Dare we hope that Eyman ends up homeless? It would serve him right!

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COMMENTS:
*  It's always sad when a gambling addict puts the homestead on the table.
    *  Maybe he needs to hit bottom?
*  I never root for the bank to foreclose. I never root for the bank to foreclose. I never root for the bank to foreclose. I ALMOST never root for the bank to foreclose.
*  Tim, you've had your 15 minutes. There is a bed of dirty straw waiting for you at the Poor Farm.
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Tim Eyman mortgages house to get back in the initiative game
By Joel Connelly, February 10, 2015

Longtime initiative promoter Tim Eyman, lately on a losing streak, has taken out a $150,000 second mortgage on his Mukilteo home to “jump start” a proposal that failed to qualify for the statewide ballot last year.

In a money appeal to “our thousands of supporters,” Eyman said Monday that the $150,000 has gone to an outfit called Citizen Solutions “so paid petitioners hit the street immediately.”

Eyman’s project is Initiative 1366, this year’s version of I-1325, which failed to make the ballot last year.

The initiative would blackmail the Washington Legislature. It would slash the state sales tax by a full cent if the Legislature fails to pass and send to the ballot a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote in both houses for any measure that raises revenue or closes tax loopholes.

The sales tax cut would blast a $1 billion hole in the state budget, at a time when the State Supreme Court has ordered the Legislature to ramp up to full funding of K-12 education.  It would come at a time when the Legislature is considering support for preschool programs and more teachers in early grades.

“I’ve got the locomotive going, and it’s now moving down the tracks — I need your help to keep it going,” Eyman told his followers. “I’ve shown you my commitment. Now I ask you to show me yours.”

After 15 years of for-profit populism, Eyman did not have a single measure on Washington’s 2014 ballot.

He has since collected $50,000 donations from two wealthy Seattle businesswomen after shopping an initiative that would take away cities’ ability to set their own minimum wages.

The last time Eyman made the ballot was 2013. He was behind a measure that would have given initiative petition gatherers access to business properties and public buildings, and slapped restrictions on those discouraging the signing of petitions.

The measure lost by a 63-37 percent margin. It also alienated Eyman’s longtime sources of financial support in the business community and particularly the restaurant industry. As well, the state Public Disclosure Commission is investigating Eyman’s signature-gathering drives.

Eyman has relied on big business to put his past initiatives onto the ballot. Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman Jr., invested more than $1 million in an Eyman measure that would have blocked Sound Transit light rail from crossing Lake Washington on the Interstate 90 floating bridge.

With heavy corporate support — notably from oil refiners and the Beer Institute — Eyman has three times passed so called “super majority” initiatives.

The state Supreme Court ruled, however, that only an amendment to the Washington State Constitution can change requirements for raising revenue. And a constitutional amendment must originate in the state Legislature.

Hence, Eyman is trying to force legislators to do his bidding. In editorializing on I-1325 last year, the conservative Spokane Spokesman-Review said: “This is not about protecting taxpayers. It is about keeping Eyman in business.”

In his latest missive, however, Eyman tells his thousands of followers:  “It is absolutely essential for taxpayers to get permanent protection from Olympia’s insatiable appetite.”

Eyman was nastier in announcing I-1325 last year, declaring:  “Only the crazies in Seattle want it to be easy for politicians to take more of the peoples’ money.”

He faces a somewhat different political climate this year. The recent Elway Poll showed that 42 percent of state voters feel support for education is Washington’s most important issue. The budget and taxes ranked a distant third in the poll.

The statewide survey also found substantial majorities favoring Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed carbon tax, and Inslee’s proposal for a capital gains tax on the state’s very wealthy. As well, 77 percent endorsed his call for higher cigarette taxes.
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