Tag Archives: I-1421

Tim Eyman’s I-1648 looks like another fake from a con artist with no shame

Statements & AdvisoriesThreat Analysis

Over the past four years, while doing his best to stonewall Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s investigation into his egregious violations of Washington’s public disclosure laws, Tim Eyman has attempted to qualify nearly half a dozen initiatives to the ballot.

Each time, with the sole exception of I-976 (which is on the November 2019 ballot), Eyman’s petition drives have ended in failure, because he didn’t have the money to purchase the signatures necessary to force a public vote on his bad ideas.

There was I-1421, I-869, and I-947, the three failed precursors to Initiative 976.

In between I-869 and I-947, there was I-1550, a failed scheme to gut property taxes.

And before those four, at the end of 2015, there was a initiative concept announced by Eyman and his associates Mike and Jack Fagan with an ice cream social in Governor Jay Inslee’s office. Eyman printed up prop petitions for that measure to use at his press conference, but then failed to actually launch a signature drive following the new year.

That initiative concept from almost four years ago is the basis for I-1648.

As with I-1648, each of the aforementioned fakes was unveiled and trumpeted by Eyman with all the fanfare he could muster through email blasts, social media postings, and right wing talk radio appearances. And each went nowhere, because Eyman simply does not have the network of support necessary to qualify anything to the ballot with just volunteer labor.

I-976 is Eyman’s first real initiative in years. It’s already on the ballot — Eyman claims he cashed out his retirement in order to finance the signature drive, although documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court suggest Eyman didn’t entirely empty his retirement fund to qualify the measure — but rather than focus on trying to sell it to voters, Eyman has decided to make another run at getting a second scheme on the November ballot.

Eyman’s initial plan to double up on the November 2019 ballot was to qualify Referendum 80, an attempt to void the new salary schedule for legislators and statewide elected officials adopted by the Washington Citizens Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials.

But he botched that effort and it imploded a few weeks ago.

Now Eyman is trying to resurrect the scheme he came up with a few years ago to follow his hostage-taking Initiative 1366, which would force any revenue reform agreed to by the Legislature to expire after one year unless approved at the ballot.

Initiative 1648 also seeks to repeal all of the modest revenue reforms just enacted by the House and Senate as part of the recently-concluded regular session of the Washington State Legislature. Since it’s trying to do two different things, it probably violates the Washington State Constitution’s single subject rule.

Because Eyman is aiming for the 2019 ballot, he is operating on a tight timeframe. He has less than two months to collect 330,000 signatures.

We can’t find any evidence that Eyman has found a wealthy benefactor to underwrite the signature drive for I-1648. And Eyman would need a wealthy benefactor to make this initiative go. Therefore, at this time, we assess that I-1648 is another one of Eyman’s fakes — a scam designed to part rank and file Republicans from their money.

If I-1648 becomes a credible threat, we’ll immediately begin organizing opposition to it.

Tim Eyman continues to blatantly flout Washington’s public disclosure laws with I-947

From the Campaign TrailStatements & AdvisoriesThreat Analysis

During the past twelve months, the State of Washington filed not one, not two, not three, but four lawsuits against Tim Eyman and his associates alleging serious violations of our public disclosure laws, acting on complaints filed by organizations like Washingtonians For Ethical Government and Keep Washington Rolling.

Yet, Eyman and his crew continue to brazenly violate RCW Chapter 42.17A with impunity, acting as though the law simply doesn’t apply to them.

Last month, Eyman launched a new effort to “stick it to Sound Transit” (Initiative 947) which he has been regularly promoting on talk radio with the help of KVI’s John Carlson and KIRO’s Dori Monson. I-947 is essentially a redux of two initiatives that Eyman tried to get on the ballot last year (I-1421 and I-869) but which everyone seems to have forgotten about — probably because neither got off the ground.

Eyman is hoping I-947 will be different.

Although he still doesn’t appear to have commitments from any wealthy benefactors to hire paid petitioners, Eyman is gamely trying to run a signature drive anyway, relying on volunteer assistance. In addition to receiving free publicity from Carlson and Monson (who, like Eyman, loathe Sound Transit), Eyman is also getting help from the Washington State Republican Party and its locals. Republican Party organizations have been seen hawking petitions for I-947 at public events like The Evergreeen State Fair in Monroe.

The I-947 campaign began many weeks ago, but Eyman and his associates have yet to properly register their campaign with the Public Disclosure Commission as the law requires. Journalists: you can see this for yourself by doing the following:

  • Go to www.pdc.wa.gov, navigate to View Reports, and run an Advanced Search for the ballot number “947”. Nothing will turn up.
  • Browse to the latest filings for Voters Want More Choices, the committee Eyman is collecting I-947 donations through according to his website. You won’t see an updated C1-PC among them.
  • The last C1-PC filed by Voters Want More Choices dates back to February, when Eyman was trying to qualify an initiative to cut property taxes. This is it. (It wasn’t correctly filled out, so Voters Want More Choices is listed under Continuing Committees as opposed to Initiatives — 2017.)
No Documents Found for Ballot Measure "947"
No Documents Found for Ballot Measure “947”

In its instructions to campaigns, the PDC is clear: File a C1-PC “within two weeks of when the committee is organized or within two weeks of when the committee first expects to receive contributions or make expenditures, whichever is earlier.”

Many weeks have elapsed since Eyman first expected to receive contributions or make expenditures for I-947, but he hasn’t registered the campaign with the PDC. At the end of last month, Washingtonians For Ethical Government notified the Attorney General and King County Prosecuting Attorney that it will bring a lawsuit against Tim Eyman and his associates for failing to file if they choose not to. A month has gone by since that notice was sent, but Eyman’s crew hasn’t filed their C1-PC.

There’s more. NPI and WFEG have reason to believe Eyman has failed to report all of his campaign-related expenditures.

On August 9th, Eyman’s treasurer Barbara Smith filed monthly reports for Voters Want More Choices, including a C4 and C3s. The C4 states that Eyman spent $328.19 on petition printing from Adpro Litho, on July 24th, 2017. That’s the only expense for petition printing listed for July. Here are the others reported expenses and vendor names:

Report DATABAR 7/25/2017 $4,232.62 EDGEWOOD WA 98371 POSTAGE AND MAILING
Report ADPRO LITHO INC 7/24/2017 $328.19 MUKILTEO WA 98275 PRINTING OF PETITION SHEETS
Report FAGAN JANET 7/24/2017 $270.00 SPOKANE WA 99207 DATA ENTRY
Report VERIZON 7/21/2017 $292.36 ACWORTH GA 30101 TELEPHONE CHARGES
Report DATABAR 7/21/2017 $50.05 EDGEWOOD WA 98371 POSTAGE AND MAILING
Report E INNOVATIONS NETWORKING 7/21/2017 $29.92 SPOKANE WA 99220 MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR ON COMPUTER
Report PAY PAL 7/19/2017 $84.54 SAN JOSE CA 95131 PAY PAL CHARGES
Report DASE BARBARA 7/13/2017 $75.00 SEATAC WA 98168 TYPESETTING
Report RUNTIME 7/10/2017 $100.00 MEAD WA 99021 WEBMASTER
Report EMPS 7/3/2017 $45.45 HAGERSTOWN MD 21740 CREDIT CARD CHARGES

Evidence suggests Tim Eyman has spent a lot more than $328.19 on petition printing for Initiative 947. Last month, Eyman sent out a flurry of emails in which he urged his supporters to contact him to participate in the I-947 signature drive.

In one such email, dated July 26th, 2017, Eyman wrote:

Send me an email and let me know how many petitions you want, your address, and your phone number. I will find an Office Depot, Staples, or Kinko’s near you, order the petitions for you, and all you need to do is pick them [up]. It is a petition distribution revolution that nearly 100 supporters have done already. 

Emphasis is ours. Aside from the payment to Adpro Litho, there are no other itemized expenses for petition printing for the month of July 2017, and Voters Want More Choices listed no expenses of fifty dollars or less either.

If Eyman is printing up petitions for followers through office supply stores, and if more than a hundred people have taken him up on this offer, where are those expenditures, and why aren’t they being reported? Eyman’s offer implies that he will pay for the petitions (“all you need to do is pick them up”) and says more than a hundred people have done it.

Even in the event Eyman’s not paying, the expenses still need to be reported as in-kind expenditures. The law requires it; free or reduced cost printing is explicitly listed by the PDC as a type of expenditure that needs to be disclosed. But Voters Want More Choices hasn’t reported a single in-kind expenditure for 2017.

“The whole point of requiring campaigns to register and to report their contributions and expenditures in a timely fashion is so the people can see who is trying to influence their vote… or get their signature,” said Northwest Progressive Institute founder and Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve, who has been organizing opposition to Tim Eyman’s initiative factory for over fifteen years.

“Tim Eyman is deliberately obscuring the activities of his I-947 campaign from the public. He has been active in politics for over twenty years; he can’t claim he’s ignorant of the law. He is choosing not to comply with the reporting requirements, while at the same time pathetically whining about being the victim of a ‘witch hunt’ by Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The truth is, Eyman’s legal woes are self-inflicted. He brought the litigation he’s presently facing on himself. And he can expect more liability in the future if he continues his ugly, stinky, and disgusting behavior.”

Tim Eyman concedes he won’t make 2016 ballot; NPI’s Permanent Defense ready to fight I-869

Ballot WatchdoggingStatements & AdvisoriesThreat Analysis

Implicitly conceding at last that he doesn’t actually have a paid signature drive in the field and thus won’t have anything on the 2016 ballot, initiative profiteer Tim Eyman announced this morning that he’s devoting his energies to qualifying a new initiative for 2017 that would eviscerate funding for roads and transit at both the state and regional levels.

“Today is the third time in the past seven months that Tim Eyman has ‘launched’ a new initiative,” noted Northwest Progressive Institute and Permanent Defense founder Andrew Villeneuve, who has been organizing opposition to Eyman initiatives for over fourteen years.

“The first time was back in November of 2015 when he said he was doing a follow-up to I-1366 to require revenue increases to expire after a year. Then, in February, he said he was also going to try to qualify to the 2016 ballot I-1421, an initiative to repeal vehicle fees. Now he says he’s doing I-869, a similar initiative to the Legislature for 2017. His announcement today makes no reference to either of those previously planned initiatives.”

“And that’s no accident. Eyman doesn’t like to dwell on failure, and it’s evident at this point he will fail to make the 2016 ballot with anything. It appears the good people of Washington will once again be able to enjoy an Eyman-free election this autumn, while having the opportunity to consider several progressive initiatives that would move our state forward. That’s a victory we will be celebrating all summer long.”

“Time will tell if I-869 is for real or not. Remember, Eyman printed up petitions for I-1421 too — and even made a big show of being the first to sign one in front of television cameras — but I-1421 has now been abandoned. I-869 won’t make it either unless Eyman has commitments from his wealthy benefactors to fund a signature drive. The gears of his initiative factory simply cannot turn without big money.”

In the event I-869 does have serious money behind it, NPI’s Permanent Defense is prepared to fight it and defeat it, together with the Keep Washington Rolling coalition and many other allies.

“Tim Eyman has tried to mess with mobility in our state many times before and been defeated,” Villeneuve observed.

“In 2000, he qualified a scheme to take money away from transit and spend it on highway construction. Voters defeated it. In 2008, he qualified a scheme to eviscerate our HOV system. Voters defeated it. In 2011, he qualified a scheme to prohibit variable tolling and block East Link light rail. Voters defeated it.”

Eyman claims that a survey he paid for shows that I-869 is wildly popular, but the press and public should be aware Eyman says that about all of his initiatives.

Prior to the 2005 general election, Eyman boasted that John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur’s initiative to repeal the fuel tax increases approved by the 2005 Legislature as part of that year’s transportation package was destined for certain victory. Following I-912’s qualification, many pundits shared that view, or were skeptical that I-912 could be beaten.

“With I-912, inevitably approved this fall, voters will say NO to Queen Christine’s underhanded effort to sneak through a multi-billion tax increase when the voters clearly opposed it,” Tim Eyman wrote in a September 26th, 2005 email.

But instead, much to Eyman’s astonishment, I-912 was defeated by voters in a landmark victory, after opponents successfully waged a compelling NO campaign.

NPI is a veteran of that campaign, as are the many organizations that belong to Keep Washington Rolling.

“Voters have repeatedly said no to right wing initiatives that would mess with our transportation system, but Eyman refuses to listen,” said Villeneuve. “The will of the voters clearly doesn’t matter to him. He just keeps recycling the same awful ideas, election cycle after election cycle. We are prepared and committed to ensuring that I-869 ends up in the same graveyard as most of Eyman’s other initiatives, should it end up qualifying to the Legislature at the end of the year. The investments we’ve made to strengthen mobility in Washington must be protected.”

An updated version of Tim Eyman’s Failure Chart, documenting the long list of Eyman initiatives that have either failed to make the ballot, been defeated by voters, or struck down as unconstitutional may be viewed on Permanent Defense’s website.

NPI’s Permanent Defense ready to fight Tim Eyman’s latest assault on Sound Transit, WSDOT

Statements & AdvisoriesThreat Analysis

This morning in Olympia, Tim Eyman announced his intention to try to qualify a second initiative for the 2016 ballot that would eviscerate state and local transportation funding by repealing vehicle fees. Northwest Progressive Institute founder and Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve attended Eyman’s press conference at the Secretary of State’s office and spoke against the measure afterwards, making clear that NPI is ready to build and work with a broad coalition to defeat Eyman’s I-1421.

“The campaign to defeat Tim Eyman’s I-1421 has already begun,” said Villeneuve. “We’re not waiting to get started, because we appreciate how high the stakes are. If Washington is to keep rolling, Sound Transit and WSDOT need the resources to build a twenty-first century, multimodal transportation system for our state.”

“Sound Transit needs to be able to deliver the regional light rail spine and express bus network that our population centers need and deserve, while WSDOT has to be able to replace crumbling roads and bridges, deploy new ferries, expand Amtrak Cascades passenger rail service, and enhance freight mobility. All of that costs money.”

“If we want broad prosperity and economic security, then we owe it to ourselves to build upon what previous generations of taxpayers made possible for us,” Villeneuve added. “None of us can afford these badly needed transportation improvements on our own. It is only by pooling our resources that we can make progress together.”

“Last year’s Connecting Washington transportation package is one of the very few things our divided Legislature has been able to get done. Now, Tim Eyman is trying to undo it. Unfortunately, this is what Eyman does. He’s a public menace. He has made it his business to attack our common wealth and undermine our plan of government.”

“Fourteen years ago, when I founded Permanent Defense and became involved in Washington politics, Tim Eyman was trying to dismantle Sound Transit and prevent Central Link, our first light rail line, from breaking ground. Today, in what could have passed as a media scrum from February 2002, Eyman made it clear he still hasn’t given up on his nefarious goal of destroying Sound Transit.”

“It’s evident that Eyman resents that under CEO Emeritus Joni Earl, Sound Transit has become one of our state’s most trusted, effective, and high-performing public agencies. People all over Puget Sound are clamoring for Link to be extended to their communities. They want choices for their commute. They don’t want to be forced to drive to get where they need to go. Since the opening of Central Link more than half a decade ago, Link has been a tremendous success.”

“And this year, it’s going to expand in two directions, to serve even more neighborhoods – from the University of Washington to Angle Lake.”

“We have always believed that Sound Transit could do great things if it was allowed to live up to its potential. Today, Sound Transit is firing on all cylinders, but incredibly, Eyman still wants to wreck it. Eyman and the wealthy benefactors funding him must be stopped. We have defeated Eyman before many times, and we are confident that we can do so again. It will take hard work and a lot of organizing, but we can do it.”

“My team at NPI has never been more enthusiastic and never been more resolved to halt Tim Eyman’s war on light rail and defeat his initiative factory than we are at this moment. We are ready to put fourteen years of Eyman-fighting experience to work against I-1421 and the other atrocious measure that Eyman has planned for this year. We’ll have more news to share about our next steps in the weeks to come.”

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