Once again, Tim Eyman has been caught in another lie.

The initiative profiteer gleefully told his supporters in a July 23rd fundraising email that he’d recieved a “$20,000 gift” from one of his supporters:

“Yesterday, one of our supporters donated $20,000 to our compensation fund “Help Us Help Taxpayers.” Jack, Mike, and I are extremely grateful for this tremendous generosity. We know that not everyone can donate that much, but we hope that all of you will participate as much as you can. The compensation fund will be divided between the three of us and will be used to compensate us for our effective political work.”

But on August 10th, in the monthly report to the Public Disclosure Commission on campaign contributions, the $20,000 was nowhere to be found.

Eyman’s personal compensation fund, Help Us Help Taxpayers, only reported collecting $7,325 for the month of August. That leaves an important question- where is the missing money?

Either Eyman has lied to the PDC about the gift by not reporting the money, or he lied to his supporters by telling them he’d received a gift when he really hadn’t.

Whatever the story is, Tim Eyman has always had a history of exploring the gray areas of the public disclosure law throughout the last few years.

The initiative profiteer became famous in February of 2002 when he was forced to admit he had taken $50,000 from his campaigns and was planning to take another $150,000. Of course, Eyman at first lied and said he was working for free.

Tim Eyman has always been a liar. He lies about his finances and his initiatives. His entire operation is fraudulent and deceitful.

Time and time again, he’s let down his followers. 3 of his last four initiatives haven’t made the ballot, even though he insisted they would because they were “wildly popular”. And he’s repeatedly lied about his finances, including the hundreds of thousands he took and then lied about taking back in 2000 and 2001.

This latest revelation proves once again that Tim is neither accountable nor truthful. The money he says he received wasn’t reported. No matter which way you look at this one, Tim Eyman has been dishonest.

The PDC should take this violation very seriously and prosecute Eyman to the fullest extent of the law. After Eyman was delinquent in his reports last spring, the PDC said that future violations would not be tolerated.

Eyman should be penalized for repeatedly ignoring and disregarding campaign finance laws. From his taking of campaign funds to pay himself, his “legal defense fund” to delinquent reporting and inability to report funds he says he has, Tim Eyman is clearly a repeat offender, and the PDC should hold him responsible.

It’s clearer than ever before that Tim Eyman, his moneymaking operation, and his initiative factory are all just a big sham out to take advantage of Washingtonians.

See for yourself: The Eyman email

From: Tim Eyman
Date: Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:23:32 AM US/Pacific
Subject: Track record of success and progress

To: Our thousands of supporters throughout the state

From: Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, and Mike Fagan

RE: Tremendous generosity is appreciated

Over the past seven years, all of you have worked with Jack, Mike, and I to change Washington’s politics forever. Vehicle tabs are no longer outrageously expensive and property taxes are capped with a limit more restrictive than any other in the nation. In the last two legislative sessions, the general fund budgets were balanced without tax increases. Our insistence that tax increases be put to a public vote ensured the defeat of Referendum 51, the $8 billion transportation tax increase. Politicians in the Puget Sound abandoned plans to ask voters for a $14 billion tax increase because they knew voters would say no. Sales tax increases were put up for a vote in Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties and all of them were overwhelmingly rejected. The initiative process is under constant assault and thanks to your support and lobbying of the Legislature, we’ve beaten back legislative efforts to eliminate or undermine our right to initiative.

This November, we’re voting on shrinking the size of the King County Council from 13 politicians to nine. This week, after two years of judicial haggling, I-776 is being implemented and we’ll soon begin getting $39.2 million in refund checks for vehicle charges that I-776 repealed. In December, we’re goin’ ROUND 2 in court over I-776 because it explicitly repealed Sound Transit’s tax on vehicles but Sound Transit refuses to abide by the voters’ decision. Voters approved I-776 which, among other things, ripped away 20% of Sound Transit’s funding, yet Sound Transit continues to obstruct this voter-approved and court-backed initiative. It’s critical to hold the Attorney General’s feet to the fire and aggressively defend I-776 on into 2005.

Property taxes in Washington are so obscene and unsustainable that we put forth two property tax cutting initiatives this year. The one that qualified for the ballot will be approved in November and it reduces property taxes $400 million per year. And we’re coming back next year with a new property tax limitation initiative that reduces them even more.

I admit that I’m obsessively optimistic and always see the glass as half full. But how could you look at this track record of success and progress and not come to the same conclusion: that thanks to all of you, we’ve become the most effective taxpayer protection organization in the state.

As long as we’re out here fighting for the taxpayers, the politicians are on a much shorter leash. After all, politicians are at their most dangerous when they don’t think voters are watching. And thanks to the initiative process and your persistence and perseverance, we’re holding politicians accountable each and ever day.

The response to our request for compensation has been overwhelming. Our supporters understand that we simply can’t afford to spend our time, effort, and expertise on these critical taxpayer protection efforts without being compensated for it. We’re getting letters and checks and emails from supporters offering their financial assistance.

Yesterday, one of our supporters donated $20,000 to our compensation fund “Help Us Help Taxpayers.” Jack, Mike, and I are extremely grateful for this tremendous generosity. We know that not everyone can donate that much, but we hope that all of you will participate as much as you can. The compensation fund will be divided between the three of us and will be used to compensate us for our effective political work.

Having a separate, stand-alone compensation fund for the three of us allows each of you to decide for yourselves what our efforts are worth to you. If you appreciate our past, current, and future efforts and you like having politicians on a shorter leash because they know we’re out here, then please donate generously to “Help Us Help Taxpayers.”

We would be extremely grateful for any financial assistance you can offer.

Best Regards, Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, & Mike Fagan

P.S. There are thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and special interest groups working each and every day to raise your taxes. Shouldn’t there be at least one person, one team, one organization that fights to lower your taxes? Please help us so we can continue our successful efforts on behalf of taxpayers.