ANCHORAGE - Just days remain for those collecting signatures looking to repeal the state's oil tax overhaul. But opposition groups looking to keep the new oil tax system on the books said Thursday that the fight is far from over.
The group "Repeal the Giveaway" has been collecting signatures since May. State law requires they collect just over 30,000 signatures within 90 days of the end of the legislative session. So far the group organizer said they're several thousand names above that minimum, but they're aiming to get even more by their Saturday deadline.
?Where we stand now is about 39,000,? Pat Lavin, one of the group?s organizers, said Thursday afternoon. ?We're confident we're going to go over 40,000 signatures from 40 districts throughout the state. From Kotzebue to Ketchikan, I think Alaskans have responded and signed on to this petition.?
Lavin said they?ve faced opposition from groups who want to keep the new oil tax cuts. One group, called "Alaska's Resources," has paid workers to shadow petitioners and dissuade Alaskans from signing. In the end, Lavin said it didn't hurt their effort, and in fact may have had the opposite effect.
?We had people coming to our petitioners specifically after hearing about that,? he said. ?They wanted to sign it. I don't think that people appreciated someone paying people to try and stop Alaskans from doing what they wanted to do. So I think it backfired and probably helped us, if anything.?
The co-founder of Alaska's Resources, public relations specialist Art Hackney, said Thursday that he mobilized a mix of about 20 paid employees and volunteers over the past several weeks to stop the petition. He said the petition creates uncertainty about Alaska's oil tax structure and will hurt the state's oil industry.
He denied Thursday that his efforts have helped the petition in any way.
?The people who, for all the right reasons, are standing there arguing with rationale for signing the petition are having as many people turn away as sign, so it's having a direct influence on them,? he said. ?It's not getting them more signatures, its costing them signatures.?
Hackney added that those who actually collected the signatures will be the focus of continued efforts to stop the petition. Hackney said that, if his group can prove non-Alaskans collected signatures for the petition, it could invalidate hundreds or even thousands of signatures.
?Paid signature gatherers names will be on the bulk of the signature books turned in,? he explained. ?We fully intend to challenge several of those signature gatherers who are clearly not Alaskan residents, have residences elsewhere in the country, and the state law says very clearly you need to be an Alaska resident to collect signatures for one of these referendums.?
Hackney said the challenge will go through the legal process, but it's ultimately up to the Division of Elections to check the residency of signature gathers.
Lavin said the "Repeal the Giveaway" group will formally submit all of their signatures to the Division of Elections on Saturday, which will make offices open on the weekend to accommodate the state constitution?s mandatory 90-day deadline.
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