Here’s the press release we sent out this morning following the news:

Permanent Defense today responded to Tim Eyman’s submission of signatures for I-960 to the Secretary of State’s office by renewing its commitment to fight the measure if it qualifies for the ballot.

“Anyone with half a million dollars can buy their way onto the ballot, no matter your issue or political ideology,” said Permanent Defense chair Andrew Villeneuve. “We anticipated that Mr. Eyman would turn in a significant number of signatures for this un-American, unconstitutional, unfair proposal…but it remains to be seen if it’s actually true.”

“We’ll be waiting to see if the Secretary of State’s office actually has the number of signatures that Eyman claims he turned in. We already know we can’t trust his boasting.”

Villeneuve noted that I-960 may never qualify for the ballot, even if there are enough signatures. A lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court last May by Futurewise and SEIU 775 is due for a hearing next week (July 13th). The suit seeks to block I-960 from the ballot because it is outside the scope of the initiative process – it attempts to do what our state’s initiative process was not designed for and expressly prohibits (amending the state Constitution by initiative).

“We will work diligently with a broad and diverse coalition of other organizations to defeat this measure in November and protect our cherished tradition of majority rule,” Villeneuve added.