June 3rd, 2004
Eyman Jumping Ship on Initiative 864???
Eyman cancels signature contracts on I-864. It looks like another Eyman failure!

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

Seattle, WA— Tim Eyman appears to be abandoning his efforts to get Initiative 864 on the November ballot. Facing mounting opposition, lack of sufficient money and lack of grassroots citizen support Eyman on last Thursday canceled two separate contracts to pay signature firms for collecting more signatures on I-864.

As reported by Stephanie Rice in the Columbian on June 3rd, Eyman canceled his contract with U.S. Petitions out of San Diego, CA. U.S. Petitions had 20 employees working out of Vancouver in Clark County. Rice confirmed in an e-mail to TaxSanity.org that it was Eyman who canceled the contract. US Petitions is “no longer being paid to gather signatures.”

Eyman has also canceled his contract with his other major signature gathering firm, West Coast Petitions also from California. They were operating out of a small office on Stewart Street next to REI in downtown Seattle. Last week they had out over 50 petitioners. As of Thursday their office said “they are no longer paying for signatures for Initiative 864.” In addition, paid signature efforts in Spokane, Snohomish County and Bellingham seem to have stopped. If Eyman does not show significant funds raised for I-864 on his June 10th PDC filings, Initiative 864 is in deep, deep trouble.

As it was, Eyman was paying the lowest amount per signature of any initiative campaign, only 50 cents to the petitioner. I-864 was the least popular of the petitions carried by West Coast Petitions. An active campaign by the Voter Education Committee has been letting the public know they need to read petitions before they sign. The Voter Education Committee is being funded by the Washington State Council of County and City Employees. They hare been conducting an active voter outreach effort. In addition the Washington State Library Association and the Washington State Council of Firefighters have been helping with volunteers. Taxpayers for Washington’s Future, along with TaxSanity.org and Permanent Defense have been supporting these efforts and urging people to not sign I-864 because it would cut local government jobs and services.

Eyman is still collecting signatures on I-892 to drastically increase gambling and put electronic slot machines into every local neighborhood across the state by placing them in bars, bowling alleys, taverns, restaurants and mini-casinos. He is only paying 75 cents a signature for I-982 while both Initiative 883 to build more highways and Initiative 872 for an open primary like Louisiana’s have been paying $1.00 per signature to the signature gatherer. Signature gathering firms typically charge twice what they pay for each signature so Eyman is only paying $1.50 per signature whereas other initiatives are paying $2.00 - another indication that it is not a sure thing that I-892 will make it on the ballot if Eyman’s fundraising is slowing down as it appears.

Steve Zemke, Director of Taxpayers for Washington’s Future commented, “Eyman has been overrated for quite some time and does not have an active grassroots effort. It is only an illusion.” He failed last year to qualify his Initiative 807 for supermajority votes by the legislature on the budget. Zemke continued, “Eyman is in many ways a creation of the media and he has loved it. When his recycled tired message of lower taxes as the answer for all of our state’s problems gets examined more closely, people do not buy it. He is the emperor created by the media and he has no clothes.”

Initiative 864 would have cut local government services like police and fire protection, parks, libraries, public health hospitals and roads. “The public, unlike Eyman, knows that there is no free lunch.” said Zemke. “The public doesn’t see the logic or rationale to slash 25% off the budget of a fire district or a library district. The truth is, there is no rationale to propose such a cut – it is a number pulled out of thin air.”

Tax reform is needed. Rather than giving huge million dollar tax breaks to large corporations, real estate developers and shopping mall owners like Eyman proposes in I-864, a revenue-neutral Property Tax Homestead Exemption makes more sense. Such a measure was proposed in the last legislative session – HB 3076.

Zemke said, “It’s long past time for the press to critically examine Eyman’s proposals. Repeating and publicizing Eyman’s unsupported statements and off the wall proposals only feeds Eyman’s ego and does the public a great disservice”

As an example, Eyman’s Initiative 892 is a proposal that would greatly expand gambling in Washington State. It is only secondarily a proposal to reduce property taxes and at that it will be a dismal failure. The industry average payout on electronic slot machines is 95%. The state gets 35% of that “net win”. “The press repeats over and over that Eyman says it will cut $400 million from the state property tax. Work the numbers and the result is that the state would have to increase gambling each year to over $23 billion to get that reduction in taxes. That is twice the state budget each year!” stated Zemke.

The following contact information is for your convenience only and implies no official relationship with Taxpayers for Washington's Future. with
Columbian Story by Stephanie Rice 360-759-8004
West Coast Petitions 206-624-1473
Washington State Council of Firefighters, Kelly Fox, 360-791-6201
Volunteers for Libraries, John Sheller, 425-413-0401

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