Alaska House earmarks $3.7 million for ANWR lobbying

State representatives added the money to a supplemental spending bill nearly a week after U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said this is a must-pass year for ANWR drilling. If ANWR fails to pass Congress this year, the oil companies may withdraw their support, Stevens told the Legislature.

Of the appropriation, which also must be approved by the Senate, $3 million would go to Pac/West Communications, a public-relations firm from Wilsonville, Ore.

The other $750,000 would go to Arctic Power, which has been the state's ANWR lobbyist in the past but whose spending has been called into question by Stevens and other lawmakers.

House Finance Co-Chairman Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said Pac/West would use the $3 million to wage public-relations campaigns within the districts of certain congressmen who have voted against ANWR in the past.

Paul Phillips, president and chief executive of the public-relations firm, said the company would first identify both Republican and Democratic congressmen's districts to target. Then, a campaign would be based around the idea that ANWR would ease the nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy and also help relieve national security concerns around energy.

"This is social marketing with a distinctly political side because it's a vote in Congress," he said.

Phillips said he'll have to wait and see whether such a campaign can work this year, the timeline Stevens said was necessary.

"Is it enough time? It is the time we have available," Phillips said. "Given what we have, it is the opportunity and we will make the most of it."

Democratic legislators say Pac/West has a reputation for supporting conservative causes, which is not the way to persuade Democratic congressmen to change their votes. They called for another appropriation to a public-relations firm with Democratic ties.

"If we're going to be successful in Washington, we're going to have to reach out to both sides of the aisle," said Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks.

Phillips said his firm is not partisan and has represented groups who lean both left and right politically.