Newsroom Archives by Year: 2004

August 4th, 2004

Eyman’s Initiative 18 lawsuit is ridiculous

Ballot WatchdoggingIn the Courts

Once again, Tim Eyman is sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong… into other people’s business.

Initiative 18 is a King County initiative originally sponsored by the King County jail guards’ union that would reduce the size of the King County Council from thirteen members to nine.

The union was mad at the council because their pay was cut, and alas, decided to file an initiative to reduce the size of the Council.

All that money, spent just on revenge. To get some help, they hired initiative profiteer Tim Eyman, who not only loves making money, but taking up a cause against a government that doesn’t even have jurisdiction over him.

Eyman lives in Mukilteo, in Snohomish County, but that doesn’t stop him from attacking the “Cadillac” King County Council for no particular reason other than the fact that it has thirteen members.

Eyman, and the jail guards union, have claimed that it’s too much bureaucracy, and that the Council should be reduced. But any government is obviously too much government for Tim and his cronies in the jail guards’ union.

Perhaps they would prefer if the criminal justice system were dismantled and criminals were allowed to roam free. Or that funding for public services was cut off and everyone was left to fend for themselves.

There is nothing wrong with having thirteen seats on the King County Council. It’s not a “Cadillac” Council. That’s just another stupid label that Tim Eyman has attached in order to defame his opponents.

King County is the state’s largest county and home to its largest city. The problem is that the county is very diverse. There are urban, suburban, and rural communities and cities throughout the county.

In order to represent all of these people, more seats are needed on the King County Council than in other counties.

Shrinking the council by four seats won’t save very much money. In fact, it will almost cost more money to downsize than it would to stay the same. Districts have to be realigned and reassigned. They will become larger.

A councilman or councilwoman will have to represent more people. A broader constituency means the council members will be more removed from the electorate.

I-18 should be seen for what it is- a dim-witted attempt to get revenge on the very people who are trying to do their best to govern the state’s largest county.

The council has tried its best to accommodate the wishes of the people who signed the initiative. The council has basically agreed to the amendment, but voted to postpone the changes for another couple of years.

But either that’s too much, or not enough, for Washington’s premier initiative profiteer. Tim has filed a lawsuit to stop the “sabotage” of Initiative 18 by the County Council.

The Council voted 9-4 to postpone effective changes to downsize the Council- an overwhelming majority.

The jail guards’ union even agreed to the postponement, but Tim Eyman decided not to follow suit. Instead, he filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the Council’s amendment.

Now, along with the son of the late Kent Pullen, who used to be a council member, Eyman is a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit to stop the King County Council from making those changes. Curiously, the lawsuit was filed in Snohomish County.

Clearly, no change is fast enough for Tim Eyman, even when it isn’t his issue or his government. Eyman’s meddling is outrageous. He has no business interfering with King County’s affairs.

It is clear that Eyman initiatives, and Eyman-backed initiatives, can only mean bad news for Washington State and its communities.

And voters are quickly beginning to realize this fact. 3 of the last 4 Eyman initiatives have failed to make the ballot- and one only succeeding because of heavy financial support by the gambling industry- the special interests.

There is no tax revolt, and no mass anti-government movement in Washington State. It is a myth spread by Tim Eyman and his small band of supporters, who don’t even show up when Tim comes to Olympia to turn in signatures. It’s the largest political sham in the history of the State of Washington.

And the electorate is finally beginning to see it for what it is.

July 31st, 2004

Eyman statistics about “obscene” taxes are misleading, meaningless

Rethinking and Reframing

Since the beginning of his efforts to put I-864 and I-892 on the 2004 ballot, Tim Eyman has consistently complained about the rise in property taxes over the past several decades. His major, overriding complaint is that property taxes have increased from $1 billion in 1980 to $6.25 billion in 2003. But does this figure accurately represent the change in the property tax burden?

The answer is no. Information from the Department of Revenue does show an increase in the amount of revenue collected from property taxes each year. But you can’t look at the amount of money the state collects and use that as an appropriate figure.

Any accurate representation of the property tax burden should take into account the following factors:

  • Inflation
  • Population growth (and, since 1980, Washington’s population has increased 32.2%)
  • Expansion of the tax base (i.e., more properties to tax)
  • Loss or gain of federal funding
  • Shifting of revenue from one tax source to another

Tim’s complaint that the property tax growth is “obscene” is unjustifiable. Revenue collection figures will always continue to grow because of inflation. And because the population continues to grow, and because more properties are developed, Washington will require more public services. More public services requires an increase in revenue.

There is no way to prevent this increase unless the level of public services currently provided by the state and local governments were to drastically regress. This would lead to a loss of jobs as firemen, librarians, police officers, and other government employees would be laid off in large numbers.

The following chart, furnished by the Department of Revenue, provides a better look at tax growth. Compare it side by side to the chart Tim Eyman uses in his argument that the property tax burden is “obscene”.
Several conclusions can be made from the chart to the left. The first is that the tax burden has dramatically decreased. Part of this is because government has had to make do with less, even as population has grown and demands on the state’s infrastructure have increased.

The second is that using 1980 as a starting date is misleading. If you start one year earlier, in 1979, it’s obvious that the tax burden has clearly and dramatically decreased. In fact, property taxes as a percentage of assessed value have clearly declined.

According to the Washington State Tax Structure Committee and every other accountable source, the economic figure that most closely tracks growth in demand for public services is growth in personal income. Personal income is also the only number which permits a true measure of tax burden.

This second chart, also provided by the Department of Revenue, shows that thirty one other states have higher tax burdens than Washington:

So Tim’s claim that tax growth is “obscene” is simply not true. And compared to other states, Washington’s tax burden is fairly low. Because Tim’s method of measurement doesn’t produce meaningful information, his results are completely misleading and out of context.

Those who take Tim’s statistics for granted don’t understand that he’s playing with the numbers and the figures, using irrelevant data and presenting misleading graphs to paint a distorted picture of Washington State’s tax burden. He’s proved one thing- even when it comes down to math, you can’t trust Tim Eyman.

July 21st, 2004

It’s back to begging for Tim Eyman

Eye on Money: Developments

Please, whines Tim Eyman. Just send me and my co-chairmen your spare change and $100 checks so I can be compensated for another failure.

Once again, Tim Eyman has sent out his pleas to his supporters to ask them to donate to his personal compensation fund.

He’s asking them to pay him for a year’s worth of work that ended in failure. A year’s effort that bore no fruition for Eyman’s supporters.

The “Help Me Help Myself” routine is getting pretty pathetic. It leaves you wondering what happened to Eyman’s fraternity watch business.

Is he still doing it? Hard to tell. The former Mukilteo “businessman” seems so caught up in his initiatives that he doesn’t have time to do anything else.

The last three of Eyman initiatives that didn’t have major-league backing from special interests have all failed to get onto the ballot.

Initiatives 267, 807, and 864 have gone down as flaming wrecks. Initiative 892- paid for by greedy gambling conglomerates from Canada and Nevada.

What’s this campaign that Eyman is running coming to?

Though it never was about “relief” from the start, it’s all too obvious now that Tim Eyman, once proud of his grassroots image, is a sham. He doesn’t stand for the common man. He stands for Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, and all the companies that will save millions from his tax-cutting initiatives.

Eyman stands for them while the majority of Washington’s population suffers and communities pay the price for voters’ seduction and subversion.

He just wasn’t able to keep the charade going long enough. In February of 2002, he finally had to admit that he had lied – about big time financial matters. If Tim felt comfortable lying about taking money, he obviously doesn’t feel bad about the lies he keeps spreading regarding his initiatives.

When it comes down to it, Tim Eyman has helped himself more than he’s helped anyone else, and he’s at it yet again. Doing what he does best. Begging for his supporters’ donations.

July 15th, 2004

We’re renewing our commitment to defeat Tim Eyman’s Initiative 892

From the Campaign Trail

As one season ends, another begins.

Election season is now upon us, and Tim Eyman’s Initiative 892 is on the ballot. Funded by out of state, foreign gambling conglomerates, Initiative 892 asks voters to grant the gambling industry the right to invade Washington communities.

I-892 is a malicious, destructive initiative, financed by a scheming gambling industry, and falsely promoted by Tim Eyman as a plan to give everyone a free pony (sorry, make that property tax cut). But Initiative 892 isn’t about property tax cuts. It’s about the biggest expansion of gambling in the history of the state.

Initiative 892 would allow the installation of 18,255 slot machines in neighborhood bars, bowling alleys, and restaurants, and would create $23 billion in new wagering… as admitted by Tim Eyman himself.

As we move forward into August, September, and October, a great battle looms before us. We have won one victory against Tim Eyman with the failure of Initiative 684, but now we face a well-funded, powerful foe… Eyman’s partners in the the gambling industry.

The industry will stop at nothing to achieve their agenda. They have lobbied intensely to the Legislature to have electronic slot machines approved, to no avail. Now, they are trying the “back door” – the initiative process.

Tim Eyman has been defeated at the ballot box before, when voters resoundingly voted down Initiative 745. We’ve beaten Eyman once before at the ballot, and we can do it again.

We hereby renew our commitment to see I-892’s defeat through to the end. We are resolved to continue opposing this awful initiative every step of the way until Election Day.

And we can do it. We’ve already seen Eyman’s winning streak come to an end. Of the last four initiatives that Eyman has attempted to qualify to the ballot, only one has made it. Three have failed. And one only succeeded because of huge contributions from gambling conglomerates.

Fewer and fewer people are buying the snake oil Tim Eyman is selling. Unable to secure financing for what he really wants to put on the ballot, Eyman has made a pact with the gambling industry to serve as their front man, promoting this ridiculous tax refunds for slot machines plan. How fitting that he’s now a tool of an industry that preys on people in order to generate profits.

We can fight both Eyman and the gambling industry and win. But only if we organize and mobilize for victory every day from now through Election Day.

July 2nd, 2004

Initiative 864 fails to qualify!

AnnouncementsBallot Watchdogging

WE DID IT!!!! Thanks to all of your hard work and perseverance, and that of our allies and fellow Eyman opponents, we’ve helped to ensure the defeat of I-864.

Eyman first began working on this measure over a year ago. More than 365 days later, Eyman has nothing to show for efforts. Our victory means that thousands of firemen, librarians, and other public services employees can rest comfortably tonight knowing their jobs will not be on the chopping block in November.

We’ve worked hard from the beginning to stop Initiative 864, and we’ve succeeded. It’s obvious that Washingtonians do not support or desire the radical, dangerous proposal that Tim forcefully advocated for over a year. The citizens of this state clearly do not support drastic rollbacks of public services.

Tim’s lack of support was evident in the fact that he couldn’t raise more than $260,000 for Initiative 864, and collected less than 160,000 signatures.

About 198,000 are required and it usually takes more than 230,000 signatures to ensure qualification for the ballot.

Not only is Tim’s support base eroding, but so is the electorate’s patience with Tim. Voters refused to be lured into signing their communities into oblivion. The qualify of life in our state’s communities is clearly more important to Washingtonians than a “slash and burn” approach to taxation.

Our efforts have significantly helped to broaden the public awareness of Initiative 864, and doubtless contributed to its defeat.

To everyone who participated in the effort, joined the complaint to the PDC, wrote letters to the editor or to legislators, to everyone who stood up in their community and called attention to this issue, to everyone who volunteered their time and energy to help get the message out – THANK YOU.

While we have a great victory in the death of Initiative 864, there is still Initiative 892. Tim’s other measure is the largest expansion of gambling in state history and will be on the November ballot. Thousands upon thousands of dollars were contributed by out of state, foreign gambling consortiums that went to hire paid signature gatherers to help the industry buy its way onto the ballot.

In response to the threat of I-892, opponents are forming a powerful coalition of diverse interests, from Native American tribes to the Christian Coalition, to stop this measure. And in a few days, we’re re-launching Permanent Defense to rededicate ourselves to the task of fighting Eyman and I-892.

No matter what lies ahead in the future weeks and months, Permanent Defense will be there, doing its part to oppose Eyman and promote real tax reform.

And we know you’ll be there with us as we move forward on this important mission: to bring fairness and sanity to the tax structure in the state of Washington. We cannot move forward without removing the obstacles in our path, and the biggest obstacle is Tim Eyman.

I-892 most likely will be on the ballot, but I-864 is dead. That’s worth a pause for celebration. And then the fight against expanded gambling in Washington will begin. We’ll be in the thick of it, and we hope you will be too.

Be sure to check back on July 6th for the Permanent Defense July Relaunch!

Have a great Fourth of July, and thank you

June 28th, 2004

Critical moment in 2004 campaign season

Ballot Watchdogging

This campaign began months ago with the launch of Tim Eyman’s so-called “25% property tax initiative” which Permanent Defense has opposed and fought for a year, since Tim Eyman announced it last June, along with many other opponents.

The test of all that hard work comes this week. The signature deadline for I-864 and I-892 is fast approaching. Tim Eyman needs more than 197,000 signatures- he needs 250,000 because of errors, duplicities, and other common problems with signatures.

Thus, paid signature gatherers will be out in full force- hoping to make a buck off of your name, and helping to qualify I-864 and I-892 for the ballot.

IT IS CRUCIAL that you be alert and focused when you are out and about over the next few days, especially the first couple days of this week. DO NOT allow yourself to be subverted or dragged into signing I-864 and I-892.

I-892 and I-864 would be DEVASTATING to Washington’s communities. There is simply no other way to put it- together, the two initiatives represent a cutback in needed public services like fire departments and libraries, and an expansion of gambling into neighborhood bars and bowling alleys.

For months, we’ve worked hard to fight this initiative. We must redouble, even retriple, our efforts, now, to ensure that I-864 and I-892 do not qualify for the November ballot. We do this by helping to inform voters. The more voters know about these initiatives, the less willing they are to sign them.

That’s because voters who are informed know of the consequences- the consequences of signing or voting for these initiatives.

So be especially alert this week, and help us out by spreading the word. Remember, the Voter Education Center includes a great deal of useful information, including flyers and an awareness handout that you can download.

The Release Center has been updated with a number of new links and downloads, as has the Action Center. These three centers will continue to serve as online hubs for, hopefully, the last week in our campaign against Initiative 864 and Initiative 892.

There are many ways for you to get involved. You can volunteer with us to help aid voters, report signature gathering activity when you see it by calling 1-800-856-2465, and spread the word in your community by downloading our flyers and distributing them among family, friends, and neighbors.

Even the smallest effort helps to make a difference. Working together, we can achieve victory this year and ensure that our communities will be safe from drastic cutbacks in public services and a huge expansion of gambling.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on our efforts throughout this week.

June 28th, 2004

Opponents confront Tim Eyman in Olympia during submission of signatures for I-892

Eye on Money: DevelopmentsFrom the Campaign TrailThreat Analysis

On Sunday, June 27th, 2004, Tim Eyman announced that he had 235,000 signatures on hand to turn in to the Secretary of State’s office this morning for Initiative 892, his scheme to expand gambling in every corner of the state. The minimum requirement for the 2004 ballot is about 198,000 signatures.

To counter Tim’s lies and deceitful statistics, Permanent Defense’s Andrew Villeneuve journeyed to Olympia with fellow activists David Goldstein and Steve Zemke to talk to reporters and confront Eyman at his press conference for I-892 at the Secretary of State’s Elections Annex.

We were were successful in throwing Eyman off script as he attempted to go through his rehearsed sales pitch. Although Eyman refused, and still refuses to admit it, the initiative is primarily about an expansion of gambling. It places 19,000 slot machines into neighborhood bars, bowling alleys, and restaurants.

Eyman ignored questions about I-864, the other initiative he claims to be attempting to be qualifying for the ballot. He completely disregarded questions from reporters, brushing them off and attempting to shut them down. The press refused to be daunted, however, and continued to ask questions.

Eyman was interrupted during his press conference by Zemke, who heads Taxpayers For Washington’s Future, an ally of Permanent Defense. Eyman had propped up a graph showing a general rise in property taxes since 1980 and was complaining about the increase in taxes to the press.

But Tim’s graph didn’t take into account inflation, or population growth, or new development (which causes an increase the number of properties assessed by the state). Steve correctly pointed out that Eyman’s graph was worthless because it did not make apples-to-apples comparisons.

More people means more public services, which requires money. More properties means more revenue for the state. And any economist knows that inflation is a continual increase in the cost of products and services, which is a factor that influences the entire economy- including property values.

Tim’s claim that his initiative has wide popular support is also a myth. Tim hasn’t run a campaign powered by volunteer supporters in years. All of his initiatives since 1999 have relied on paid signature gatherers to get on the ballot. I-892 is no exception.

There is no broad-based movement in the state of Washington agitating for these anti-tax initiatives. But there is an alliance between Tim Eyman and the gambling industry, with the goal of swindling voters into believing that I-892 is a good initiative because they’ll save a few bucks on their property taxes. I-892 is the most massive expansion of gambling in state history.

Alone on Monday with no sidekicks in tow, Tim Eyman himself reminded us all he’s just become a mouthpiece for the gambling industry. For the past fifteen weeks, Eyman has paid himself to the tune of $3,100 a week. That’s more than many Wal-Mart employees make in a month.

The backers of I-892 are giant gaming and gambling conglomerates, like Great Canadian Gaming of British Columbia, which is accused of allowing loan sharking in its Canadian casinos and not keeping true to an investment made jointly with Allegiance Capital of Texas. The investment was a floating casino, a “cruise ship” of sorts, which now sits off of Taiwan and is a den of prostitutes.

Other backers include Michaels Associates of Nevada, which was recently fined $50,000 by the WSGC for lax oversight that resulted in a $250,000 embezzlement, and Washington Gaming, the third largest donor, which is currently more than $900,000 delinquent in state taxes.

Washington Gaming co-owner Tim Iszley is a leading member of the Entertainment Industry Coalition, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on paid signature gatherers to get 892 on the ballot.

The initiative was financed by out of state, foreign gambling interests, and its signatures were collected by out of state workers from California and other areas.

I-892 was sold to Washingtonians by petitioners as an initiative to cut their property taxes. Petitioners conveniently failed to mention that the initiative would bring about the biggest expansion of gambling in state history.

Washington voters will vote no on I-892 in November because they will know the initiative is bad for their communities. Permanent Defense remains dedicated to its mission of opposing Eyman and will continue to fight against I-892 until its defeat in November.

June 1st, 2004

Folklife efforts a great success

Ballot Watchdogging

The volunteer effort at NW Folklife throughout Memorial Day weekend was a great success. Volunteers from Permanent Defense, TaxSanity.org, and the Voter Education Committee alerted voters to the dangers of I- 864 and I-892.

Many voters were dissuaded from signing the petitions after what they learned about the initiative’s devastating effects on Washington communities.

Tim Eyman is relying on out of state paid signature gatherers to collect names for his initiatives. Thanks to the volunteers at Folklife, many of these paid signature gatherers decided to stop deceiving voters. They gave up and left.

Our success at Folklife is noteworthy, but we’re not out of the woods yet. We still need your help to get voters informed about the dangers of Eyman’s initiatives and the problems with paid signature gathering.

The new Voter Education Center includes a great deal of useful information, including a couple new flyers and a voter awareness handout that you can download.

The Release Center has been updated with a number of new links and downloads, as has the Action Center. These three centers will serve as online hubs for the last great stage in our campaign against Initiative 864 and Initiatives 892.

There are many ways for you to get involved. You can volunteer with us to help aid voters, report signature gathering activity when you see it by calling 1-800-856-2465, and spread the word in your community by downloading our flyers and distributing them among family, friends, and neighbors.

Even the smallest effort helps to make a difference. Working together, we can achieve victory this year and ensure that our communities will be safe from drastic cutbacks in public services and a huge expansion of gambling.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on our efforts throughout the weeks ahead.

May 25th, 2004

Permanent Defense joining forces with other Eyman opponents to educate voters

Ballot Watchdogging

We are pleased to announce that we are now working together with other Eyman opponents to work for reform in the initiative process and promote good ethics for signature gatherers.

Since 1999, Tim Eyman’s initiative factory has churned out a number of proposals which have done nothing to create real tax reform and have instead caused major cuts and reductions in public services.

Tim Eyman is always quick to point out that we are highly taxed and that taxes have “skyrocketed” since 1980 or whatever other date he dreams up. Has Tim ever gone back to look to check at the increase in services the state has experienced, or the increasing number of citizens the state must serve?

Better education, higher quality fire protection, new libraries, clean pools, and green parks are just some of the things our tax dollars pay for. But many voters don’t equate dramatically lower taxes with drastic cuts in public services.

That’s often because voters don’t know the truth about what they’re signing and what they’re voting for. Many voters don’t realize that their signature is just like their primary vote.

And with out-of-state mercenaries patrolling Washington’s strip malls and public gatherings, hunting for primary “votes” so they can be paid, we see a system in which proponents are able to deceive voters into signing on for their plan without any critical voice to balance the petitioners’ quick sales pitch.

These proposals aren’t just minor changes in Washington’s tax structure. What’s possibly the largest rollback in local property taxes in state history is being sold to voters without any mention of the consequences- namely, horrific cuts in public services.

Or the fact that the largest expansion of gambling in the state’s history, which legalizes 19,000 new slot machines and means that your local neighborhood bar or bowling alley can become a mini casino, is being touted primarily as a state property tax cut.

Indeed, Tim Eyman’s I-864 and I-892 do so much damage that it’s impossible for any concerned citizen not to take action. Permanent Defense, a group of longtime concerned citizens which counts over two dozen Washingtonians from all walks of life, age, and political belief among its membership, believes that voters must have access to all the information in order to make an informed decision.

To fulfill its vision of aiding taxpayers and alerting voters, Permanent Defense is joining other Eyman opponents in an effort to get the information to voters who need it, and to spread the word about the shortcomings of the initiative process and the dangers of I-864 and I-892.

We cannot simply exist as a voice on the Internet. We must do our part to get the message to voters this year.

Our mission will not be simple and it will not be easy. If we do not create a strong spirit of action and become more involved, we will lose to Eyman again.

We have been working hard to get the message out to an increased number of people, as have a number of Permanent Defense members. We are proud of our efforts, and we thank those who have stepped forward.

But we have a ways to go. July 2nd is a little over a month away, and this is the last stage of the campaign. Your help is needed now. Our new working relationship with other Eyman opponents gives you access to a wider array of resources, and allows us to work with people who have the same goal that we do.

The new Voter Education Center includes a great deal of useful information, including a couple new flyers and a voter awareness handout that you can download.

The Release Center has been updated with a number of new links and downloads, as has the Action Center. These three centers will serve as online hubs for the last great stage in our campaign against Initiative 864 and Initiatives 892 . These three centers will serve as online hubs for the last stage in our campaign against Initiative 864 and Initiatives 892.

There are many ways for you to get involved. You can volunteer with us to help aid voters, report signature gathering activity when you see it by calling 1-800-856-2465, and spread the word in your community by downloading our flyers and distributing them among family, friends, and neighbors.

Even the smallest effort helps to make a difference. Working together, we can achieve victory this year and ensure that our communities will be safe from drastic cutbacks in public services and a huge expansion of gambling.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on our efforts throughout the weeks ahead.

May 11th, 2004

I-892 being funded by foreign corporations

Eye on Money: Developments

Permanent Defense has learned that Initiative 892, Tim Eyman’s more gambling for lower taxes initiative, is being funded largely in part by a foreign corporation.

Information from C-3 reports filed with the PDC list show Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, a company which owns six casinos in British Columbia, as a top donor, with $25,000.00 paid directly from the company to Eyman’s Just Treat Us the Same political committee.

Great Canadian has recently been investing in Washington casinos and gaming businesses. In 2002, the company bought Big Al’s Casino in Everett for $5.8 million dollars.

According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, “the actual purchaser was Pair O’ Dice Investments LLC, which is 90% owned by Great Canadian’s subsidiary, Great American Gaming Corp.”

Great Canadian already owns a 50% stake in Tukwila’s Grand Central Casino.

The Puget Sound Business Journal also reported in September of 2002 that Great Canadian has “big casino plans in the Puget Sound area” and that it planned to have “four Puget Sound-area casinos operating” by September of 2003.

Great Canadian Gaming Corporation’s long arm reaches not just throughout British Columbia and Washington, but abroad.

The company previously invested in a cruise ship over in the Far East which later was taken over by a Taiwanese man who turned the boat into a haven for prostitutes.

Great Canadian’s partner in the venture, Allegiance Capital of Texas, last year filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging Great Canadian had violated the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

The lawsuit charges Great Canadian and its executive officers committed fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and conspiracy.

Not only did Great Canadian Gaming, a company with a questionable reputation, contribute $25,000 directly to Eyman’s Just Treat Us the Same, it also contributed another $25,000 in two payments through one of its subsidiaries, Evergreen Entertainment Corporation, bringing the total to $50,000.

Eyman’s campaign committee currently has about $150,000 or more in funds, meaning a third of the initiative is being financed from out of the country.

Permanent Defense Chair Andrew Villeneuve called the revelation “a disgrace. Once again, here’s Tim Eyman, promoting his “grass roots” support, and he’s taking a $50,000 donation from an out of state, foreign corporation which has set its eyes on building casinos up and down the I-5 corridor, and pocketing the profits.”

“It’s an outrage. It’s one double standard after another.”

“Eyman has a consistent history of skirting around the law and skating on thin ice when it comes down to his rhetoric of “grass roots”, let alone reporting campaign finance.”

“Eyman is so desperate to get on the ballot that he’ll take anybody’s donation, including money from a foreign gambling corporation which has a questionable reputation.”

Not only is Great Canadian Gaming funding a majority of the initiative’s budget, but it is also planning to add more casinos in the area.

The end result is that profits from Great Canadian’s casinos will be going towards paying off a state property tax cut, through a tax on electronic slot machines.

But since when are profits guaranteed in a business? If gambling revenue falls, so will the tax revenue.

Chair Andrew Villeneuve likened it to betting in a casino, saying, “We don’t know where this initiative is going. It’s just like placing a bet: we don’t know that gambling revenues will sustain a property tax cut.”

He also called attention to the fact that money from Great Canadian’s casinos would be funding the money displaced from the state property tax, which now funds public education.

“It’s simply ridiculous that gambling revenues are going to be paying for the education of Washington’s one million students. It’s shameful that profits from electronic slot machines will be paying for teachers’ salaries.”

The out of state, foreign funding should come as no surprise, though. Eyman has never been about what he preaches.

Taking money from a corporation which invested in a cruise ship full of prostitutes is typical behavior from a man who lied and stonewalled his fellow citizens about pocketing $50,000 himself and planning to take another $150,000.

For Eyman, just like Great Canadian Gaming, the fun is in the profit.

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Mobilizing for 2024 to counter new threats

Stop Greed: Vote no in 2024
Visit StopGreed.org to learn about three harmful right wing initiatives we're opposing that are headed for the November general election ballot

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Permanent Defense works to protect Washington by building a first line of defense against threats to the common wealth and Constitution of the Evergreen State — like Tim Eyman's initiative factory. Learn more.

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