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Businesses irked, jolted by listing on cruise lobbyist's site: MEASURE 2: Several firms cited as opposing the ballot issue say they are neutral.(Anchorage Daily News (Alaska) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 30--Several Alaska businesses and organizations listed as opponents of a cruise-ship ballot initiative say they are neutral on the issue and did not agree to have their names used in an ad campaign. Alaskans Protecting Our Economy, a group heavily funded by the Vancouver-based North West CruiseShip Association, operates a Web site and is running radio spots and newspaper ads asking voters to defeat Ballot Measure 2. The citizen-sponsored initiative, if approved by voters in the Aug. 22 primary, would impose passenger fees, corporate income taxes, gambling taxes, state environmental permits and profit disclosure requirements on cruise lines. More than 23,000 Alaskans signed a petition to put the measure on the ballot. If passed, the measure would bring more than $50 million to state coffers annually. Opponents say it would drive away cruise passengers, who make up the bulk of Alaska's tourists, and hurt other businesses from hotels and gift shops to day-tour companies that rely on the cruise industry. Supporters say the multibillion- dollar cruise industry can afford the new taxes and an extra $50 per passenger won't deter someone already spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on an Alaska vacation. In its print ads and on the Web site, Alaskans Protecting Our Economy lists individuals and more than 120 businesses who oppose the ballot measure. The ad campaign is run by Pac/West Communications, based in Wilsonville, Ore. Several businesses and organizations, after realizing their names were used in the campaign, complained, and Pac/West pulled them from the Web site in the past few days. "As soon as it came up, we removed them," said Jerod Broadfoot, a Pac/West executive. "We just made a mistake. We shouldn't have included those companies' names," said Fairbanks lodge owner Steve Frank. "It was just somebody entering the data that was not well-trained or not thinking about it. Obviously it was a mistake, and we've apologized to them." Frank, a former state senator, chairs Alaskans Protecting Our Economy. Several businesses and organizations apparently had an employee or member turn in a resolution opposing the ballot measure, Frank and Broadfoot said. It was a mistake to infer that it meant they were speaking on behalf of their employers, they said. Steve Connelly, senior property manager with the University of Alaska, received an anti-ballot measure resolution on his home e-mail from the Resource Development Council, an Alaska trade organization that opposes the initiative. Connelly said he signed it as a private citizen without mentioning his university job. The University of Alaska Land Management office was listed as a ballot measure opponent until Pac/West recently removed it. "We would never take such a position," said Mari Montgomery, the university's statewide director of land management. The Alaska SeaLife Center was also listed as wanting to see the ballot measure defeated. "We're not taking a position," said Jason Wettstein, spokesman for the Seward marine research institute. When he discovered the SeaLife Center's name was used in the ad campaign, Wettstein said, he called the Anchorage number listed on the Alaskans Protecting Our Economy Web site. "I was surprised that I got a call back from a representative of Pac/West, an Oregon PR firm," Wettstein said. "I said that I wanted us removed from the Web site and taken out of further ad campaigns. And they said, 'OK, we'd be happy to do that.' " Peter Eden owns Alaska Wild Berry Products. The Anchorage company is also listed as a ballot measure opponent. "No one has ever called me. I wonder how that happened," Eden said. Because the people running the campaign are skilled political operatives and public relations professionals, it's hard to accept that they simply made mistakes, said Gershon Cohen, a Haines clean-water activist who helped sponsor the cruise-ship initiative. "It's wrong for this group to use names without permission to try to demonstrate that they have more support than they really have," he said. "Out of the thousands of businesses and individuals that support us, to suggest that we added in several more that weren't supportive and do it intentionally is not very credible. It's a mistake, and that's all it is," said Frank. |