Tim “Biggest Lie of My Life” Eyman’s I-960 and I-1185 require “advisory votes” for tax increases passed by the legislature. Unfortunately, it comes with a lengthy and burdensome voter pamphlet statement:
The Secretary of State’s office says explanations for last year’s measures added about eight pages to the voter pamphlet, which cost about $100,000. Using the same layout, this year’s measures would add about 20 pages, and $240,000.
And then there is this:
But Tami Davis, the voter education and outreach manager, is looking for a way to cut pages and costs.
So on top of the printing costs, the initiatives force us to use state employees to write, proof, and figure out new layouts that save money. All that costs money.
Eyman defends himself:
…whatever the cost may be, it will be “chump change” compared to the taxes those five new laws will collect. Voters deserve a chance to weigh in, he said.
Except that the advisory votes are only…well, advisory. Very expensive ones, at that.
Has the process done anything besides bloating the voter pamphlet and require the legislature to raise taxes to pay for bloating it? Well…maybe. Rodney Tom indicated he used these advisory votes in his decision to join the Republican caucus. And the result was a cluster fuck….more gummed up government leading to a wasteful double overtime legislative session.
The scam Eyman has going here is self perpetuating. He preys on unpopular topics—essentially forcing voters to give a thumbs up or down to raising their own taxes—in order to pass initiatives that gum up government. And when the government gets gummed up, people become unhappy with government. They make a statement through their next initiative from the Mukilteo Menace.
This is the very definition of wasteful government—the very thing the admitted liar is supposedly against.
Eyman isn’t against wasteful government, of course. It is a sham. The only thing Eyman is interested in is lining his own pocket.
