Debate over Ballot Measure 4, the clean water in mining initiative, is being polluted by secret money funneled through an Outside front group, Americans for Job Security.

In a strange twist, the normally pro-business, anti-regulation group is supporting Measure 4, which sets tighter laws for water pollution from new metal mines in Alaska. The measure is clearly aimed at stopping the controversial Pebble mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Alaska's biggest salmon fishery.

Americans for Job Security has put at least $1.2 million so far into the campaign for Measure 4. The national group won't say where it got such a huge chunk of money to fight a political battle over a relatively obscure issue in a far-away state -- because no law says it has to.

Americans for Job Security takes advantage of loopholes in election laws that allow it to spend unlimited amounts of money from unnamed sources. The whole point of the organization is to collect money from interests that want to influence elections while remaining in the shadows.

So don't bother asking Americans for Job Security to volunteer information about its donors, or "members," as the group calls them. On its Web site, the group is very clear: "AJS does not disclose or discuss its membership."

Americans for Job Security says it promotes the "common business interests" of its members -- namely "the elimination of duplicative and excessive government regulations which inhibit growth and innovation."

The group would have Alaskans believe that its business "members" spontaneously decided that, of all the possible ways they could work to "eliminate duplicative and excessive government regulations," they would do so by supporting tighter mining pollution laws in Alaska.

It's not that hard to figure out what's going on here. It's well known that the deep pocket funding the fight against the Pebble Mine is Anchorage multi-millionaire Bob Gillam. Americans for Job Security offers him a convenient way to fund the Yes on 4 fight without having his fingerprints on the money.

Why the funders of Measure 4 want to stay hidden is a mystery. Trying to hide political money only fuels speculation about who is doing what and why. Secret funding becomes the issue, rather than the merits of the proposal.

This week, the most prominent spokesman for Measure 4, former Alaska mining consultant Bruce Switzer, told the Daily News editorial board he is uncomfortable with Americans for Job Security's secret funding arrangements.

Whoever is laundering money through Americans for Job Security is discrediting the Yes on 4 effort. Alaskans are justified in saying, if you aren't willing to stand up and be identified, we're going to ignore your election advice.

BOTTOM LINE: Alaskans have $1.2 million worth of questions about the Yes side of the clean water in mining initiative.

Gas prices

State will investigate

Alaska attorney general Talis Colberg says he'll investigate why gasoline prices here are so much higher than in the Lower 48. His announcement came after his boss, Gov. Sarah Palin, asked for an investigation. Two state senators have also asked the AG to dig into the question.

Smart move.

There's got to be a reason that Alaska suffers the highest gasoline prices in the country, even though we have hardly any taxes and we refine the stuff locally. But other than the vague "market forces," we haven't heard an explanation.

Sens. Bill Wielechowski and Bettye Davis, in a letter to the attorney general, noted that as of Monday, the average Alaska price, including all taxes, was $4.62 a gallon, while the national average was $3.88. The price gap is actually more than 75 cents because Alaska's gas tax is only 8 cents per gallon, second-lowest in the country, the senators' letter said.

They asked, "Could collusion at the wholesale or retail level be inflating prices in Alaska?"

Even if that's not the case, just looking into it may cause gas prices to drop. That's what happened after an investigation began in 1999.

The last investigation did take three years, though. This kind of investigation is complicated, Colberg noted in a letter to the two senators. Colberg said he doesn't know when the investigation will be completed.

Nonetheless, the governor made a good decision to check out what's behind the current gas prices.