August 27th, 2004
Public Disclosure Commission needs to Audit Eyman's Books
Eyman responds to PDC Complaint by calling it lies. He does not respond to any of the charges.

Contact: Steve Zemke
206-366-0811
stevezemke@msn.com

Seattle, WA— For Immediate Release

Tim Eyman’s latest e-mail response to the press and his supporters does nothing to explain the charges filed yesterday with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission against him and his campaign committees. TaxSanity.org, Taxpayers for Washington’s Future and PermanentDefense.org filed an 16 page complaint asking the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission to conduct an audit on Eyman’s 3 campaign committees – Voters Want More Choices, Help Us Help Taxpayers and Just Treat Us the Same for the last 2 years..

Five separate issues are raised:

  • Help Us Help Taxpayers put out a large mailing the first week in July 2004 to raise funds to pay Tim Eyman. This mailing was paid for by Voters Want More Choices but neither committee reports any expenditure for this mailing. Voters Want More Choices made similar mailings last year starting when they formed in June of 2003 but did not report them. Expenditures for these mailings were never fully accounted for until Eyman filed amended returns in Dec 2003- six months later. We contend that this pattern of hiding expenditures and not reporting them constitutes a conspiracy between the committees that harms the public’s right to know.
  • Eyman solicited funds for I-864 under Voters Want More Choices from June 2003 through June 30, 2004 and repeatedly said the funds would only go to the property tax initiative campaign. Schedule B forms show that through Dec 2003 he paid mailing and accounting expenses of the Help Us Help Taxpayers Committee of over $10,600 and another $2600 in accounting fees through June 2004. Soliciting funds for one purpose and then spending them for something else constitutes fraud.
  • Eyman told his supporters in an July 23, 2004 e-mail that he received a $20,000 donation to Help Us Help Taxpayers yet failed to report it. When we pointed this out to the PDC they contacted him and he filed an amended form now saying it was a pledge. Not reporting a $20,000 donation/pledge is not a trivial oversight. One wonders how many other donation/pledges are not being reported.
  • Eyman reports to press and supporters poll results on I-864 yet fails to report any expenditure for poll conducted on 10/3/2003.
  • Just Treat Us the Same files numerous reports after filing deadlines.

The complaint is much more detailed and can be downloaded here.

After a compliant filed earlier this year when Eyman failed for several months to report the names of contributors the PDC responded to that complaint by saying that further late reporting “will not be tolerated and may result in enforcement action”. Steve Zemke of Taxpayers for Washington’s Future said “How many more times does Eyman need to fail to meet reporting requirements before the PDC clamps down? Not reporting $20,000 donations or reporting large expenditures by deliberately hiding them do not seem like trivial matters!”

Eyman response to the complaint is the usual – to not answer the charges but call it a slime attack and filled with lies.

Please also note several false statements in Eyman’s e-mails regarding his initiatives

Eyman calls Washington’s property taxes “obscene and unsustainable”. Eyman’s Initiative 864 wanted to cut local property 25%. Ironically the conservative Tax Foundation in Washington D.C. reports that Washington’s local property taxes, with 1 being the highest, are 35th highest in the nation per person and 41st highest as a percentage of income.

The Office of Fiscal Management has estimated only half the reduction in property taxes for I-892 as Eyman does. They report a possible $235 million reduction by 2008, not $400 million. Eyman cites no source for his figure.

I-892 is not revenue neutral; the bill introduced in the state legislature last year said that the Washington State Lottery would lose $100 million in revenue each year if Washington adds 18,000 video slot machines across the state.
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