July 21st, 2003

Interview with Permanent Defense

Permanent Defense is the oldest continuous organization committed to fighting against Tim Eyman's senseless initiatives and working for real tax reform in Washington State.

STEVE ZEMKE

Steve Zemke has a long history of political activism in Washington State. He has been first and foremost an opponent of Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) and sponsored Initiative 394 in 1981, which required voter approval before bonds could be issued for large public power plants. He has been involved with many campaigns over the years. In January, he got the I-800 number in a political victory that caught Eyman off guard, who had been expecting to get the number and had heavily promoted his "800-pound" gorilla. He is now the head of Taxpayers For Washington's Future.

What do you think of Tim Eyman after the failure of Initiative 807?

The dictionary gives the definition of a demagogue as "a person, especially an orator or political leader, who gains power by arousing people's emotions and prejudices." That's Eyman! Eyman has inflamed public sentiment against government and taxes for his own personal benefit. He has no answers to solve problems the state faces like providing our children with a quality education or providing for efficient public transit. Instead, he is a naysayer that divides the public, appeals to their narrowest self interest by trying to slash public funding, and uses inflammatory sound bites. He uses these tactics, rather than sound policy analysis, to try to implement his ultra conservative libertarian philosophy that no government is the best government. His failure to get signatures on I-807 is good for Washington State because those of us that care about the future of our state can focus energies on positive solutions rather that fighting against his negative anti- government campaigns. His failure also shows us that he can be stopped with an aggressive campaign as soon as possible. He's dangerous when no one speaks out against his radical proposals.

Why do you think Eyman wanted "compensation" even though his initiative (I-807) failed?

Eyman wants money because it takes money to live. Reality has set in. The public supports public disclosure laws. He has continually tried to skirt around them. He wanted people to believe that he worked for free out of the goodness of his heart because then he would not be viewed as one of those corrupt politicians working for the public full time and needing money to pay his bills. He loves to rail after politician's 'lusting after money" but he is a hypocrite. The Public Disclosure Commission last year fined him $50,000 for his claiming he was unpaid while he transferred over $233,000 to his personal business account and paid himself a handsome salary.

Eyman would have had money to pay himself if he wasn't so incompetent. He wasted some $35,000 of his supporter's money printing and mailing some 100,000 copies of an invalid I-807 signature petition. It's the untold story of the I-807 campaign. He couldn't even print up the actual text of I-807 on the back of his petitions as required by law to be the same as what he filed with the Secretary of State. Fortunately the citizens of this state are lucky that his incompetence in running campaigns seems to match his ego.

He again this year ran into trouble with the PDC over quietly asking supporters to send money to "Tim Eyman, Taxpayer Advocate" to avoid public disclosure. The PDC is investigating the legality of that action. After he was banned from being the Treasurer of any campaign organization, his response was to try to set up a "legal fund" for himself with checks made out to him. Maybe it's time for the I.R.S. to look into all these creative financing schemes.

What are your primary reasons for opposing 25% cuts in property taxes next year?

You have to call the campaign for what it really is. It's a campaign to cut 25% out of a dedicated state fund for K-12 education. That equals a cut of some $700,000,000 per biennium. It a direct assault against the children of this state motivated apparently by two reasons. The first is that Eyman needs some tax that he can rail against to motivate his donors with using simplistic slogans. He needs money to keep going. The second is that his ego prevents him from stopping and trying to figure out what he's doing. He's like the cigarette smoker with cancer who can't stop smoking.

If the guy were truly honest he would calculate the costs associated with his state funded education at Washington State University and pay out of his pocket the cost that was subsidized by taxpayers. And I'm sure he's going to send his children to private school, since he's proposing slashing public school money. Maybe he just supports a shorter school year and needs his kids to help in his watch business.

Is the concept of a "voter veto" a bad idea?

Voters have the right to veto anything the legislature does for the most part. They can run a referendum to repeal a law or they can draft an initiative to change a law. This is in our state constitution.

It is not a bad idea because the legislature is a political body and does not always act in the best interests of the public. The problem however is when the use of the initiative or referendum is no longer just a safeguard against special interests but itself gets hijacked by special interests like Eyman who use their dollars to buy a place on the ballot.

What do you think of Eyman's purported "revenge" on lawmakers?

Eyman is driven by his media-assisted ego. It's like a fairy tale gone bad.

Eyman sends out an e-mail saying "No Taxes". The legislature and governor do not listen to "King Eyman" and pass a 5 cent gas tax to help fund transportation. Eyman's ego says "I need revenge. They aren't listening to me. Why aren't they listening to me? Don't they know I run this state? I need revenge! Maybe then they'll listen to me." Eyman cannot stop and his ego hurts so much! Eyman's ego says "Taxes, taxes, taxes. I never met one I liked so let's just propose cutting state property taxes 25%. That should be a good fundraiser."

Unfortunately Eyman's proposed "revenge" to slash state property tax by 25% is not a fairy tale and will slash public education funding in the process. Maybe you can see the "logic" of Eyman's thinking but I can't. There is no logic because it is all a big game without rules for him. He can hang up on reporters if he wants. He can refuse to answer questions if he wants. He can lie like saying he works for free. He loves to put down legislators but he has no solutions to solve state problems. He says that is someone else's job. Unfortunately too many in the media still use his e-mails uncritically for easy stories and don't do the hard work of going beyond his catchy sound bites. In many ways Eyman has skillfully co-opted the media into being an integral part of his campaigns.

Seeing all the services cut with this year's budget shortfall, does anyone really believe there is more to cut? Should we cut more health care for children? Should we let more prisoners out of jail early? Don't we need to keep our drinking water safe anymore? Do our teacher's really need more pay?

Do you think supporters will be generous to Tim's new "Help Us Help Taxpayers" fund?

Time will tell. I think as more people see the negative and dark side of Eyman's efforts, his support will diminish. There have always been people who oppose taxes despite their social good. We only need a majority to prevail.

We need to move forward with building a fairer and less regressive tax system for our state. We need to build a working majority of citizens and taxpayers who are committed to keeping our state a caring and compassionate place for us to live. We need to continue to oppose the Tim Eyman slash and burn style of making political decisions and appeal to what is best in each of us rather than appealing to people's most selfish side as Eyman does. We can do it. And we will. Our future and the future of our children depend on it.

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