ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Three groups and a financial manager opposed to the
huge Pebble Mine prospect in southwest Alaska say mining companies are
trying to smear them. Robert Gillam and the groups are accused of
breaking the law during last year's ballot measure campaign to block the
large mine in southwest Alaska.
Gillam is president and chief investment officer of Anchorage-based
McKinley Capital Management, an investment firm managing more than $4
billion for individuals and institutions. He also is an avid fisherman
who owns a large home on Lake Clark near the Pebble prospect. He has
helped bankroll the opponents' campaign.
The proposed mine is controversial due to its location in the headwaters
of two of the five rivers that feed Bristol Bay's world-class salmon
runs.
In late March, the two companies trying to develop the copper and gold
mine and the Resource Development Council, an Anchorage business group,
filed a complaint with election regulators accusing Gillam, and the
advocacy groups of illegally hiding nearly $2 million of donations from
Gillam to the anti-Pebble campaign.
The crux of Pebble's accusations is that Gillam secretly gave nearly $2
million to the Anchorage-based Renewable Resources Coalition and the
Virginia-based Americans for Job Security, which then funneled the money
to a pro-Measure 4 ballot measure group, Alaskans for Clean Water, to
help pay for the campaign.
The donations to the groups were an illegal "pass through," according to
Pebble. They based their 16-page accusation on e-mail exchanges between
Gillam and the groups before, during and after the ballot measure
campaign. The ballot measure, rejected by voters in August, was an
attempt by Pebble opponents to require stricter limits on water-pollution
discharges from large mines. Gillam and the groups say in legal documents
that the money he provided to them during last year's fight over Ballot
Measure 4, the "Clean Water" initiative, did not break any laws.
Most of the allegations lack legal foundation, deliberately misrepresent
facts or lack evidence to back them up, the groups said in their filing
to the Alaska Public Offices Commission. "The fact that Pebble has
nonetheless filed such allegations ... is a reflection of its true motive
to smear (its opponents)," a filing said. Pebble opponents have been
waging a high-profile advertising and lobbying campaign against the
proposed mine in Southwest Alaska for several years.
In a 52-page filing, Gillam and the groups said the money he provided to
Americans for Job Security and the Renewable Resources Coalition did not
come with strings attached, that is the money did not have to be used for
the ballot measure.
APOC is investigating the Pebble complaint and has not scheduled hearings
yet, said Holly Hill, the executive director.
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