August 26th, 2004

Permanent Defense, allies file PDC complaint against Tim Eyman

Eye on Money: DevelopmentsStatements & Advisories

PDC complaint alleges conspiracy to defraud contributors, demands audit

A formal complaint filed today with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) alleges that during the final weeks of its failed signature drive, Tim Eyman fraudulently spent over $26,000 of I-864 campaign funds on a fundraising letter for his personal compensation PAC, “Help Us Help Taxpayers” .

The complaint — filed jointly by TaxSanity.org, Taxpayers for Washington’s Future (TWF), and Permanent Defense — accuses Tim Eyman, his associates, and his three PACs of a broad array of campaign finance and public disclosure violations, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. The 16 page complaint includes supporting documentation.

“Once again, Tim Eyman has been caught lying to contributors,” said David Goldstein of TaxSanity.org. “He promised to keep campaign contributions separate from his compensation fund… a promise he never intended to keep.” The complaint suggests that since its inception in June of 2003, Help Us Help Taxpayers’ operations have been entirely subsidized by “Voters Want More Choices” (VWMC), including over $10,000 of reported in-kind contributions.

Steve Zemke of TWF called the misreported June 2004 expenditure “doubly deceptive” because it occurred at a time Mr. Eyman was aggressively soliciting funds for what he claimed to be a close I-864 signature drive. Mr. Zemke, a veteran of many successful initiative campaigns, said Mr. Eyman deliberately misled contributors about where their money was going: “I-864 was dead in the water, and Tim knew it. Yet he continued to solicit contributions, while diverting money to his compensation fund.”

Andrew Villeneuve of Permanent Defense emphasized that the complaint includes a number of charges that together establish a pattern of abuse and deception. “These violations aren’t just isolated incidents. They’re part of a long-running history of infractions. The PDC should demand full compliance with the law and take immediate action to ensure that Eyman is following the rules like everyone else.”

Text of the complaint

August 26, 2004

Ms. Vickie Rippie
Executive Director
Public Disclosure Commission
711 Capitol Way No 206
Olympia, WA 98504

Dear Ms. Rippie,

The complainants named below hereby give notice of a formal complaint against Voters Want More Choices (VWMC), Just Treat Us The Same (JTUTS), Help Us Help Taxpayers (HUHT), and their officers, including Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan and Mike Fagan. The complainants request a full investigation of the allegations within, and expect enforcement actions commensurate with Mr. Eyman’s documented history of public disclosure violations and the Public Disclosure Commission’s (PDC) prior warnings that subsequent violations would not be tolerated.

The complainants also request that Mr. Goldstein’s email dated 8/11/04 be considered the initiation of this formal complaint, and that this email be considered an amendment to it.

This complaint includes five main charges: 1) failure to report VWMC expenditures on behalf of HUHT, 2) fraudulently soliciting contributions to I-864, 3) improper reporting of donations to HUHT, 4) failure to report expenditures on behalf of VWMC, and 5) failure of JTUTS to meet reporting deadlines.

1) Failure to report VWMC expenditures on behalf of HUHT

The complainants contend that VWMC made substantial expenditures in June of 2004 on behalf of HUHT, without proper reporting by either committee. VWMC’s Schedule A filed 7/12/04 reports two expenditures dated 6/18/04, to Data Resources, Inc., totaling $26,305.72 for postage and printing for I-864. It is the complainants’ contention that there was no such mailing on behalf of I-864.

The complainants, through their independent watch-dogging activities, had received all three previous bulk mailings from VWMC in 2004, within one to three weeks following the reported expenditure date. No such mailing was received following the 6/18/04 Data Resources, Inc. expenditure. However in early July, each of the complainants received a fundraising letter from HUHT — in the form and fashion of previous VWMC mailings — apparently sent to VWMC’s bulk mailing list. HUHT however, reported no corresponding expenditure or in-kind contribution; indeed, with cash reserves of only $11,522.34, HUHT clearly did not have the financial resources to fund such a large mailing during the time period in question.

It is the complainants’ contention that the July HUHT mailing was funded by the 6/18/04 VWMC expenditures, and that both of Mr. Eyman’s committees conspired to misreport the transactions, thus hiding a transfer of funds from VWMC to HUHT. Both committees are equally culpable in violating the public disclosure laws, and both committees should be subject to potential penalties. Furthermore, the HUHT mailing was in violation of statute by failing to include notice that it was paid for by VWMC.

The complainants also strongly suspect that a similar incident occurred in 2003, when VWMC reported printing and mailing expenditures for I-807 totaling $14,904.45 on 6/12/03 and 6/20/03 at a time when signature gathering efforts for the initiative had clearly ceased, but HUHT was just being started.

These efforts to conceal VWMC expenditures on behalf of HUHT would be consistent with the committees’ 2003 activities, during which VWMC misreported postage and mailing expenses in July, August, September and October, only to restate them as in-kind donations to HUHT in amended returns filed in December. HUHT has in fact, never reported fundraising expenditures – indeed, apart from disbursements to its officers, the committee reported less than $50 in expenditures its entire first year of existence, yet raised over $160,000 in contributions… an unbelievable return on investment.

Mr. Eyman and his associates have clearly made a concerted effort to hide the fact that most, if not all, of HUHT’s activities and operations are paid for with funds purportedly raised to support VWMC’s initiative campaigns. The full extent to which VWMC monies have been diverted to HUHT can only be determined after a thorough investigation of VWMC, HUHT and Data Resources, Inc.

2) Fraudulently soliciting contributions to initiative campaign I-864

Through June of 2004, Mr. Eyman repeatedly emailed supporters, soliciting contributions to the I-864 signature drive. As late as 6/25/04, Mr. Eyman cajoled supporters to “hit ‘reply’ to this email and pledge generously to this critical effort”. Indeed, his final fundraising email, sent one day before the 7/2/04 signature deadline included a payment form with the following standard disclaimer:

Voluntary donations to the 25% Property Tax Initiative will be used to qualify this important tax reduction initiative for the ballot. A different political action committee, ‘Help Us Help Taxpayers’, raises money for a compensation fund for Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, & Mike Fagan for their effective political work on behalf of taxpayers. These two campaign committees are kept separate and donations and expenditures for each fund are publicly reported every month.

The complainants contend that VWMC ceased its paid signature gathering efforts on 6/2/04, the day Citizens Solutions withdrew the petitions from its subcontractors. Apart from overhead, the only June expenditure related to signature gathering was a 6/14/04 final payment of $10,574.40 to Citizen Solutions for signatures previously collected. As stated above, the complainants contend that the actual purpose of the 6/18/04 expenditures to Data Resources Inc. totaling $26,305.72 was printing and mailing the HUHT fundraising letter sent in early July.

Whatever the actual date that Mr. Eyman abandoned the I-864 signature drive, it is clear that by the latter half of June he was fraudulently soliciting contributions for an initiative campaign that was no longer active. Furthermore, his solicitations throughout 2004 included a promise that all contributions would “be used to qualify this important tax reduction initiative for the ballot”, when in fact the month’s largest expenditure by far was a $26,305.72 unreported in-kind donation to HUHT.

Indeed, VWMC has already reported over $10,000 of in-kind contributions to HUHT, effectively compensating Mr. Eyman and his associates with contributions raised to support initiatives.

HUHT is a personal compensation fund, and any expense on its behalf by VWMC constitutes personal compensation from I-864 campaign contributions. By hiding the true purpose of this expense, and continuing to solicit contributions under false pretenses, VWMC, HUHT and its officers conspired to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. The complainants thus urge the Commissioners to refer this serious legal breach to the appropriate prosecutorial authority.

3) Improper reporting of donations to HUHT

The complainants contend that HUHT improperly reported a $20,000 donation. On 7/23/04, in an email to over 3600 supporters, Mr. Eyman claimed that “Yesterday, one of our supporters donated $20,000 to our compensation fund Help Us Help Taxpayers.” However, on HUHT’s 8/10/04 disclosure filing, there was no mention of a $20,000 donation.

On 8/11/04, the complainants issued a press release with the allegation that Mr. Eyman had failed to report a corresponding donation, and forwarded a copy to the PDC suggesting further investigation. In response to PDC inquiries, HUHT filed an amended return on 8/12/04, reporting a $20,000 “pledge” on the date of 7/31/04.

The complainants contend that Mr. Eyman filed an amended return only in response to inquiries from the PDC, and that the reported date of the donation — now called a “pledge” — does not match the timeline of events. According to Mr. Eyman’s public statement, the pledge could not have been received later than 7/22/04, and yet the 8/12/04 amended Schedule B reports a pledge date of 7/31/04. There is also a discrepancy in that Mr. Eyman originally claimed this to be a “donation.”

It is not clear that Mr. Eyman’s 7/22/04 “donation” and 7/31/04 “pledge” are one and the same. Was there really a $20,000 “donation/pledge” on 7/22/04 as Mr. Eyman claimed in his email, or was the 7/31/04 “pledge” merely reported to cover up a false claim? Does the donor really intend to contribute the full amount, and on what date was it really pledged?

Failure to promptly report a $20,000 donation is not a trivial matter. Given Mr. Eyman’s history of false and misleading disclosure reports and unreported pledges – including the 12/2003 “gift” from the jail guard’s union (Case #04-438) – his amended 8/12/04 return should not receive any more credence from the PDC than his 7/23/04 email. The complainants urge the Commissioners to investigate this incident fully, and to levy penalties within the context of Mr. Eyman’s record of noncompliance.

4) Failure to report expenditures on behalf of VWMC

In emails, press releases, and fundraising letters, Mr. Eyman has repeatedly referenced an opinion survey conducted on 10/09/03 by Rasmussen Reports LLC. The survey was clearly commissioned on behalf of the 25% property tax cut initiative that later became I-864, and should have been reported as either a campaign expenditure or an in-kind contribution.

The complainants can find no VWMC expenditure to Rasmussen Reports LLC, or any other firm, for an opinion survey during the fall of 2003. If the survey was paid for by a third party, or performed at no charge by Rasmussen Reports LLC, then it should have been reported as an in-kind contribution, with the contributor clearly identified.

While I-864 had not yet been filed at the time of the survey, a nearly identical initiative to the legislature, I-309, was filed by Mr. Eyman on 9/8/03, and any expenditures on its behalf would have required full disclosure, presumably by VWMC. It should be noted that throughout the summer and fall of 2003 VWMC made numerous other expenditures on behalf of a “property tax cut initiative”, and this was clearly the primary focus of the committee since the initiative was first announced on 6/8/03.

5) Repeated failure to meet PDC reporting deadlines

The complainants contend that Mr. Eyman’s JTUTS PAC filed monthly C4, Schedule A, Schedule B and Schedule L forms on 8/24/04, thirteen days past the 8/11/04 deadline for ballot committees. This failure to meet reporting deadlines is part of a flagrant pattern of violating PDC requirements — as acknowledged by the PDC in response to our previous complaint dated March 17 (Case #04-443 and #04-444) – and which has continued to this date.

In dismissing the previous complaint the Commission cautioned Mr. Eyman that further late reporting “will not be tolerated, and may result in enforcement action.” As independent watchdogs, the complainants rely on full and prompt public disclosure to help safeguard the integrity of our electoral system; while Mr. Eyman may consider his delays and obfuscations trivial, they interfere with the public’s right to know, as demanded by voters in overwhelmingly passing the Public Disclosure Act. The complainants therefore urge the Commission to back up its previous warning with action.

Summary

In summary, the complainants contend that Mr. Eyman fraudulently used VWMC campaign funds to pay for printing and mailing on behalf of HUHT, that both committees and their officers conspired to hide the transaction, and that HUHT failed to included proper notice on fundraising materials that said materials were paid for by VWMC. The complainants further contend that Mr. Eyman fraudulently solicited funds for VWMC, that HUHT failed to timely and properly report a $20,000 donation, that VWMC failed to report a campaign expenditure for an opinion survey, and that JTUTS has continued Mr. Eyman’s pattern of flagrantly ignoring filing deadlines.

In light of the seriousness of these allegations, the weight of Mr. Eyman’s history of public disclosure violations, and the potential for charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, the complainants request a full investigation of all these matters, and any others that might turn up in the course of further investigation. Mr. Eyman’s persistent efforts to obscure the source of contributions and the true nature of expenditures renders the public disclosure process useless, and thus warrants a thorough audit of VWMC, HUHT, JTUTS, their officers’ personal financial records, and the records of major vendors, including Data Resources, Inc., Citizen Solutions, and Hawthorne & Co., for the years 2003 and 2004.

The complainants look forward to cooperating with the Commission, and will provide supporting documentation upon request. The complainants further request that they be kept informed of the progress of the investigation, and be given the opportunity to comment on or refute any supposedly exculpatory evidence provided by Mr. Eyman and his associates.

A copy of this formal complaint has been forwarded to the complainants’ attorneys, the Attorney General, and to the media.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

The Complainants:

David Goldstein, TaxSanity.org
Steve Zemke, Taxpayers for Washington’s Future
Andrew Villeneuve, Permanent Defense

CC: Rodney L. Brown, Jr. (Brown Reavis & Mann PLC)
CC: Attorney General Christine Gregoire
CC: the media

August 19th, 2004

New report discredits Eyman’s claims

Rethinking and Reframing

A new report released by the Department of Revenue has just discredited initiative profiteer Tim Eyman’s claims that taxes are skyrocketing and out of control.

Indeed, the report found that Washington State’s tax burden has been declining since 1981- just the opposite of what Tim Eyman continues to claim.

Eyman tried to dismiss the report, calling it “election-year politics”. But it’s Eyman, and not the state Department of Revenue, who has skewed statistics.

Eyman tries to take the total amount of revenue collected each year by the state and stack it up in ever-increasing bars on a graph, then point to it and say that property taxes are obscene and uncontrollable.

But you can’t measure property tax growth, or any kind of tax growth, by looking at the dollar amount collected each year. Any smart economist can tell you right away that Eyman’s method of looking at tax growth is extremely distorted.

Tax growth is best measured against personal income. This accounts for factors such as inflation and population growth- factors essential for a correct calculation.

The Department of Revenue’s new report measures tax growth against personal income, and finds that Washington is not the first, second, third, or fourth highest taxed state in the nation.

We rank 32nd in the nation in the new report (from 1998-2002) in comparative state and local taxes. And our tax burden has been on the decline since 1981.

That’s hardly “obscene” tax growth. When it comes to taxes, Washington is actually in the upper tier of states- states with a lower tax burden.

And having a lower tax burden isn’t always a great thing, because taxes pay for essential public services. Without enough revenue, the quality of those services can be degraded.

It’s clear that Tim Eyman’s rhetoric about skyrocketing and obscene property taxes is useless hype. No wonder, though, that Tim Eyman doesn’t want voters to believe this report. If they do, it will give them no reason to vote for his initiatives.

If his initiatives are voted down, Tim makes no money. It’s somehow in his best interest, then, to keep the lies coming and the fabrication machine on full spin.

Washington’s voters deserve to know the truth, not the spin, about property tax growth in this state. And clearly they’re not going to get that from Tim Eyman.

August 11th, 2004

Contribution of $20,000 that Tim Eyman bragged about last month missing from PDC reports

Eye on Money: Developments

Once again, Tim Eyman has been caught in another lie.

The initiative profiteer gleefully told his supporters in a July 23rd fundraising email that he’d recieved a “$20,000 gift” from one of his supporters:

“Yesterday, one of our supporters donated $20,000 to our compensation fund “Help Us Help Taxpayers.” Jack, Mike, and I are extremely grateful for this tremendous generosity. We know that not everyone can donate that much, but we hope that all of you will participate as much as you can. The compensation fund will be divided between the three of us and will be used to compensate us for our effective political work.”

But on August 10th, in the monthly report to the Public Disclosure Commission on campaign contributions, the $20,000 was nowhere to be found.

Eyman’s personal compensation fund, Help Us Help Taxpayers, only reported collecting $7,325 for the month of August. That leaves an important question- where is the missing money?

Either Eyman has lied to the PDC about the gift by not reporting the money, or he lied to his supporters by telling them he’d received a gift when he really hadn’t.

Whatever the story is, Tim Eyman has always had a history of exploring the gray areas of the public disclosure law throughout the last few years.

The initiative profiteer became famous in February of 2002 when he was forced to admit he had taken $50,000 from his campaigns and was planning to take another $150,000. Of course, Eyman at first lied and said he was working for free.

Tim Eyman has always been a liar. He lies about his finances and his initiatives. His entire operation is fraudulent and deceitful.

Time and time again, he’s let down his followers. 3 of his last four initiatives haven’t made the ballot, even though he insisted they would because they were “wildly popular”. And he’s repeatedly lied about his finances, including the hundreds of thousands he took and then lied about taking back in 2000 and 2001.

This latest revelation proves once again that Tim is neither accountable nor truthful. The money he says he received wasn’t reported. No matter which way you look at this one, Tim Eyman has been dishonest.

The PDC should take this violation very seriously and prosecute Eyman to the fullest extent of the law. After Eyman was delinquent in his reports last spring, the PDC said that future violations would not be tolerated.

Eyman should be penalized for repeatedly ignoring and disregarding campaign finance laws. From his taking of campaign funds to pay himself, his “legal defense fund” to delinquent reporting and inability to report funds he says he has, Tim Eyman is clearly a repeat offender, and the PDC should hold him responsible.

It’s clearer than ever before that Tim Eyman, his moneymaking operation, and his initiative factory are all just a big sham out to take advantage of Washingtonians.

See for yourself: The Eyman email

From: Tim Eyman
Date: Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:23:32 AM US/Pacific
Subject: Track record of success and progress

To: Our thousands of supporters throughout the state

From: Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, and Mike Fagan

RE: Tremendous generosity is appreciated

Over the past seven years, all of you have worked with Jack, Mike, and I to change Washington’s politics forever. Vehicle tabs are no longer outrageously expensive and property taxes are capped with a limit more restrictive than any other in the nation. In the last two legislative sessions, the general fund budgets were balanced without tax increases. Our insistence that tax increases be put to a public vote ensured the defeat of Referendum 51, the $8 billion transportation tax increase. Politicians in the Puget Sound abandoned plans to ask voters for a $14 billion tax increase because they knew voters would say no. Sales tax increases were put up for a vote in Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties and all of them were overwhelmingly rejected. The initiative process is under constant assault and thanks to your support and lobbying of the Legislature, we’ve beaten back legislative efforts to eliminate or undermine our right to initiative.

This November, we’re voting on shrinking the size of the King County Council from 13 politicians to nine. This week, after two years of judicial haggling, I-776 is being implemented and we’ll soon begin getting $39.2 million in refund checks for vehicle charges that I-776 repealed. In December, we’re goin’ ROUND 2 in court over I-776 because it explicitly repealed Sound Transit’s tax on vehicles but Sound Transit refuses to abide by the voters’ decision. Voters approved I-776 which, among other things, ripped away 20% of Sound Transit’s funding, yet Sound Transit continues to obstruct this voter-approved and court-backed initiative. It’s critical to hold the Attorney General’s feet to the fire and aggressively defend I-776 on into 2005.

Property taxes in Washington are so obscene and unsustainable that we put forth two property tax cutting initiatives this year. The one that qualified for the ballot will be approved in November and it reduces property taxes $400 million per year. And we’re coming back next year with a new property tax limitation initiative that reduces them even more.

I admit that I’m obsessively optimistic and always see the glass as half full. But how could you look at this track record of success and progress and not come to the same conclusion: that thanks to all of you, we’ve become the most effective taxpayer protection organization in the state.

As long as we’re out here fighting for the taxpayers, the politicians are on a much shorter leash. After all, politicians are at their most dangerous when they don’t think voters are watching. And thanks to the initiative process and your persistence and perseverance, we’re holding politicians accountable each and ever day.

The response to our request for compensation has been overwhelming. Our supporters understand that we simply can’t afford to spend our time, effort, and expertise on these critical taxpayer protection efforts without being compensated for it. We’re getting letters and checks and emails from supporters offering their financial assistance.

Yesterday, one of our supporters donated $20,000 to our compensation fund “Help Us Help Taxpayers.” Jack, Mike, and I are extremely grateful for this tremendous generosity. We know that not everyone can donate that much, but we hope that all of you will participate as much as you can. The compensation fund will be divided between the three of us and will be used to compensate us for our effective political work.

Having a separate, stand-alone compensation fund for the three of us allows each of you to decide for yourselves what our efforts are worth to you. If you appreciate our past, current, and future efforts and you like having politicians on a shorter leash because they know we’re out here, then please donate generously to “Help Us Help Taxpayers.”

We would be extremely grateful for any financial assistance you can offer.

Best Regards, Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, & Mike Fagan

P.S. There are thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and special interest groups working each and every day to raise your taxes. Shouldn’t there be at least one person, one team, one organization that fights to lower your taxes? Please help us so we can continue our successful efforts on behalf of taxpayers.

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.

You are here:

Newsroom

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

What we do

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.

Protecting Washington Since 2002

Newsroom Archives