TAPE 1 SIDE A - Murkowski talks about the qualities that he looked for when he chose his commissioners for his administration, talks about appointing well experienced people who were all qualified in their field, mentions many of his appointees, talks about Roger Sampson and his ideas for challenging students to be competitive when they graduate, the investigation of Gregg Renkes, Tom Irwin and his resignation from the Department of Natural Resources, the two schools of thought on natural resources, the complications of Irwin's resignation, reasons that Murkowski ran for governor, his plan to cut the budget and generate revenue, Therriault and Wilken killing his plan to solve the revenue gap of the permanent fund, problems with funding the Public Employee's Retirement System and the Teacher's Retirement System (PERS/TRS), raising taxes with the oil companies and starting a production tax, talks about making decisions that are unpopular with the people, purchasing a jet with government money, the gas line project and its connection with the aggregation tax, the twisted perception of the gas line meetings, the problems with major media and their liberal viewpoint, his decision to run for re-election after realizing the gas line would not be realized in his first term, the problems that occurred during his bid for re-election, the Petroleum Production Tax and its relationship with the gas line negotiations, his daughter Lisa Murkowski and her time in the Senate, using the last two years of his term working on the gas line at the expense of other issues, the timber industry, predator control, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), and Alaska's rights under RS 2477.

TAPE 1 SIDE B - Murkowski continues his discussion of the gas line and how it was spurred by the escalating price of gas, the importance of the state controlling as much land as possible, giving land to the University of Alaska, his administration not getting recognition for its contributions to the area of education, the difficulty of finding good people for his administration, importance of the Palin administration to get the right people, his fears about the future of the gas line, importance of a strong chief of staff, contributions by the Murkowski Administration, the resignations of Randy Ruedrich and Sarah Palin, difficulties that the Palin Administration faces in respect to the Permanent Fund and fiscal public policy change, Murkowski's expectations from the Legislature, Gene Therriault and the lack of leadership in the Legislature, and the need for support and cooperation with companies that want to develop Alaska's resources to keep them from going elsewhere.