use to deter the use of ferries for this purpose? >> drug trafficking is a statewide issue, not just marine highway system issue, and throughout my tenure as governor i've worked continue crease law enforcement across the state in building our capacity for drug interdiction as well as for the safety of our residents by other means. when it come0s to specifically the ferry system, i first became aware of this issue, want to say within just fairly recently in the spring when somebody racessed it -- raised it to me here, and i went to the commission of public safety and asked what could be done. we can certainly work with communities to meet ferries and figure a way that the state troopers, for example, could use dogs to go find drugs before they get onboard. that's one way. and of course it costs money, and i'm willing to work with the

communes to do that if you want to put public safety dollars to that effort, if you think that would be a huge help in southern and southeast. so, thank you. >> miss clift. >> that's interesting because i just found out that ketchikan has a big problem with drugs. i found that out this morning, and now i have a key piece because of the ferries. it is important that we control the drugs coming into the

village, and into the towns. and i think that, again, putting more money into law enforcement in this area would be advisible. we need to have a way to determine that the drugs don't even get on the ferries, and i think that we do need to look for those things when people are getting off the ferries. and besides that, don't really have any good answers except that we need to make sure that there are more things for people to do recreationally than to get into drugs. >> mr. walker. >> three things. drug dogs, drug dogs, and drug