Gov. Bill Walker and House Speaker Mike Chenault are working to bury the hatchet, Chenault said Thursday morning (March 5). House leaders and the governor met for lunch on Wednesday and Walker invited Chenault for breakfast at the Governor’s Mansion Thurday morning for a one-on-one. The morning session was cordial, Chenault said.

Things went south  the relationship, which was already rocky, when Walker flew off the handle in a press conference last week over a bill House leaders introducing placing limits on the governor’s ability to spend money on expanding a state-led gas pipeline, the Alaska Stand-Alone Pipeline, or ASAP.  Walker impuned the character of House leaders, saying “who are they really working for?”, which brought a harsh response from legislators. Chenault said Thursday (March 5) he told the governor during the Wednesday lunch, “don’t ever say something like that again.”  Walker’s outburst the prior week is being laid to a quick temper and impulsiveness.  (See more in our next edition of Legislative Digest next Monday, March 9).