Eyman Abuses Initiative Process

Jerry Cornfield has an article for the The Herald that exposes Tim Eyman's initiative factory shenanigans for what they are: abuses of the initiative system.

Cornfield points out that each initiative filed receives the benefit of the same resources provided to our lawmakers in Olympia:

Each time Eyman pays the $5 fee required to file an initiative, his measure receives the same treatment as any law introduced by a legislator.

That means, for example, the same legal minds that last year helped lawmakers draft wording to boost vehicle weight fees are this year assisting Eyman to craft an initiative to roll back the same fees.

More is involved. The men and women involved in editing, typing, proofreading, retyping and publishing last year's law are editing, typing, proofreading and retyping Eyman's initiative.

State law requires this. Because citizens are granted power to write legislation, they deserve equal access to resources to do it.

Thus, every initiative and referendum receives complete, impartial and free assistance from the Code Reviser's Office. These folks routinely turn a citizen's desire and rhetoric into intent and legalese capable of surviving a challenge should it pass.

A person could drop off a one-line initiative to reverse the order of lights in traffic signals so green is on top, and personnel in the Code Reviser's Office would dutifully and cordially prepare a ballot-ready measure.

Yet Tim Eyman has taken advantage of this freely provided service to completely and utterly abuse the system:

Since April, he has filed 21 initiatives, though he has yet to circulate petitions to gather signatures for any of them.

Eight of the initiatives deal with requiring car tabs to remain at a flat $30. He filed the first on April 13. Subsequently, he filed nearly identical measures on April 27, May 17, Sept. 14, Dec. 14, two on Jan. 9 and the most recent on Jan. 17.

He has filed four initiatives to open carpool lanes in off-peak hours, and four more to give voters a say on tax hikes.

That's simply pathetic. Pick an initiative Tim and be done with it! The Code Reviser's Office is not your organization's personal assistant. You are eating up taxpayer resources with your frivolous filings, and you are harming citizens in the process. Your bigoted anti-gay hate initiative will cause the recently signed into law civil rights legislation to be postponed until after Washingtonians have been able to vote your shameful measure into oblivion. For citizens who have had to wait decades for equal protections under the law, that's like spitting in their face asking them to wait another six months.

As Jerry Cornfield points out:

lawmakers' hands are tied. Legislating any curbs would be viewed as vindictive and would be likely to fail.

Their best option may end up being an initiative.

Well perhaps it is time for Goldy to file a serious initiative this time in order to do so.