October 2, 2014 — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan got grilled on his positions on fishing issues during a debate Wednesday night with Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in one of the largest fishing ports in the U.S.
Sullivan, who took flak for initially planning to skip the debate to campaign in rural Alaska, sought to show his command of fisheries issues, the focus of the only-in-Alaska debate that is a tradition among politicians in the Last Frontier. Sullivan mentioned his family's fish camp and the need to cut burdensome regulations. He also mentioned Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who recently endorsed him and campaigned with him in Kodiak.
Fishing is a multibillion-dollar industry in the state and a major employer.
It was a friendly audience for Begich, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on oceans, atmosphere, fisheries, and Coast Guard and entered the debate with the endorsement of fishing organizations such as the United Fishermen of Alaska and the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. At one point, Begich, wearing a gold salmon pin on his lapel, said he wouldn't mind answering some of the questions that were being directed solely to Sullivan.
"Well, Senator Begich, we've heard a lot from you, but we really haven't had an opportunity to question Mr. Sullivan," one of the questioners, fish industry writer Laine Welch, said before asking Sullivan another question.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at WTEN