Oregon seeks more details on NorthernStar's LNG referendum campaign
Friday, September 5, 2008 11:30 PM PDT
By Tony Lystra
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe Oregon Secretary of State’s office is pressing NorthernStar Natural Gas for information about several vendors it used during this summer’s Clatsop County referendum campaign over the liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline planned for the Columbia River.
In a series of letters mailed Friday, the state asked NorthernStar to disclose names, addresses and contacts at various communications, research and printing companies as they relate to tens of thousands of dollars the company spent to influence a Clatsop County vote later this month over its natural gas project.
The Secretary of State’s Office has been investigating whether the Houston company engaged in so-called “push polling,” or phone calls designed to persuade voters. It’s also looking into whether NorthernStar failed to report the expenditures under campaign finance laws.
Don Hamilton, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said Friday that the investigation probably won’t be complete in time for the Sept. 16 vote. If NorthernStar is found to have broken campaign finance laws, he said, the company could face fines of up to $10,000 for each violation.
Opponents of NorthernStar’s LNG terminal have placed a referendum on the ballot asking voters whether pipelines should be allowed in public parks and land zoned for open space. The vote comes after Clatsop County commissioners approved a series of land use policy changes to accommodate the company’s project last year.
NorthernStar has noted that its pipeline, which would also cross Columbia and Cowlitz counties, is expected to cross less than a mile of land zoned for open space.
In an interview Friday, NorthernStar spokesman Joe Desmond acknowledged that his company hired a company to poll Clatsop County residents about the upcoming referendum. But, he said, “There has never been any push-polling. We have never engaged in it. We said it from the beginning.”
Desmond also said his company has “recorded all of the work related to the referendum in accordance with Oregon campaign finance laws. They were recorded on time and accurately.”
Asked about the nature of the company’s phone surveys, Desmond said, “I’m not going to give you specifics.”
The Secretary of State’s office says NorthernStar paid at least $12,500 in August to a company called Gateway Communications for “research/survey” work. The state is also looking into whether NorthernStar hired an additional company to conduct polling.
NorthernStar has said time and again that the referendum would have no impact on its project. Asked why his company was polling voters, Desmond said, “We always engage in research around the region.”
Oregon began investigating the company after opponents of NorthernStar’s proposed LNG terminal filed a complaint last month. The complaint alleges NorthernStar tried to influence voters during phone surveys, then failed to report the surveys’ expense.
In a statement Friday, Clatsop County Citizens for Common Sense, one of the anti-LNG groups that filed the complaint, said “We’re pleased that the Secretary of State is aggressively pursuing what we think is a clear case of election fraud.”
gimpy wrote on Sep 6, 2008 8:26 AM:
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