Sharpest jabs at Alaska gubernatorial debate aimed at Republican Dunleavy

JUNEAU — Some of the sharpest jabs during a relatively tame debate Thursday featuring the major candidates for governor in Alaska were aimed at Republican nominee Mike Dunleavy.

The conservative former state senator said later that his rivals, independent Gov. Bill Walker and Democrat Mark Begich, could see him as the one to beat and the one who concerns them the most.

“They should. I think I’ve got some great ideas to get us out of this,” he said.

Alaska fell into a recession after a crash in oil prices that also exploded the size of the state's budget deficit. Prices have since moderated, and lawmakers, who blew through billions of dollars in savings amid gridlock over how best to tackle the deficit, this year decided to use earnings from the state's oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, to help fill much of the remaining gap.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/politics/2018/09/07/sharpest-jabs-at-alaska-gubernatorial-debate-aimed-at-republican-dunleavy/