I like to belittle Tim Eyman as a “professional” initiative sponsor, but the truth is, he really isn’t all that professional. Case in point, the breaking news that his volunteers and paid signature gatherers have wasted the past month collecting signatures on an invalid petition.
Steve Zemke of Majority Rules reports:
Tim Eyman’s current Initiative 917 petitions for $30 license tabs are invalid and violate Washington state law. He has resent “redesigned” petitions to his supporters but lies and tells them that signatures on the old petitions are “valid”.
This directly contradicts an announcement issued by the Washington State Secretary of State on Feb. 19, 2006 and posted on their website.
I cannot begin to tell you what a major, logistical fuck-up this is… and to add to his embarrassment, it’s not the first time. Steve caught the true meaning of Timmy’s lying letter because it was a near carbon-copy of one he sent to supporters back in 2003, when he inexcusably printed the wrong initiative text on the back of the I-807 petition. The campaign never recovered, and Timmy failed to qualify an initiative for the ballot.
It’s still too early in the signature gathering season to determine whether Tim’s latest screw-up is fatal, but it certainly will prove costly. As of the end of February, the I-917 campaign had already spent at least $90,000 on paid signature gathering, and over $25,000 on printing and mailing… all of it on totally invalid petitions. That’s about a quarter of the budget of a typical signature drive.
But at least as devastating is the chaos and confusion this creates amongst signers. Those who have already signed the invalid petition won’t know that they now must sign the newly “redesigned,” “better” (i.e. valid) petition. And if signature gatherers make an aggressive effort to ask people to sign again, they will likely end up collecting a large number of duplicate signatures.
Anyway, here’s how Eyman screwed up. In 2005 the Legislature amended the controlling statutes to require that all petitions carry a declaration from the signature gatherer attesting that people signed willingly and without compensation, and acknowledging the penalties for forgery and inducement. The new requirement went into effect January 1, 2006, but Eyman — the “professional” — apparently didn’t notice.
Well, apparently somebody else did, because the Secretary of State issued the following advisory on February 9:
It is the interpretation of the Office of the Secretary of State that this declaration must not only be printed on the back side of petition sheet, but must also be signed by the signature gatherer, and the signature gatherer’s name must be printed in the appropriate location. To interpret the law as not requiring the oath to be completed would render the new law meaningless. It is also the interpretation of the Office of the Secretary of State that lack of a signature on the declaration will cause the petition sheet to be rejected pursuant to RCW 29A.72.170(1).
Pretty clear, huh? Petitions lacking a properly completed declaration will not be counted.
Well, not according Timmy. In a letter to supporters sent out last week, Eyman wrote:
“All the signatures, whether on the old petition or redesigned petition, are valid and will count so get them filled out and sent back to me as soon as possible. […] But we ask everyone to start using the new, redesigned petition because it’s better.”
What a lying, sack of shit. Though, yeah… sure… the “redesigned” petitions are indeed “better”… in the sense that these petitions will actually count.
I checked with the SOS and they assured me that their interpretation was written in consultation with the Attorney General’s office. Rep. Toby Nixon has formally asked the AG for an official opinion, but it’s hard to see how a statute requiring this declaration could possibly be read to um… not require this declaration. Eyman is screwed.
And, like I said… a liar.
For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why anybody still takes this guy seriously. Eyman is a serial prevaricator who was caught red handed stealing from contributors, and lying about it afterwards. He has absolutely no grassroots organization whatsoever, and now manages to raise less than $100,000/initiative from his once vaunted contributor list. He can only afford the paid signature gatherers that qualify his initiatives for the ballot through the underwriting of a single, multimillionaire contributor, Michael Dunmire of Woodenville… but to call Timmy a “professional” would be to ignore the inexcusably amateur way he runs his campaigns.
Let’s be honest. If Timmy had been hired to run the signature drive for I-917, and had screwed up big time like this… he would have been fired. And this from the most prolific initiative sponsor in state history… I mean, even my dog eventually learns simple tasks through repetition.
Without Dunmire’s money and the inexplicable attention the traditional media still lavishes on him, Eyman would be nothing but just another lying, angry, right-wing blowhard. Perhaps that’s qualification enough to earn him a spot blogging on (un)Sound Politics, but it certainly doesn’t warrant the guest-column-on-demand status he currently enjoys in our state’s major newspapers.
It is not uncommon to read editorial boards railing against Eyman’s stupid, ill-conceived initiatives. Well here’s a hint guys: stop giving this lying, incompetent, self-serving horse’s ass so much damned free press!
Hey Goldy – Since you’re such a big fan of high taxes and ever expanding government… why don’t YOU sponsor an initiative for kind good hearted people like you to pay EXTRA taxes? Empty your bank account into the state coffers. Set and example for the rest of us. Broadcast to the fucking world what a great person you are.
You don’t because your a fucking hypocrite. You’re real generous with other people’s money, but the fact is that you’re a greedy selfish elistist asshole.
I proudly support Tim and all the initiatives. I give money to the campaigns. I collect signatures. I write letters. And I vote. Tim is the ONLY voice that the taxpayers have. He has saved us BILLIONS of dollars that would otherwise go down the fucking rathole of government.
So put your money where your mouth is. Start paying extra you cheap bastard.
Hey, Mark the Redneck,
Pay the $100 you owe Goldy–and pay on his terms.
Otherwise you are a fucking thief!
And, if you had any dignity whatsoever, you wouldn’t even post comments here until making good on your promise.
Hey Mark, I have a bit of a problem with your president sticking my kids with the bill for the war you two started. I think if you want a war so bad you should pay for it yourselves instead of racking up the biggest debt in the history of the world. Pony up!
MTR @1,
Put your money where your mouth is, asshole, and pay up on the $100 bet we made. I want to see evidence of your contribution to the Cantwell campaign.
But back on topic, I guess the real reason you support Timmy, is that you are a lying, thieving, self-serving cheat just like him. But what I can’t understand is why you are so tolerant of him wasting your money due to his own arrogance and incompetance?
D – Eyman started a war? What fucking planet are you on?
Geez Goldy – Can’t you stay on topic on your own fucking thread? Shit.
I did her a huge favor by advertising here that her website was fucked up. Getting that fixed was worth WAY more than $100.
So shove it up your ass.
Let’s a get a few things straight. Mark The Redneck is a dicksucking, traitor, coward and liar.
Now that we have that fact established, let’s just apply the same list to Timmy.
What a fuck up. HE HE HE HA HA HA HO HO HO HA HA HA HE HE!
The rethugs are looooooooooosers at just about everything they try lately. How pathetic.
Okay, now I’m off to go have sex with MarkTheRedneck’s ugly wife.
How can a bet welsher stand to look at himself in the mirror?
Mark the Redneck @ 6
“I did her a huge favor by advertising here that her website was fucked up. Getting that fixed was worth WAY more than $100.”
No you didn’t. I checked out her web site immediatelly after you couldn’t get it to work. I successfully made a donation.
In other words, not only are you a thief who steals from Goldy and then has the nerve to continue posting on his blog, but you are, apparently, a stupid motherfucker who cannot figure out how to use a simple web form.
(And, a donation via the web was not a condition of the bet…ever hear of using MAIL?)
But, back on topic (and, yes, discussing your bet really is related)….
As I recall, if Goldy had lost the bet, he would have donated $100 to Eyman’s “causes.” It looks like Eyman’s mistake would have devalued the donation by about 25%.
Waaaaa, haaaa, haaa, haaa! Hey, MTR, don’t bother sharing any stock tips with us (or marital advice for that matter)….
Goldy,
Obviously Eyman screwed up. The legal effect of that screw up may be a different story.
The problem with I-917 is that a declaration for the signature gatherer was omitted. It has nothing to do with what the registered voters signing the petition were signing. Instead, it is something that the signature gatherer must sign.
The Secretary of State memo says that initiative sheets will be rejected if they are not signed by the signature gatherer. The SOS says nothing at all about how the signature gatherer declaration must be printed.
Quite likely, the signature gatherer declaration can be added to the reverse side of the petition and signed by the signature gatherer. It could be printed as a stick-on label and then signed by the signature gatherer. In fact, the way RCW 29A.72.120 is written, it could even by HAND printed by the signature gatherer on the reverse of the petition.
In any event, the amendments to RCW 29A.72.120 by Laws 2005, ch. 239, sec. 2 are screwed up in themselves. The signature gatherer has to a sign a declaration to “swear or affirm under penalty of law” that the voters weren’t paid for their signatures.
However, there is no provision in Washington law for a declaration to “swear or affirm under penalty of law”. That simply is not the legal format for anything.
Under RCW 9A.72.085, you can sign a declaration, in lieu of an affidavit before a notary, which is subject to penalty of perjury, in this format:
“I certify (or declare) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct” — with the date and place that it is being signed.
The so-called declaration under RCW 29A.72.120 would appear to be meaningless. So omitting the so-called declaration may not be as significant as it seems.
Richard @ 10,
I have no doubt that they can print the required declaration on the existing froms to make them valid petitions under RCW 29A.72.120.
But, the signatures were not gathered on a valid petition under RCW 29A.72.120. Therefore, the signatures on a corrected form could not count.
The logical extreme of your interpretation would be collecting signatures on a blank piece of paper and then running the signed paper through a laser printer to print on the text that makes it a legal petition.
Correcting the forms (i.e. making a piece of paper a legal petition under RCW 29A.72.120) only makes them useful for signature collection after the conversion.
Richard @ 11
“The so-called declaration under RCW 29A.72.120 would appear to be meaningless. So omitting the so-called declaration may not be as significant as it seems.”
I doubt it. Whether the declaration is legal or not (any case law to support your claim?), RCW 29A.72.120 STILL requires that the language be printed on the back of the ballot.
If the declaration turns out to be not valid, it only affects the possibility of prosecuting individuals who violate the declaration, not the legality of the petition form itself.
Interesting how a right-winger like Pope can parse this so that maybe Timmy’s in the clear, yet Pope, when the tables are turned, will cause us as taxpayers to spend money defending his frivolous lawsuits over the same sort of minutia. Can you say hypocrite?
However noble the idea of the initiative process seems, always keep in mind that Washington’s first citizen initiative was prohibition.
Far sighted and enduring public policy isn’t likely to come from a public weaned on MTV.
Hey Laura…
I think Bob from Boeing may have a problem with your homophobia, after all he is a dicksucker…
Okay, now I’m off to go have sex with MarkTheRedneck’s ugly wife.
Commentby LauraBushKilledAGuy [Laura, My Arab towel head friends would like to pull a train on your wife and daughter. Any questions?]
LauraBushKilledAGuy, Bring your Democrat wife and daughter to Yale where we will show them some 9 inch anal Democrat “Tookie” diversity.
Islam men just loves to rape Western women!!! Mrs. Roger Rabbit, show us how much you hate Bush!!!! Mrs. Roger Rabbit Infidel!! take it Yale Democrat “Tookie” style!!!
Richard @10,
I think you will agree that the legislative intent is clear: to have a declaration in which the signature gatherer reads and swears to the oath BEFORE gathering signatures. (Since clearly, it makes no sense to swear to an oath afterwards.)
But there is also another practical problem to what you suggest. It is very likely impossible for Eyman to determine which signature gatherers handled which petitions, after the fact.
These petitions simply aren’t valid, and if Eyman turns them in they should be rejected.
Okay, someone said “train” and now the Bush twins are looking for action.
So what we’re saying is the actual form the signatures are being gathered on incorrect due to a signature that could be added before official submission to Olympia?
A lot of angst has been posted here over beaurocratic technicalities.
I’d suggest that some folks need to get a life.
(I’ll omitt any remarks about being a geek…….well maybe not.)
Jack @22,
What we’re saying is that WA state’s so-called “initiative guru” just spent $120,000 of somebody else’s money gathering signatures on invalid petitions… and then lied to his supporters about it.
All these petitions are invalid. Period. He fucked up.
The nice thing for Gregoire and the Democrats is they can lie and misrepresent the State’s financial status with no consequences. Hell, even the Seattle Times fingured out what the Evergreen Freedom Foundation figured out WEEKS ago:
“OLYMPIA — Democratic lawmakers congratulated themselves for being frugal when they passed a state budget this month that reserves $935 million to deal with future expenses. What they didn’t say is they’ve essentially spent that money already.
State estimates show lawmakers created programs, tax breaks and improvements in state services this year that are expected to cost about $940 million over the next two fiscal years.
That basically blows away the money set aside by the Legislature — some of it earmarked for other things, such as pensions and schools — and leaves a projected $500 million shortfall next session.”
I’m sure Goldy will avoid this ugly bit of news. He’s rather focus on a “side-show” than come to grips with the fiscal MUMBO-JUMBO spewed by his LEFTIST KOMRADES!!!!
A budget INS’T prudent unless it is SUSTAINABLE!!!!!
This Budget was not sustainable….and sets the State up for a real disaster.
Yeah, he fucked up, and Goldy, the ultimate fuck-up, should know!
So now Goldy is the VERY 1ST Gay & Lesbian Afro-Jewish American SLAVE watch salesman STALKER who survived the Holocaust in a Posh Philadelphia upscale neighborhood with a privileged upbringing.
WOW!!
How many more faces can Goldy don???
It is amazing that one scrawny little guy with a godawful screechy voice could survive all this adversity in one lifetime and still be standing upright!! Stalking a Watch Salesman is almost as low as losing to Bush TWICE!!!!
Goldy @ 23. There is enough NON accountablity on BOTH side to keep us posting for days.
**I DO have issues with Tim, however, until the politcos in charge listen to the will of the people, I’ll support Tim’s intiatives that warrant it.**
You’d think that voters, especially those in King County, would be PO’s at the arrogance of those in office who disregard the will of the people indicated by either polling (ad nauseum) or what was actually VOTED into law. The misuse of the Emergency Clause is a travesty.
I think you will agree that the legislative intent is clear: to have a declaration in which the signature gatherer reads and swears to the oath BEFORE gathering signatures. (Since clearly, it makes no sense to swear to an oath afterwards.)
Commentby Goldy— 3/20/06@ 11:47 am
Sorry Goldy — RCW 29A.72.120 clearly requires the signature gatherer to sign the petitions AFTER gathering signatures.
Here is the first sentence of the statement the signature gatherer must sign:
“I, . . . . . . . . . . . ., swear or affirm under penalty of law that I circulated this sheet of the foregoing petition, and that, to the best of my knowledge, every person who signed this sheet of the foregoing petition knowingly and without any compensation or promise of compensation willingly signed his or her true name and that the information provided therewith is true and correct.”
The operative verbs are in the PAST tense, not in the FUTURE tense. It would be ridiculous to sign this BEFORE gathering signatures. It is clearly intended to be signed AFTER gathering signatures. Therefore, no harm in adding the statement after the fact.
However, you may have a good point if the particular signature gatherer cannot be identified to locate and signed the completed petition form.
Nothing like an Eyman thread to bring out the haters!
16
DANNO – Thanks. It is funny to watch all the straight men insult each other and straight woment insult the men using homophobic slurs.
Old habits die hard.
Or it is perhaps very Freudian. The so long forbidden fruit.
Maybe true, but the point is if the liberal legislature and the “Governor” listened to the will of the people, they would understand that the people voted in the old 30 dollar car tabs in the past. DO NOT fuck with it. They cannot seem to understand that 30 means 30, not 50 or sixty. What ever happened to by the people for the people? It seems that “we don’t care what the people think, we’re gonna be arrogant and naive and do it anyway” is more fitting. Deaf ears in Olympia! The people have spoken and Olpmpia better godamn well better listen! Thanks.
No court would throw out V O T E R rights because an untested proviso was a problem on some forms.
Get real.
Voters rights are the drivers in this process. Not any other function.
Richard is on the fertile legal anaysis.
If Eyman has to sue for the voters interests who signed to be protected, he wins media again.
You all think you in past years legislature, huffing and puffing the best rhetoric as s susbstiture for work.
Voter / signors rights are the isssue. I suspect a supervisor can do the attest. Like every other segment of our lives.
Mark1 @ 31 –
We’re still talking about car tabs?!? How are we still talking about car tabs?
Fine, you want to talk about car tabs –
Yes, the vote was for 30 dollar car tabs.
But that doesn’t mean that a region cannot vote to TAX ITSELF to pay for something IT WANTS…
In fact, isn’t that the whole point of taxes? So that we can as a society put our cash in a communal pot and with that cash do things that as individuals we cannot do? (IE build things, run programs, provide social services, etc). Yes, no one really WANTS to part with their cash. But it is the lesser of two evils, and if you had to occasionally part with an extra 30 bucks when you went to renew your tabs, but because of that $30 the Alaskan Way Viaduct (or whatever replaces it) doesn’t fall down pancake-style on your, your family’s, or your friend’s collective heads, I doubt you’ll complain post-quake.
The right-wing solution to Eyman’s incompetence would be to make him the CEO of an insurance company so he can screw up our health care, too.
I haven’t been posting much today because I spent all morning trying to get my health insurance reinstated, which was canceled Jan. 1 even though I’ve paid all the premiums and they cashed all my checks.
I’m on a COBRA plan with an ex-employer, who told me this screwup is Group Health’s fault. Group Health told me it’s the employer’s fault. Group Health says the employer was supposed to notify me that my coverage was cancelled. The employer told me Group Health was supposed to notify me that my coverage was cancelled. And so on.
They run their insurance like Tim Eyman runs his initiative campaigns.
Hey, I have an idea! Let’s try the Castro plan — firing squads! Bang! Bang! Bang! If whoever screwed up my health insurance is shot, I guarantee he/she/it won’t do it again! And if Timmy’s signature gatherers and financial supporters do teh same thing to him, I guarantee it’ll be the last time he ever fucks up an initiative campaign!
Click here for photo of I-917 corrective plan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.....staged.jpg
I don’t care much for Castro, but he occasionally does get a good idea.
Hey Bob-
I doubt your Fruitiness is very long.
1
“He has saved us BILLIONS of dollars that would otherwise go down the fucking rathole of government.” Commentby Mark The Redneck— 3/20/06@ 9:26 am
Eyman hasn’t saved us a fucking cent. His initiatives were thrown out by the courts, thanks to his incompetence. The $30 car tab actually was enacted by a Democratic legislature and signed by Gov. Gary Locke.
Y’all try this on for size:
Ban BOTH health insurance and annual cost of living pay raises.
You’d see a big change in the economy.
Health Care is overly expensive mostly because of health insurance.
*** I won’t get into those who tie up the system that aren’t sick, you know, those people whose primary care providers have the initials ER.***
Sure, people wouldn’t buy so much. They also wouldn’t have to pay more and more and more….companies would price themselves off the market.
Hey Danno-
Never a complaint.
When the hateful trolls come by it’s easy to forget the true spirit of the thread – LAUGH AT THE SELF-SERVING BOZO TIM EYMAN!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Hello. I think the people of Washington voted for the $30.00 tab. You just need to accept the fact people are just plain fed up with your bullshit. Time to move on and do something worth while.
Cynnical, you stated…”sets the State up for a real disaster”
The only scenario that could cause this state to have a real disaster is 1) a republican somehow stole his way into the Governors Mansion, 2) the Safeco Swifty steals his way into the Senate or 3) you returned to your Democratic roots (no body on the proper side of politics could stand to be within 50 meters of your bigotted, homophobic and repressive politics)
Boogar–
Impressive tonight, ain’t ya!
Yes wagovssucks, you must be right! An absolute genius! Hey, wait a minute, if your are right and a genius, why do Washington State voters now give GOVERNOR Gregoire a 50+% approval rating? I am very interested to hear your reply.
40
“Ban BOTH health insurance and annual cost of living pay raises”
The Republicans have been trying this for years, and it isn’t working worth shit.
yousucktoo @43
“I think the people of Washington voted for the $30.00 tab. You just need to accept the fact people are just plain fed up with your bullshit. Time to move on and do something worth while.”
Yeah they did, but their votes didn’t county because Eyman doesn’t know how to write an initiative! As I pointed out above, the good citizens of Washington owe their $30 car tabs to a Democratic legislature and a Democratic governor, not to Tim Eyman. As for bullshit, if you wanna see bullshit, I’ll show you Dino Rossi. It’s pretty obvious Washingtonians are fed up with Republican bullshit, because we have a Democratic house, a Democratic senate, a Democratic governor, two Democratic U.S. senators, six Democratic congressmen, and 7 of 9 elected statewide office holders Democrats. The people have spoken, and they said, “Republicans suck!”
correction
“count”
For the Clueless said: Nothing like an Eyman thread to bring out the haters!
Commentby For the Clueless— 3/20/06@ 1:15 pm
You are right about your people. You mix-up who the haters are. Librul tax and spenders. It’s your people who hate Eyman!
Bob From Boeing said: 16 DANNO – Thanks. It is funny to watch all the straight men insult each other and straight woment insult the men using homophobic slurs.
Old habits die hard. Or it is perhaps very Freudian. The so long forbidden fruit.
Commentby BOB from BOEING— 3/20/06@ 1:57 pm
Bob, aren’t you curious that the homophobic slurs>/b> come from people who support the gay agenda? It’s supporters of your kind who diss your kind! Gay bashing – Ask a librul!
For the Clueless will lead the charge to get me banned based onb comment #51
Rabbit Pellet: You said you worked for FUWA as a barrister! Now being a recent retiree, who controls FUWA? Republicans? Hell no! Dummocraps do. So your rant: “I’m on a COBRA plan with an ex-employer, who told me this screwup is Group Health’s fault. Group Health told me it’s the employer’s fault. Group Health says the employer was supposed to notify me that my coverage was cancelled. The employer told me Group Health was supposed to notify me that my coverage was cancelled. And so on.”
This falls on deaf ears. You and your librul buddies created the FUWA chaos you are having to deal with so suck it up, get a stiff upper lip and go hump your armadillo. We who think right could care less about your insurance problems since it was donks who created the mess and you are a recipient of the donk mess! HA HA HA HA HA!
Goldy: If Richard Pope is right about the attestations, will you provide an update stating “Golly, I was wrong”? Naah didn’t think so!
semanti