Pac/West is well-connected in GOP circles (Pombo most recent addition)

[maddezmom]

POMBO: Ex-head of U.S. House Resources is the latest addition.

By TOM KIZZIA
Anchorage Daily News

Published: May 29, 2007
Last Modified: May 29, 2007 at 02:07 AM

The network of media experts and political operatives who built Alaska's campaign for ANWR have longtime ties to the Republican Party and efforts by industries to change federal environmental laws.


The president of Pac/West Communications, the company with a $3 million state contract to "educate" Americans about Alaska oil drilling, is Paul Phillips, a former Republican state senator from Oregon. Phillips was known as his legislature's "premier operator," both praised and criticized for his sly mastery of the legislative process, according to the Oregonian newspaper.

A consummate dealmaker and pro-business Republican, Phillips was investigated for mixing politics and private consulting. A 1990 ethics fine may have derailed congressional aspirations, said the Oregonian.

But Phillips was re-elected, retiring in 1996 to work for Pac/West.

Using Alaska's funds, Pac/West funded a media-message group, Americans for American Energy. The group's address was the Golden, Colo., office of a subcontractor, Policy Communications Inc., which received $125,000 for professional services in May and June last year, according to state billing records.

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Pombo lost his seat in 2006, facing a flood of campaign funding from environmental groups and reports of his own close ties to associates and clients of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Pombo joined Pac/West in February as a senior partner and told reporters his first job involved a trip to Alaska.

more:http://www.adn.com/front/v-front_section/story/8928963p-8829174c.html