State Sen. Adam Kline (representing my 37th LD) has a great guest column in today’s Seattle P-I, ripping Tim Eyman a new one:
Uh-oh. Hold onto your wallets, folks. Tim Eyman is back.
That’s right, the professional initiative salesman, who secretly pocketed hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions, began his most recent screed (“2006 initiative: Save our $30 tabs,” Dec. 29) by stating that nobody trusts politicians. The veteran of umpteen initiative campaigns proceeded to attack politicians for allowing additional fees for vehicle registration. No mention, of course, that the fees are still there because he failed to eliminate them in the drafting of his own initiative, which he falsely advertised as the “$30 Tab Initiative.” Talk about truth in advertising.! He could have fixed it again with Initiative 776, which he dubbed “$30 Car Tabs for Everyone.” But he didn’t. He blew it, not once but twice, and now he blames it on “politicians.”
To quote Eyman: “The arrogance is overwhelming.”
It should also be noted that Eyman’s scandals have finally caught up with him, at least in terms of his so-called “grass roots” support. Of the $593,000 he raised for Initiative 900, over $514,000 can from a single source: investment banker Michael Dunmire of Woodinville. All it takes to qualify for the ballot is a half million dollars worth of paid signatures, and with a deep pocketed sugar daddy like Dunmire, Eyman is virtually assured ballot access. But that won’t mean his latest $30 car tab initiative has popular support.
Indeed, in the wake of I-912’s resounding defeat, targeting the other third of the funding for the state transportation package doesn’t sound like such a sure thing to me. I just hope the business community puts up the money to help kill Eyman’s latest folly, putting a fork in his dying initiative career.