Sean Parnell

Sean Parnell
10th Governor of Alaska
In office July 26, 2009 – December 1, 2014
Lieutenant	Craig Campbell Mead Treadwell
Preceded by	Sarah Palin
Succeeded by	Bill Walker
9th Lieutenant Governor of Alaska
In office December 4, 2006 – July 26, 2009
Governor	Sarah Palin
Preceded by	Loren Leman
Succeeded by	Craig Campbell
Member of the Alaska Senate from the 1st district
In office January 13, 1997 – January 13, 2001
Preceded by	Steve Rieger
Succeeded by	John Cowdery
Member of the Alaska House of Representatives from the 17th district
In office January 11, 1993 – January 12, 1997
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	John Cowdery
Personal details
Born	(1962-11-19) November 19, 1962 Hanford, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Sandra Scebold (1987–present)
Children	Grace Rachel
Alma mater	Pacific Lutheran University University of Puget Sound
Religion	Nondenominational Christianity
Signature

Sean R. Parnell (born November 19, 1962) is an American politician. Parnell, a Republican, succeeded to the office of Governor of Alaska in 2009 when Governor Sarah Palin resigned. Parnell was sworn into office on July 26, 2009. He served as the tenth Governor of Alaska from 2009 to 2014. Parnell was elected Governor of Alaska in his own right in 2010 by 59.06% of the vote—the largest percentage margin of any Alaska governor since statehood. In 2014, he narrowly lost his bid for re-election and has since returned to work in the private sector.

Born in Hanford, California, Parnell is a graduate from the University of Puget Sound's School of Law (now known as Seattle University School of Law). He practiced law before being elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1992 and he continued to work in private legal practice while he was a member of the Alaska House and later, the Alaska Senate. He served two terms in the Alaska House from 1993 to 1997 before he was elected to one term in the Alaska Senate from 1997 to 2001. Parnell continued his legal career in the private sector, working as an attorney and as the state government relations director for Phillips Petroleum (Alaska) (now known as ConocoPhillips Alaska) and an attorney at the law firm Patton Boggs.

Returning to public service, Parnell won the Republican primary race for lieutenant governor in 2006 and became Sarah Palin's running mate in her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, where the Palin-Parnell ticket defeated former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles. Parnell was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska in December 2006 and later assumed the governorship after Palin resigned in July 2009. Parnell was elected to a full term as Governor in 2010, defeating former State Representative Ethan Berkowitz in the general election. Parnell is the first unelected Alaska Governor to be elected in his own right. He was narrowly defeated for a second term in 2014 by the "unity ticket" of Republican-turned-Independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott.

Early life, education, and law career

Sean Parnell was born in Hanford, California, the elder of two sons of Thelma Carol (née Liebherr) and Kevin Patrick "Pat" Parnell. As children, Parnell and his younger brother, Schoen (pronounced "Shane"), were raised in a close-knit family. Two of his paternal great-grandparents were Norwegian.

Sean's father, Pat, was stationed at Fort Richardson, near Anchorage, Alaska, while he served in the U.S. Army during statehood years (1957 - 1959), and returned to Alaska with his family in 1973, establishing residence in Anchorage. Sean Parnell was 10 years old at the time.

Parnell's mother worked as a high school teacher for more than twenty-five years. She taught at Bartlett High School and East Anchorage High School, the latter a short distance from their home. Both of Parnell's parents were entrepreneurs, owning a retail photocopy and office supply business together in Anchorage for more than twenty-five years. Parnell worked in the family business as a teenager and during his college years. In 1980, Pat Parnell, a Democrat, ran against incumbent Don Young for Alaska's sole seat in the United States House of Representatives, taking 25.82% of the vote.

Parnell graduated from East Anchorage High School in 1980, earned a bachelor's degree in business administration, B.B.A., in 1984 from Pacific Lutheran University, and a juris doctorate (law degree) in 1987 from the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now known as Seattle University School of Law). He is admitted to the bar in both Alaska and Washington D.C.

Alaska legislature

In 1992, Parnell was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, where he served two terms and was a member of the finance committee. In 1996, he ran for and was elected to a seat in the Alaska Senate. In the Senate, he was a member of the Energy Council and served on and then co-chaired the Senate finance committee.

Legal career

Sean Parnell worked as an attorney in the private sector from 1987 through 2003, and again from 2005-2006. For nine years of that time, he owned his own law practice. He continued in private practice while he served in the Alaska House and the Alaska Senate. When Parnell left the Alaska Senate, he became director of government relations in Alaska for the oil company Phillips Petroleum Alaska, which later became ConocoPhillips. In 2005, he joined the law firm Patton Boggs, where he exclusively practiced law. Patton Boggs represented ExxonMobil in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation.

In April 2005, Washingtonian and the Dallas Morning News both reported that Patton Boggs was the first in revenue among lobbyists. Parnell left Patton Boggs less than two years later on December 3, 2006.

Lieutenant governor

In 2005, Parnell ran in the Republican primary to become lieutenant governor. In the general election, he ran as Palin's running mate. In Alaska, the lieutenant governor runs separately from the governor in the primaries, but after the primaries, the nominees for governor and lieutenant governor run together as a slate. Palin and Parnell were elected.

2008 congressional campaign

Main article: United States House of Representatives election in Alaska, 2008

On March 14, 2008, Parnell began his campaign to take on embattled 18-term Congress member Don Young in the August 26 Republican primary.

Parnell was endorsed by Sarah Palin, National Review magazine, and the fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization Club for Growth.

On July 31, 2008, Parnell told Roll Call he would not drop out in his race against Young to run against Senator Ted Stevens, who had been indicted.

Parnell lost the primary for the U.S. House seat. The margin between Young, the incumbent, and Parnell was narrow, and the winner was not immediately clear. The result released on September 18 showed Young winning by 304 votes. Parnell said the odds of overturning Young's victory were too small to warrant a recount.

Governor of Alaska

Ascent to office

Further information: Resignation of Sarah Palin

The "Hall of Governors" in the Alaska State Capitol showing Parnell, Palin, Frank Murkowski and others.

On July 26, 2009, halfway through her term as governor, Palin resigned. Parnell replaced her becoming Alaska's tenth governor in accordance with the Alaska Constitution. Craig Campbell, commissioner of Alaska's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, succeeded Parnell as lieutenant governor after Joe Schmidt, commissioner of corrections and Palin's designated replacement for Parnell, refused the position.

2010 campaign

Main article: Alaska gubernatorial election, 2010

Parnell ran for a full term as governor in 2010. In the primary, he faced off against Bill Walker, a former mayor of Valdez, Alaska and aide to former governor Walter J. Hickel, and Ralph Samuels, a retiring member of the Alaska House of Representatives. Although Walker seemed to gain traction towards the end based on the issue of building a natural gas pipeline, Samuels and Walker split the anti-Parnell vote and Parnell won the nomination. He faced off against former House Majority Leader and 2008 Congressional nominee, Ethan Berkowitz. and was elected with Mead Treadwell who had won the August primary for Lieutenant Governor. Parnell-Treadwell eventually defeated Berkowitz-Benson by over ten points.

2014 campaign

Main article: Alaska gubernatorial election, 2014

Parnell ran for reelection in 2014. Former Republican Bill Walker challenged Parnell as an independent politician, and merged his campaign with Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee Byron Mallott, who became Walker's running mate as an independent. He conceded the election to Bill Walker on November 15, 2014.

Parnell drew criticism during his reelection campaign over his support of billions in tax reductions for the petrochemical industry as well scandals regarding accusations of coverups of sexual abuse scandals, cronyism, corruption and whistleblower suppression, within the Alaska National Guard.

Out of 19 Republican Governors, Parnell and Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett were the only Republican Governors who lost the 2014 elections.

External links

• Sean Parnell for Governor
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Sean Parnell at DMOZ

Political offices
Preceded by Loren Leman	Lieutenant Governor of Alaska 2006–2009	Succeeded by Craig Campbell
Preceded by Sarah Palin	Governor of Alaska 2009–2014	Succeeded by Bill Walker
Party political offices
Preceded by Sarah Palin	Republican nominee for Governor of Alaska 2010, 2014	Most recent