April 27th, 2006

Eyman reveals signature drive progress for R-65

Threat Analysis

We have no way of knowing whether Tim Eyman is telling the truth, but we do know that Tim Eyman sent an email today to supporters and the media. In it, he says that only 8,718 signatures have been collected for Referendum 65.
112,440 valid signatures are required for qualification on the ballot, but Eyman will need a cushion of thousands more signatures because a certain percentage are always duplicates or otherwise invalid.

When the AP asked Rep. Ed Murray for comment, he voiced skepticism:

“I’m very suspicious that it’s a political ploy,” said Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who sponsored the gay civil rights bill and is one of four openly gay lawmakers in the Legislature.

Eyman, for his part, gave a curious response:

“I think we’re going to be scraping by the skin of our teeth,” he said. “They assume we’re smarter than we are. That’s not the case.”

Actually, we don’t assume Eyman is smart. But we do assume, based on what’s happened in the past, that special interests and wealthy backers (especially those who can’t stand the idea of equality) will in fact be willing to put up money to fund a paid signature drive to get Referendum 65 on the ballot.

Of course, so far, Eyman’s fundraising for R-65 has been less than lackluster, and we couldn’t be more pleased about that.

Some of Eyman’s supporters told the AP they are hoping the state Supreme Court will overturn the state’s ban on gay marriage, thereby providing “a spark” to inspire right wing religious zealots to gather signatures. That indicates they’re having some trouble gathering signatures now.

And to that – we say, good.

April 2nd, 2006

Referendum 65 petitions filled with lies

Threat Analysis

Washington state voters should be aware that Tim Eyman and the religious right are once again attempting to deceive and mislead the public. Permanent Defense has obtained copies of Eyman’s R-65 petition, which, strangely enough, he has not been distributing to his email list of supporters.

(Eyman’s small band of supporters have been getting fundraising emails and petitions for Initiative 917).

On the front of the Referendum 65 petition are the words:

NO PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT, NO QUOTAS, NO SAME SEX MARRIAGE

The entire subheading is a lie.

ESHB 2661 (which is the law Eyman is trying to repeal with R-65) does not give not anyone preferential treatment. In fact, it does just the reverse – it explicitly outlaws preferential treatment by banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

ESHB 2661 also has nothing to do with quotas or same sex marriage. To imply that it does is an outright fabrication, crafted to scare the electorate.

Ironically, below this subheader, there is the Ballot Measure Summary, which reads:

ESHB 2661 amends the state’s law against discrimination to prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation” in employment, housing, credit, insurance, health maintenance contracts, public accommodations, and commercial boycotts or blacklists. “Sexual orientation” includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender expression or identity.

State marriage laws are not modified, employment goals or quotas are not required, nor any specific belief, practice, behavior or orientation endorsed.

Religious organizations and owner-occupied dwelling units are exempt from this law.

That Eyman has the gall to make voters think ESHB 2661 is about preferential treatment, quotas, and same sex marriage is an outrage. But it’s not a surprise.

Permanent Defense strongly encourages voters not to sign Referendum 65, and to report signature gathering activity for this measure when they see it.

March 20th, 2006

Costly oversight could lead to rejection of I-917 petitions

Ballot WatchdoggingStatements & Advisories

Once again, initiative profiteer Tim Eyman has made a costly mistake, printing up thousands of petitions for Initiative 917 that are invalid under state law, Permanent Defense has learned.

The news was first reported by MajorityRules.org, a citizen action organization which shares Permanent Defense’s mission of fighting Tim Eyman and his anti-tax initiatives, working for real tax reform in Washington State, and promoting the value of public services.

Eyman carelessly forgot about (or ignored) a new state law that requires initiative petitions to include an oath that must be signed by the signature gatherer who circulated the petitions.

The oath affirms that the person who circulated the petition followed state law and did not bribe voters or forge their signatures.

The Secretary of State has announced that petitions that are out of compliance with the law will be rejected – which apparently means all of the original petitions Eyman printed up for Initiative 917 are worthless and won’t count.

But that’s not what Eyman told his supporters. In a letter this month, Eyman blatantly lied, assuring his supporters that the old petitions are “still good and acceptable” when in fact they’re not.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this is not the first time Eyman has made such a costly mistake printing up petitions for an initiative. In 2003, MajorityRules reported that Eyman had failed to correctly print the initiative text on the reverse side of the petition as required by law.

Eyman sent out new petitions late in the signature drive, but never got enough new signatures on the valid petitions. Eyman lied to his supporters then as well, telling them it was OK to send in their petitions and failing to admit his error.

“You can’t trust anything Eyman says,” said Permanent Defense Chair Andrew Villeneuve. “He lies to the voters, he lies to the press, and he lies to his own supporters. He should not be taken seriously by anyone.”

“When Eyman fails or makes a significant mistake like this, he never admits it,” Villeneuve added. “Eyman refuses to talk about his failures. He doesn’t even acknowledge them. He seems to live in his own fantasy world.”

It will be interesting to see how Eyman will attempt to spin himself out of this one. He’s been caught explicitly lying to his supporters. Since the original petitions for Initiative 917 do not include the required declaration and the petitioner’s signed oath, they will be rejected by the Secretary of State. The original petitions are clearly not “still good and acceptable.”

“Eyman, just like his initiatives, is careless and reckless,” Villeneuve said. “He has taken money from his own supporters for personal profit and lied about it. He has routinely run afoul of the public disclosure laws. He continually distorts the facts and gives the public false information.”

“This guy would be out of business right now if it wasn’t for special interest money,” Villeneuve noted. “His last two initiatives were financed by a multimillionaire and the gambling industry.”

We wonder if Tim Eyman has told his wealthy backer, Michael Dunmire, about his costly mistake.

“Did Eyman go to Dunmire and admit that he made this mistake – or is Eyman lying to Dunmire too?” asked Villeneuve. “Either way, he has wasted a large amount of money on a serious oversight.”

March 12th, 2006

Multimillionaire Dunmire pours $81,000 into anti-transportation initiative

Eye on Money: Developments

Michael Dunmire of Woodinville, Tim Eyman’s sugar daddy and multimillion dollar backer, last month poured nearly $81,000 into Eyman’s anti-transportation measure (Initiative 917). Dunmire is the only one who is making sizable contributions – the next largest donations were for only $250.

And Eyman’s most recent fundraising reports indicate his pool of small donors is continuing to shrink. Initiative 917 won’t make the ballot without Michael Dunmire’s money.

February 17th, 2006

Washington State GOP Won’t Touch Eyman

Endorsements

Washingon Sate’s new GOP chairman is Diane Tebelius, a tough Republican lawyer who really wants to be called chairman. The Stranger grilled her on her party’s intent to support Tim Eyman’s initiatives in November. Here was her reply:

Does your party support Tim Eyman’s attempts to repeal the gay civil rights bill?
The party is taking no position publicly on any of the initiatives right now.

Do you see a way in which the Republican Party would come out against Eyman’s repeal measures?
I don’t see a way that they would come out against them. But I don’t know that they would come out for them.

February 15th, 2006

Rich backer Michael Dunmire dumps $50K into Eyman’s PAC

Eye on Money: Developments

PDC filings show that multimillionaire Michael Dunmire gave $50,000 to Tim Eyman’s Voters Want More Choices political action committee last December. Eyman and his cohorts have not yet filed their financial reports for January 2006 with the PDC, but it’s very likely that Dunmire made another sizable contribution last month to help prop Tim up.

Dunmire is also doubtless the unnamed donor who funded Eyman’s “matching program” last month, one of Tim’s gimmicks to squeeze more money out of his declining pool of contributors. Eyman is now mostly reliant on special interests (multimillionaires, the gambling industry) to bankroll his initiative factory.

February 13th, 2006

Four Years: Statement from the Founder

AnnouncementsThreat Analysis

Today and throughout this month, Permanent Defense proudly celebrates four years of political activism in Washington State, fighting Tim Eyman’s senseless initiatives, working to reform the state’s tax structure, and promoting the value of public services.

The arrival of February 2006 marks the end of our fourth year of operation and the beginning of our fifth year.

Our fourth year was very eventful. We faced significant obstacles but we were successful in accomplishing many important goals. Here’s a review of what we achieved this past year:

  • In late February 2005, Permanent Defense’s founder, along with David Goldstein of TaxSanity and Steve Zemke of Taxpayers for Washington’s Future, testified before the House Finance Committee in favor of House Bill 1744 (the homestead exemption proposal) to create a fairer property tax structure.
  • Throughout the spring of 2005, Permanent Defense organized to fight Initiative 900, Tim Eyman’s overload of performance audits. Upon the filing of Initiative 912, the leadership of Permanent Defense decided to set up a sister organization, Washington Defense, to oppose the repeal of the 2005 Transportation Package while Permanent Defense fought I-900.
  • In the summer, following the end of the signature drives, Permanent Defense’s website was retooled through the annual July Relaunch and readied to oppose Initiative 900. Washington Defense’s website was readied to oppose Initiative 912.
  • Throughout the summer of 2005 Permanent Defense’s founder spoke before numerous organizations, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Municipal League, to urge an endorsement against Initiative 900.
  • In August Washington Defense PAC was launched to raise money to fight a grassroots campaign against Initiative 912.
  • During the fall Permanent Defense supporters worked extremely hard to fight against Initiative 912, and, when time allowed, oppose Initiative 900 as well. A strong emphasis was placed on defeating I-912 due to the fact that it would have repealed some $5 billion in needed transportation funding, whereas I-900, though poorly drafted and unnecessary, would not have gutted state revenues.

Ultimately, Initiative 912 failed in a significant defeat for Tim Eyman and his fellow anti-tax zealots. Eyman had predicted its passage and even attempted to latch onto the effort to wipe out the gas tax increase. Though Initiative 900 passed, the real Eyman initiative was destroyed in a huge, landmark victory.

Despite the failure of I-912, Eyman has decided to press ahead with his plans to mount an assault on the other revenue sources for the 2005 Transportation Package. In 2006, Permanent Defense will work to protect over $2.6 billion in transportation funding from being wiped out by Eyman’s initiative.

Permanent Defense will also vigorously oppose Eyman’s outrageous attack on Washington State’s newly amended anti-discrimination law, which now prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Not only will we fight these senseless onslaughts on our quality of life, but we’ll continue our work to map out a long term plan for fixing Washington’s tax structure, including alternatives to the state sales tax and the obnoxious “business & occupation tax”.

As in past years, we’ll be rolling out numerous improvements and additions to our website during the next twelve months.

Great challenges lie ahead, but we can overcome them and make Washington State a better place to live, work, and visit.

Thanks for your involvement during the past 365 days. Here’s to another successful year!

February 1st, 2006

Eyman attacks civil rights

Threat Analysis

On Monday, January 30th, Tim Eyman filed an initiative to overturn the recently passed HB 2661, which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation. Tim Eyman has truly established himself as an evil person:

He seeks to cripple the very institutions that form the foundation of our representative democracy.

He seeks to appeal to the people of the state under false pretenses, masquerading as a faux populist and distorting the truth, attempting to convince the electorate to stab itself in the back.

He seeks to destroy funding for our most precious and valued public services – services that make our communities livable, like police and fire protection, libraries and schools, parks and pools, and public works.

He seeks to make our society less safe and undermine our economy by wiping out government investments in transportation infrastructure.

And now he seeks to allow discrimination and inequality in Washington State.

Tim Eyman is a filthy, despicable creature. This organization, the Northwest Progressive Institute, and its Permanent Defense division, will not allow Tim Eyman to go unchallenged.

This organization will stand up not only to defend transportation funding, but it will also stand up to defend equality and civil rights.

Tim Eyman has been defeated before. He will be defeated again. Whether or not his measures get on the ballot this year, we will work to stop him. The fight against Eyman is a battle to save the future and the health of Washington State. We can and we will win it.

January 10th, 2006

Dunmire props Eyman up with big bucks

Election Postmortem

The AP has an “exclusive” article up on the wire tonight announcing that Tim Eyman and his initiative factory partners (Mike and Jack Fagan) will split a salary fund of $209,000.

Roughly half of the $209,000 came from Eyman’s multimillion dollar backer, Michael Dunmire of Woodinville, an investment banker. Eyman thrives on media attention and special interest money. He is completely disconnected from the people of the state of Washington.

Eyman is truly nothing without Dunmire’s money. Dunmire provided about 80% of the funding to get Initiative 900 on the ballot.

Eyman is not a populist and he does not represent the people. He only represents special interests and conservative multimillionaires.

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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.

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