By SUZANNE DOWNING
Part 1: Bill Walker signed away 75% of Alaska’s gas to the Chinese in exchange for major control of the gasline
Candidate Bill Walker is trying his hardest to get Democrat Les Gara elected governor. Walker has a slim-to-none chance of winning himself — he has polling numbers he won’t release, since they are incredibly bad for him. Polling by others not connected with his campaign rank him in the “just awful” range.
But Walker is out for blood and going to do all the damage he can to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in the name of revenge. After all, it’s Dunleavy who stood in Walker’s way, preventing him from building a Chinese-financed gasline from the North Slope that would make Alaska beholden to the communist Chinese government for generations.
For four years and especially in recent campaign days, the Walker team has been jawing about a so-called “loyalty pledge,” which is a term the Walker acolytes coined when Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s chief of staff, in the early days in of transitioning from Walker to the Dunleavy administration, asked the “exempt” workers (those not in unions) if they wanted to continue working for the new governor. It was an innocent question. If they did, they were asked to simply state that they wanted to keep working. With all new political administrations, it’s out with the old, and in with the new appointed people. That’s how new governors roll out their agendas — they get people on board who support that agenda.
Missing from the mainstream narrative is this: The list Gov. Dunleavy sent the “do you want to work for Dunleavy” note to was a list provided to him by Gov. Walker during the transition and before Dunleavy was sworn into office. What a great set-up by Walker.
The ads are misleading but they parrot the mainstream media headlines that also called it a “loyalty pledge.” This is how mainstream media helps out its favorite candidates. It’s all done with a wink and a nod.
So let’s talk about an actual loyalty pledge — the one that Bill Walker made to China.
In 2017, Bill Walker signed massive agreements with three large enterprises owned by the communist Chinese government — Sinopec, the Bank of China, and China Investment Corporation. The agreement would give huge advantages to China to pay for Walker’s gasline from the North Slope, and wire in deals for China for natural gas — deals that would last a lifetime. China would get 75% of the gas from the pipeline in exchange for financing the construction of it and an option to buy in as an owner of the project. China would be given the right to manufacture pipeline components.
Cleverly, the Chinese also had the option to withdraw from the project at any time. The Chinese are not dumb. They knew they were dealing with an unsophisticated governor, and one who was willing to take their cash — in American dollars — and return to the states with it. The cash transfer they executed was a test — and the Walkers passed that test without knowing it. They showed the Chinese government they were willing to take cash.
Fortunately for Alaska and America, Walker was replaced by voters and was not able to renew the agreement with China, which expired not long after he was unceremoniously removed in 2018. Gov. Dunleavy prevented China from getting a toehold on a project that would enrich the communists by tying up gas contracts for generations.
Walker had spent most of his time as governor involving himself in the matters of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, which is supposed to, by charter, run as a separate entity. Under Walker, it was like another state department, one that he was commissioner of and that he controlled, although Keith Meyer was the president and CEO. Meyer is an expert in gaslines, but Walker was in charge, and he left the running of state government to his lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott.
Walker courted China President Xi Jinping, who also holds the title of general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Both of them came into power at about the same time — Xi in 2013, and Walker in 2014. By 2018, Walker had signed the agreement and was going into an election cycle promising Alaskans he had met his campaign promise of building a gasline.
Alaska came “this close” to being betrothed to the communist Chinese based on signed agreements that Alaskans never knew about until the ink was dry.
Walker signed a loyalty pledge for the ages.
Walker failed. But he is now trying his next-best option, which is to have Alaska governed by a hardline Democrat in Les Gara, who will take Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends to be redistributed to state workers, and who may even put Walker in charge of the gasline to China again as political payback for another of Walker’s loyalty pledges.
Suzanne Downing is publisher at Must Read Alaska.
Bill Walker couldn’t even supervise or babysit his own pedophile Lt. Governor. Why would mature and honest Alaskans want Walker back in office controlling the very machinery that powers this state? They wouldn’t, as so eloquently explained in Suzanne’s articles. Bill Walker is a dishonest man, hunting for his last revenge opportunity to get even with every man and woman in Alaska who has opposed him. Walker is finished. The door is being shut and locked on this proven loser. He would get more votes from the Communist Chinese.
Loyal to Commie Chinese, but not Alaskans. No thanks. I’ll pass on Bill Walker.
Kind of like someone else. Cough. Scarecrow.
Did you see the video of her yapping and flapping? These political criminals need to be arrested for crimes while governing a state. ?
Walker’s loyalty pledge to Communist Chinese: “come and take it.”
.
Walker’s loyalty pledge to Alaskans:
“FU.”
For truth. I’m curious because I really don’t know who SHE is . I would Never put walker in charge if anything !!!!
The crime of sharing $1800 with Alaskans to buy heating fuel when oil was so high? Did you believe the lies about Ted Stevens also.
Did Walker get a kickback?
Who knows? But he’s about to get a hard kick in the backside.
Who knows. It’s just like a Biden, ya don’t f@@k with a Walker! But you can rest assured that there was probably some kind of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of deal.
I followed China Bill throughout his tenure and it was obvious that he was corrupted by his hate for his fellow Alaskan neighbors and the power China was willing to bestow on him by greasing his pockets!
Never before in Alaskan history has it produced a more repulsive self serving lawyer!
I can think of two other names but don’t want to get sued. Cheers –
Same here…Learning the Chinese language at my age is NOT MY CUP OF TEA!. China brought us junk, and let’s not forget they ALSO dupped and created and gave us into the Covid scam.. They’re not ONLY after the gas, they are after OUR LAND..Remember their land has been distroyed by aLL their industry. They need land to grow their food, and guess where they want to grow it.
Bill Walker surrounds himself with repulsive self-serving lawyers. They are the only ones left who will regurgitate his lies without really believing him. He’s indefensible to the core.
Pray for our local leaders souls. Fmr Gov walker and his minions aren’t getting any younger. He, too, should drop out and butt out. Besides some peoples opinion of Gov dunleavy not being maverick enough in state with a peoples choosing dependent upon a federal governnment over independence, he hasn’t done anything immoral nor unethical. Walker need to butt out like mcconnell. Walker should be using his private service time attending a God-fearing bible preaching church repenting for his sins before downing writes up an obituary for our fmr gov telling us all he took his turn departing. Walker, mcconnell, murkowski are the ages, they all too old to be acting like a 43 y.o. Gara is a Man, a short man nevertheless a man, he don’t need no help from walker. He knows how to campaign.
Walker has a plan for 2.00 gasoline by using states oil share that has nothing to do with royalties the state already receives, he announced on the Mike Picorro Show. Is this possible?, any body?
Do you believe anything Walker says? He always has an angle, in my opinion, that works for Walker, but not Alaskans.
It is my understanding he would need legislature approval to change the royalty structure. Then we sit on a pile of crude oil, so where are we going to refine it? Maybe the Chinese offer to build us a refinery….. no thank you!
Otherwise we have to spend state dollars to ship it, refine it and bring it back. That’s not cheap. How did he come up with the $2/gallon? Why not $1.50 or $0.92? This is a gimmick for the gullible and preys on the current high gas prices, which are due to Biden and his greeny friends.
What an genuinely evil man.
Not a fan of Dunleavy, but give him infinite credit for killing the monstrosity before it was born.
The conspiracy theories offered in this piece are not in alignment with the facts. The fact is Alaskans were tired of paying high prices for energy (still are) and they voted in a state wide initiative to try and get the Alaska gas line built. Alaska’s best customers are in Asia because of their proximity and because South Korea, China and Japan have the money- and the need for clean natural gas to secure a project. So Walker has worked with Japan, China, and South Korea to do what the voters asked be done. Walker never had the ability to sell gas. The gas is under leasehold interest by Exxon, et. al. Walker could try and secure MOUs- which is what he did, to try and get a project going. (FYI- Exxon, BP, and Conoco Phillips all do business in China, and have for decades.)
So where are we today, under Dunleavy? Our gas is still in the ground, its not doing us any good. We pay some of the highest prices for energy in the country, the air in Fairbanks is badly polluted, and we don’t have an industrial, manufacturing base in Alaska because those industries need affordable energy.
The annual trade deficit we have with China is now a staggering $419 billion. Our deficit with Japan is roughly $50 billion, and our deficit with South Korea is roughly $30 billion.
Those deficits hurt the United States. Trump knew that, and any economist who is honest will explain that trade deficits reduce manufacturing (and jobs) in the USA, and lowers incomes of US workers.
The communist Chinese are happy with these trade deficits. So what are we going to do about it? Under the Biden Crime Family, nothing. Hunter Biden did take millions from the Chinese.
Under competent leadership we can try and sell these nations gas, or other products to reduce the trade deficits that are hurting the USA.
Or one can side with the Communists, like Biden does, and continue the status quo.
Your analysis glosses over the need to be very cautious in entering into agreements with the Chinese that compromise the resource/national security interests of the United States. The Chinese Belt-and-Road initiative involves allowing China into a country to build things and later, when conditions sour, the Chinese move to control what they have built. I look forward to the next reporting by Suzanne which might reveal more about what Walker gave up. I know this much: Walker has always been able to punch above his weight class for reasons that are not clear. Perhaps we will learn why this happens.
JMARK,
I wasn’t offering an analysis. I was trying to get some facts into the discussion that the article missed.
To your concerns about China- no question that we need to be cautious. My first preference would be to sell gas to Japan and/or South Korea. But, we need to think about the massive trade deficits that greatly benefit the Chinese Communist government. Selling gas under the right terms would help be a partial solution. What do you propose to deal with the trade deficit? Tariffs? End all trade? Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart would all be in trouble as much of their products come from China. So, are higher tariffs, that are very inflationary, a realistic solution? Or do we do better selling gas?
With your explanation, I do not think we have much to disagree on. South Korea and Japan are potentially best customers but only after in-state users. IMO, the gasline is aways set up to fail when the plans go all-in on a “maximum” scale project. I call it the “Big-pipe Delusion”. Trade deficit? Americans need to stop buying products of poor quality. Beyond that, I have few answers.
It is not impossible to avoid purchasing Chinese goods. I have done it for ten years so far. I try to avoid the Walmarts but once down south I really needed a fan and found one at Walmart made in the USA $4 cheaper.
M, you say “we don’t have an industrial, manufacturing base in Alaska because those industries need affordable energy.” What “industrial, manufacturing base” are alluding to. There never has been one of those in Alaska. Mining, oil, fishing, timber and defense and bloated government do not fit that description. Rather, they are only resource extraction and government… as described by Wally Hickel decades ago. To believe there will be significant value-added “manufacturing” in Alaska is engaging in fantasy. It will never occur in significantly enough to compete in the world economy.
Reply-
I knew and respected Wally Hickel. I learned a lot from him. Alaska does not have an industrial or manufacturing base of any significance. We don’t do much at all with value added industries. We are not likely to have those industries without affordable energy. Railbelt power can cost 25 cents per kWh. Keeping buildings warm when its -20, or -40F is really expensive when you do not have cheap natural gas. So… my point is that until we have that affordable, clean energy, we never will grow a significant industrial base in Alaska. A gas line changes that part of the equation. But that is only one part of the solution. You need a trained work force, and other infrastructure, etc. Having proximate access to the markets you want to sell to, is important, etc.
An industrial/manufacturing base is one that provides value added economic development- and good paying jobs for Alaskans helping to reduce our trade deficits. When we harvest timber, we lose a massive amount of value when we just ship logs overseas, instead of making OSB, plywood, dimensional lumber, etc. With affordable gas we could have server farms. Those farms do best with cooler/cold weather as those servers generate heat- but we also need cheap electricity, but we do not have that. A friend set up a very profitable server farm in Washington state where he could get power below 5 cents per kWh.
Until we have a gas line, and affordable energy, we are not going to have value added industry of any size.
Wally’s great ideas got little merit at the time, thanks to the media. He definitely had some great ideas that would have made Alaska great..for all Alaskans.
Is Walker going to withdraw at the last minute so Gara gets all the Democrat votes? Taking an easy victory with RCV. Guess Walker wants to be like China Joe.
Enough to run his campaign, and donate money to WALKER’S WEASELS— Cathy Giesel— and others of his PAC.
Dirty money, all of them
Without getting involved in the substance of this issue (Suzanne appears to have more to say), it is interesting to consider how easily and quickly many neo-cons and an increasing number on the Left condemn anyone raising questions about the US involvement in Ukraine as an “agent of Russia.” Using that measuring stick, anyone protesting the war in Vietnam could be legitimately considered a agent of communism. While a few were, most were just scared and wanted to grow their hair long. The point is that demonizing people for asking questions is a bad idea.
The difference in the Walker case is that in all likelihood, he IS a compensated agent of the Chinese.
Besure to lookat the benefits Trump businesses got (Ivanks’s trademarks there remember as just one part of that story) show WAY alot of concern, especially during his own presidency.
It’s important to look at the whole picture, right JMARK?
Trump is in the shadows staring at you. Even in your sleep.
He exists for the sole purpose of giving your life meaning.
When it comes to monetizing high office, the Clintons raised it to an art form and Barack and Michelle have taken even that to a higher level. If you have spent any time on these pages you would know that I have little use for Donald John Trump and his acolytes.
$2billion Jared got from the Saudis JMARK. Don’t recall anything in those terms about Clintons. Remind me.
J, while I agree that demonizing your perceived opponent for whatever is commonly and easily done, I must protest. First, Walker is genuinely a crook who will eventually have to face justice and we should be glad to be rid of him. Second, this old former hippy wasn’t scared – I, like many others, was really P.O.’ed about the way the Vietnam War was conducted by the politicians and the callousness with which they treated the lives of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and the others who served. Please don’t use the protests and the delusional complaint of J.Edgar Hoover as a metaphor for what is happening today. Please be thankful for those willing to serve and defend our nation. Walker is selling us all out to line his own pockets. P.S. Growing out our hair was for two reasons – the ladies thought it was cool… and it was a great way to piss off our Dads when teenage rebellion was coming of age.
China Bill. He’d sell his mother for a gasline.
Bill Walker wanted a gas line but all he got was Drygas.
Liberal idiot in a bald mans suit
Walker and his dope donkey Scott Kendall, as well as Gara, are all sleazy lawyers turned politicians. They make used car salesmen look like honest, well intentioned choir boys. Alaskans don’t need these kind of people trying to ruin their state.
Thanks, SD, for the interesting information. His plans for sales and income taxes were bad enough.
This is pure evil. We should start calling him “Chi-com Walker” ! – M.John
Do you all have electrical cars yet? It’s the rage! Lol!! we need Dino oil! And our plastic! It’s a given!
What you’re talking about here is really dirty business. How is the state department not involved in such a thing? The terms you described rise to the level of a major national security threat. How is it possible that this has happened without any investigation or involvement from the feds?
In order to clear the field for his China deal, Walker first had to pay a $500 million forfeiture penalty in 2014 to TransCanada for canceling Governor Palin’s 2008 Alaska Gasline Inducement Act contract with them.
You are missing the real point….Trump cancelled any agreement with China and Walker’s attempt to over run that national security of this country and the stat of Alaska. When Walker found out that Trump was heading to China, Walker put the paperwork together and flew to China ahead of trump to have the paperwork on hand when Trump got there. Trump refused the paperwork and Walker’s effort to sabotage a presidential meeting with another country head and the purpose of the meeting. Former Gov Walker needs to be in jail on treasonous behavior. He deliberately undermines this State of Alaska as a Governor in every way and the President of the United Stated and the duties fo that office. Walker is Lisa Murkowski’s best buddy in every way and has been for a very long time. Walker is a negative to every man, woman and child in this state of Alaska and will continue to undermine any governor or elected official for personal gain. He will hire anyone who will help him to achieve his criminal ends. And he has done just that.
Well said, too bad the the DOJ is a political organization. As is the other alphabet organizations.
Silk Road, Baby! Let Hunter run it! That’s the side of the bread the butter is on!
Which would we rather have? A gasline owned 75% by China; or no gasline?
Excellent. You have just provided a good example of the fallacy of false dilemma. Get help.
??
Is that really a question?
The only thing Walker actually accomplished was to expand Obamacare socialism and steal Alaskans PFD’s to fund bloated government. Thank God he failed on selling out Alaska’s natural gas interests to dictators in China.
Would love it if Suzanne would note sources for some of her comments. I couldn’t find anything re to what percentage China would get of the proposed gas line. I would like to be able to use direct sources when debating with those who support Walker.
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