This morning, at the Secretary of State’s Elections Annex at Union and Cherry in Olympia, Tim Eyman and his associates turned in an estimated three hundred and twenty plus thousand signatures for Initiative 1125, paid for by developer and Bellevue Square owner Kemper Freeman, Jr. Although the Secretary of State still has to conduct a random sample check to verify that enough valid signatures were submitted, it’s a safe bet that Eyman has succeeded in buying his way onto the ballot again.

“The only reason we’re voting on Tim Eyman’s latest scheme to mess with plans to replace crumbling infrastructure like the SR 520 Floating Bridge is because one wealthy developer sunk half a million dollars into it,” said NPI founder Andrew Villeneuve.

“Around this time of year, Tim likes to put a number on a whiteboard and say, ‘Look at how many people signed and are in support of our initiative!’ But during the signature drive for I-1125 (as with other Eyman measures) paid petitioners working for Eyman cajoled people into signing by telling them that they don’t have to decide whether they support the measure or not because signing it only puts it on the ballot. It’s one of their favorite tactics for convincing people to succumb to the pressure they exert.”

“The people Eyman uses to get signatures just want to make a buck. They don’t necessarily believe in his cause. They may not even be Washington residents.”

“What we hope people understand is that there is no grassroots uprising going on here. The only reason Eyman was able to do a signature drive is because Kemper was willing to pay for one.”

“Tim frequently says he wants to have a debate about the merits of his ideas, but he ignores the fact that he pays for petitioners to go out and deceive people. We know people are being misled and lied to because we’ve documented it. We saw petitioners for I-1125 in action this spring. We recorded their sales pitch. And they weren’t even trying to accurately represent what I-1125 would do.”

State Treasurer Jim McIntire has already warned that I-1125’s passage could hinder Washington State’s ability to finance critical projects like the new Evergreen Point Floating Bridge using tolls. If I-1125 prevents the state from collecting the needed toll revenue to finance the project, it could actually increase the cost to taxpayers across the state, because SR 520 is a state facility.

“The Legislature did not draw up the plans for tolling SR 520 overnight,” Villeneuve noted. “Years of public input have gone into designing this project and its financing mechanism. That’s why construction hasn’t been started sooner. Now, the state is trying to move forward and get this done, and Eyman is trying to throw a monkey wrench into it.”

“Tim is constantly admonishing the Legislature for ignoring the will of the voters. In reality, the Legislature does listen. Lawmakers were paying attention when voters said NO to Initiative 912 (the 2005 fuel tax rollback), which Tim strongly supported and wrongly predicted would pass. Lawmakers were paying attention when voters said YES to Sound Transit 2, which Tim fiercely opposed and wrongly predicted would fail.”

“And they were paying attention when voters overwhelmingly rejected Eyman’s own Initiative 985 – his last attempt to mess with transportation planning and restrict tolling – in the same election.”

“It’s funny… he didn’t mention any of those recent votes at his press conference today.”

As NPI’s Permanent Defense has previously pointed out, I-1125 contains a clause intended to mess with Sound Transit’s East Link project, a major part of the voter-approved Sound Transit 2 measure. The clause seeks to prevent the state Department of Transportation from transferring part of the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge over to Sound Transit, even though that is exactly what a longstanding agreement between King County, Seattle, Mercer Island, and the state government calls for.

The clause is no doubt one of Bellevue Square owner Kemper Freeman Jr.’s favorite parts of the initiative. (Freeman despises Sound Transit, can’t stand the thought of light rail coming to Bellevue, and has actively worked to try and stop ST from fulfilling its promises to voters and its obligations to taxpayers.)

NPI’s Permanent Defense intends to work closely alongside the many other individuals and organizations coming together to vigorously oppose Initiative 1125.

“Over the next few months, we’ll be working to help the people of this great state make sense of the cost and consequences of Tim Eymans’ Initiative 1125,” Villeneuve said. “We’re confident that if voters understand the ramifications, they’ll handily vote this ill-conceived scheme down and keep projects like the new Evergreen Point Floating Bridge on track.”

Yesterday, through the Associated Press, Tim Eyman announced that he intends to try to qualify an initiative for the 2011 November ballot, after initially planning to take a year off due to lack of access to a wealthy benefactor.

The scheme Eyman says he’s running with was filed back in January, and was assigned the number 1125 by the Secretary of State.

What Eyman neglected to mention in his announcement is that I-1125 is based on recycled provisions from Initiative 985, which voters overwhelmingly rejected more than two years ago.

The provisions in question sought to constrain the Legislature’s toll-setting authority in almost exactly the same ways: first, by trying to prevent the Legislature from delegating its toll-setting authority to the Transportation Commission, and second, to prevent toll money from being used for anything except projects concerning the facility where each dollar in toll revenue was originally collected.

In 2008, we argued that these and other provisions in Initiative 985 would lead to more traffic and less flexibility for planners working to alleviate our region’s traffic problems. Voters resoundingly agreed: 59% of those participating in the 2008 presidential election voted I-985 down.

“If Tim Eyman respected the will of the people, he wouldn’t be running Initiative 1125,” said NPI founder Andrew Villeneuve.

“The people have already decided this question. They said no to Initiative 985 in a landslide only two and a half years ago. They made it plainly clear they weren’t interested in Tim Eyman’s plot to hamstring the Legislature and WSDOT.”

“But Tim has shown that he only cares about the outcome of elections when voters make the mistake of agreeing with him. I-985’s failure is immaterial to him; as far as he’s concerned, I-985’s defeat never happened. I-985 never happened.”

“When Tim first began running initiatives over a decade ago, his target was our common wealth. Since the mid-2000s, he’s moved on to a bigger, more ambitious target: Representative democracy. Quite simply, Tim Eyman wants to undo the plan of government our founders gave us, because he doesn’t like how it works.”

“That’s why he keeps proposing initiatives designed to paralyze the Legislature. His mantra is that there should be a public vote on any decision of importance. How many times have we heard him say, ‘Let the voters decide’? But in a representative democracy, the voters do get to decide. They choose who represents them in the Legislature every two and every four years. Eyman just doesn’t like most of the representatives the people have chosen. So he’s responded by trying to subvert our Constitution and cripple the institutions it created.”

“If voters continue to go along with Eyman, which would be a tragedy, it wouldn’t be long before our Legislature was reduced to little more than a ceremonial body, unable to govern as our founders intended it to.”

“We cannot allow this to happen. Washington simply cannot afford any more undemocratic, ill-conceived Tim Eyman initiatives. Our economy can’t afford it, our common wealth can’t afford it, and our quality of life can’t afford it.”

The Tacoma News Tribune’s Jordan Schrader has astutely noted that the Supreme Court has previously ruled that the people “cannot, by initiative, prevent future legislatures from exercising their law-making power.” This ruling was referenced in an opinion released by Rob McKenna’s office in December, which concluded the Legislature is free to re-delegate its toll setting authority as it wishes.

While that may be the case, there are other provisions in I-1125 that may not be so easily reversed.

It remains to be seen whether Tim Eyman has a wealthy benefactor lined up to fund I-1125. He needs one, especially with only ten weeks to collect signatures. If he doesn’t have one, there’s no way I-1125 can get on the ballot.

If petitions become available for I-1125, we will strongly urge the people of Washington State to think before they ink and decline to sign this latest Eyman plot.

Earlier today, Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office announced that Initiative 1053 had passed a random sample check of its signatures, which means it will be on this November’s ballot. NPI and Permanent Defense are responding by kicking efforts to oppose Initiative 1053 into higher gear.

“Initiative 1053 may be sponsored by Tim Eyman, but it was bought and paid for by big oil companies and big banks that want to rewrite the rules of our democracy so they can keep our tax system unfair and regressive,” said NPI Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve. “It’s a shameless plot to wreck government and end our cherished tradition of majority rule.”

Analysis prepared by Permanent Defense not only lays out the case against I-1053’s constitutionality, but also explains that is undemocratic, unfair, and unsound as well.

“In the next few months, we will be doing everything we can to help voters understand that this initiative is really about sabotaging our democracy so that corporate lobbyists can strengthen their grip over state government,” Villeneuve said.

“NPI and Permanent Defense will work together with a broad coalition of organizations and individuals who care about our common wealth and our system of government to ensure that Initiative 1053 is defeated.”

The Northwest Progressive Institute’s Permanent Defense project and MajorityRules.org – both part of the successful NO on Initiative 1033 Coalition that stopped Tim Eyman’s scheme to trap Washington in a permanent recession – today responded to the umpteenth filing of Tim Eyman’s new attempt to reimpose an unconstitutional two thirds barrier to raising revenue.

“Once again, Tim Eyman is assaulting our cherished tradition of majority rule with a recycled, poorly conceived initiative,” said Northwest Progressive Institute Executive Director Andrew Villeneuve. “Eyman’s goal is to give control of fiscal decisions in our state to a minority of the Legislature, in direct violation of Article II, Section 22 of our Constitution, which specifically says that bills shall pass by majority vote. We have Article II, Section 22 because our Framers understood that representative democracy requires majority rule with minority rights.”

“Minority rule isn’t democracy; it’s a recipe for legislative gridlock. Why should we listen or trust someone who purposely wants to jam the gears of government and wreck our common wealth?” Villeneuve asked.

“Tim Eyman’s new scheme is blatantly unconstitutional, unfair, and unsound, just as Initiative 960 was. It’s no surprise that Republican legislators like Janea Holmquist and Pam Roach have jumped on the Tim Eyman station wagon: Without this scheme in place, they don’t have the ability to obstruct the work of the majority, which was elected by the people of Washington to responsibly govern our state and protect its public services,” Villeneuve added.

“One of the reasons that California continually has severe budget crises is because they require two thirds votes for approval of all budgets, which include any new revenue,” noted Steve Zemke of MajorityRules.org. “The last thing we need is to become known as the next California.”

“Unfortunately, Eyman’s undermocratic scheme would also prevent the Legislature from repealing out of date, unneeded tax exemptions which are no longer in the public interest, because it allows a one third minority of the Legislature to block reform,” Zemke added.

“Over the last two years, voters have spoken decisively and clearly in rejecting Initiatives 985 and Initiative 1033, because they realize that cuts, gimmicks, and shortcuts aren’t the answer to our problems,” Villeneuve reflected. “The people want the Legislature to be able to addess this budget crisis unshackled. They want our representatives to be able to respond positively to meet our shared needs.”

Zemke observed that in the same year (2007) that voters narrowly passed Initiative 960, they also approved a constitutional amendment to reduce the bar for passage of school levies from sixty percent to a simple majority. “People feel an obligation to support their communities; all they ask is that they be taxed fairly. But this scheme does not make our tax system fairer or more equitable. It just makes a bad situation worse,” Zemke concluded.

In the coming days, weeks, and months, NPI’s Permanent Defense and MajorityRules will be working hard to form a new coalition to oppose Eyman’s latest measure and protect Washington’s tradition of majority rule.