Local right wing millionaire Brian Heywood has finally obtained a business license for the new limited liability company that he recently created with Sharon Hanek to employ petitioners to collect signatures for the harmful slate of “Let’s Go Washington” schemes that he wants to qualify to the statewide ballot in 2024, a scan of public records conducted by NPI has found.

Department of Revenue records show that on June 29th, 2023, a business license was granted to TDM Strategies, LLC, with a minor work permit approved the following day, June 30th, 2023.

Records also show that TDM Strategies also now has an account with the Department of Labor & Industries, with an identification number of 196,151-01. L&I’s database states this is a recently opened account, with no premiums due or owed at this time. TDM Strategies has no OMWBE cerrtifications or registered apprentices. The firm is listed as having the risk classification category of 5301–16  Service/Prof Organizations NOC.

Firms historically used by the right wing in Washington State have had a history of failing to register with L&I and the Employment Security Department (ESD). It appears that Heywood and Hanek are making an effort to comply with Washington’s worker protection laws, which is good to see. Their updated recruitment ad for signature gatherers lists a start date of July 1st, 2023, with pay of $18 to $20 per hour. Here’s a copy of their advertisement:

Position title

Signature Collector

Description

TDM Strategies is offering temporary, part-time positions, with the potential of full-time, to collect signatures for multiple ballot measures. Experience is preferred but training will be provided.

The ideal candidate should be familiar with grassroots canvassing and gathering signatures in front of stores, at events, or going door to door.  Job will require the use of “apps” on your phone or device and reliable transportation. Must have the ability to submit pictures on a phone or device at the end of each work day.

Signature gathering will occur throughout Washington State with a focus in the Puget Sound area. Working hours will include evenings, weekends, and holidays since you will be sent to events and crowds to get maximum exposure to potential signers.

You must be able to provide a passport or a form of identification (Driver’s license or valid identification card) and proof of citizenship (social security card or birth certificate.)

Please contact HR@TDMStrategies.com for more information.

Starts: July 1st, 2023

Duration:  Signature gathering ends in December 2023

Job Types: Temporary, part-time, with the potential of full time

Compensation: $18.00 to $20.00 / hour depending on experience

Pay Period:  Paychecks will be issued twice a month

Benefits:

• Sick pay
• Health benefits for employees that qualify under federal and state law

Heywood is hoping to qualify six measures this year, down from eleven last year:

• I-2113 (allowing dangerous police pursuits)
• I-2117 (repealing climate action laws)
• I-1209 (repealing Washington’s capital gains tax on the wealthy, which Heywood doesn’t want to pay)
• I-2124 (sabotaging the long term care insurance system)
• I-2111 (prohibiting progressive taxation, including income taxes)
• I-2081 (instituting new requirements for the release of instructional materials and student records to parents).

Heywood’s operation would need to collect about 425,000 signatures for each measure to qualify. That’s over 2.5 million signatures in total.

If Heywood were paying by the signature, and if each signature cost $2, the cost to qualify would be over $5 million. At a cost of $5/signature, the cost would be close to $13 million.

With an hourly pay structure, Heywood and Hanek are undoubtedly hoping to acquire the signatures they need for less money. A petitioner working for $18/hour and working forty hours for twenty-four weeks would receive north of $17,000 in total compensation.

A petitioner who gathered 10,000 signatures and was paid by the signature, in contrast, would make $20,000 if their pay was $2/signature, or $50,000 if their pay was $5/signature.

If Heywood and Hanek hired, say, around fifty people and paid them between $18/hour and $20/hour for part and full time work, their personnel costs would fall between $750,000 and $1 million. But would even fifty paid signature gatherers be enough to collect over 2.5 million signatures in the span of half of a year? It’s hard to imagine that experienced petitioners will want to work for Heywood and Hanek given the frugal compensation they’d be getting. The fact that Heywood and Hanek have obtained a minor work permit makes us wonder if they’re making an attempt to get high school students and other young people to work for them.

Heywood is a multimillionaire and could probably afford to get at least one or more of these initiatives on the ballot by paying through the nose. But he clearly doesn’t want to. So he’ll have to see if he can find enough people to do the work he wants done on the cheap.

That’s going to be tough.