Murkowski sworn in as Alaska's governor
Date: 04-Dec-02
Country: USA
Murkowski was the first Republican candidate to win a gubernatorial election in Alaska since 1978, when maverick Republican Jay Hammond was re-elected. He replaces Democrat Tony Knowles, who served two terms.
In a brief inaugural address, the new governor said he was looking forward to working with a Republican-controlled state legislature and a Republican-controlled federal government.
"For the first time in a long time, there is unity in the House and Senate, not only in Juneau but as well in Washington, D.C. And Alaska has a very good friend in the White House, a great leader, President George W. Bush," Murkowski said.
Murkowski has long been a champion of controversial development projects, such as oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a cornerstone of Bush's national energy strategy. He alluded to those plans in his inaugural speech.
"Today Alaska takes the first step towards a future as vast as the land that we call home," he said. "We have the resources, we have the people and the technology and the enthusiasm to make things happen."
Murkowski ran on a campaign platform that promoted more oil drilling, mining and logging. He said he intended to build a huge network of new roads into rural Alaska, and he announced plans to extend the state-owned Alaska Railroad's tracks by hundreds of miles to Alaska's west coast and to the Canadian border on the east.
He promised he would not bridge Alaska's budget gap, expected to be about $1 billion in the next few years, by imposing taxes or using money from the Alaska Permanent Fund, the state-owned savings account that pays annual dividends to nearly all residents.
Alaska abolished its personal income tax in 1980, and residents pay no statewide sales tax.
Under a new state law, the new governor will be able to choose his own Senate successor.