Some of the news accounts about the oil industry opposition to Ballot Measure No. 1 have failed to make it clear that oil companies based in Texas are bankrolling OneAlaska and the ad campaign by the state chamber of commerce.

Certainly BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp have recruited many Alaska business and government leaders, who depend on their contracts and political support, to join the oil company parade to keep taxes low on ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp.

The companies are meddling in Alaska politics, even paying to promote the absurd claim that opposing the initiative is a way to increase the Permanent Fund Dividend, always the lowest common denominator in any deceptive Alaska campaign.

While the supporters of the initiative also make claims about backing the PFD, there is at least an argument to be made that more state revenue will preserve the dividend, at least for the short term.

Nearly all of the money fighting the initiative is from four companies, but OneAlaska markets itself as a mom and pop enterprise created only to unify Alaskans and support their jobs, with no interest at all in what benefits corporate leaders in Houston and major stockholders who could never find Alaska on a map.

When the Anchorage Daily News reports, as it did recently, that OneAlaska is “mostly” or “primarily” funded by the oil companies, that creates a false impression about what is really going on.

Mostly could mean 51 percent.

It’s more accurate to say that nearly 100 percent of the money to fight the initiative is coming from the four companies.

The Texans have spent hundreds of thousands in staff time and millions in company resources, hoping that the nonstop “woe is me” propaganda will pay off at the polls.

The “sky is falling” rhetoric ignores the reality that the main impact of the initiative, with oil prices as low as they are, is to raise the minimum tax to 10 percent, which is reasonable. The initiative is the only short-term revenue option open to the state in 2021 and it is one way to preserve state services and the dividend.

The oil companies don’t want you to know that. They also don’t way you to know that in two years the state Legislature would be free to amend the initiative, if necessary, if any of the exaggerated claims the companies are making turn out to be real.

The state does not force organizations such as OneAlaska and the state chamber to provide clear reports so Alaskans can see how much ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp are spending to tell Alaskans how to vote.

The process needs an overhaul, but every governor, many legislators and most special interest groups would rather not see the Alaska Public Offices Commission get the resources it needs to do its job well.

OneAlaska had been 99.9 percent of its resources now long ago from the four companies and the percentage is probably still in that neighborhood. The way the companies mix donations of staff time and cash infusions, however, it’s hard to untangle.

Cheryl Frasca, the capable consultant who is the treasurer of OneAlaska, no doubt could inform Alaskans as to whether the right percentage—if it is still 99.9 percent or if it has now dropped all the way down to say, 97 or 95 percent.

OneAlaska really should include this information in all of its ads so that Alaskans understand that the people in the ads and those who are running the opposition campaign are not paying the bills, but representing the Texas companies.

The oil companies are also backing the Alaska Chamber of commerce in its shameless opposition to the initiative, using millions from the oil companies to claim evil Outsiders are trying to raise taxes on ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Hilcorp.

The combined spending from the oil companies so far tops $20 million and is still rising.

ExxonMobil has given cash or staff time worth more than $4 million. Hilcorp has spent more than $6 million. ConocoPhillips is closing in on $6 million, while BP has spent more than $4.5 million opposing the fair share initiative, according to reports filed with the APOC.

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