Senate candidate appreciates help from drilling backers

OLYMPIA – Republican Senate hopeful Mike McGavick said Wednesday that he’s proud of campaign backing from oil drilling supporters in Alaska and criticized Sen. Maria Cantwell for causing a rift between the two states.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the leading proponent of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and other powerful Alaskans, including the former Democratic governor, are hosting an April 13 campaign fundraising event for McGavick in Anchorage.

The event, first reported by the Seattle Times on Wednesday, could bring in $100,000, said McGavick spokeswoman Julie Sund.

Stevens and Cantwell have tangled over the arctic drilling proposal and oil tanker traffic in Puget Sound. Cantwell has been the Senate Democrats’ point person for trying to block the drilling. She has won some test votes, but Stevens recently resurrected the proposal, which is strongly supported by the White House.

Stevens recently dropped his efforts to loosen limits on oil tanker traffic in Puget Sound. He said his decision was due to personal lobbying by McGavick, whom he has known since McGavick was top aide to former Sen. Slade Gorton.

The fundraising event will be hosted by Stevens, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young, all Republicans. It will be held at the home of former Democratic Gov. Bill Sheffield, and event sponsors include powerful political and business leaders who support the drilling.

McGavick said it’s natural for prominent Alaskans to support his Senate bid and for Alaska to be unhappy with Cantwell.

“The fact is, Washington and Alaska have been tied together since the Gold Rush, and we have to understand that we need to work together,” he said in an interview.

“I announced my support for ANWR more than a decade ago, so who are they going to support? Someone who is for ruining the economy of their state and the relationship between the two states?”

McGavick said he considers himself a “green Republican” and is flouting some Republican orthodoxy on issues like global warming.

Cantwell’s campaign director, Matt Butler, said, “We knew big insurance was subsidizing the McGavick campaign; now we know that big oil is, too.”

State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz said, “Now we know he is beholden to Ted Stevens and to big oil. His thin environmental credentials are tattered when he goes up to Alaska to accept the backing of the oil industry.”