Wow, a half million dollars JUST to TRY to get one of the initiative on the ballot. I seem to remember people here gloating about how the money opponents were spending to fight I-695 in court was funding that couldn't be used in a campaign later down the line. According to the PDC reports, the I-695 campaign didn't even receive that much money for the entire campaign last year.

Election 2000 - The Campaign Trail: Eyman's initiative will rely on paid signature gatherers

Time's too short, he says, so he'll need $400,000 to $500,000 to fill petitions

Beth Silver;

Tim Eyman likely will start over the signature gathering process Friday for an initiative he's backing to put more transportation money into building new roads or repairing existing ones.

After stripping Initiative 711 of a provision that would have opened up car-pool lanes to all drivers, Eyman's crew was required to reprint the petitions. But they can't do so until the proposed ballot title clears a court challenge Friday in Thurston County Superior Court.

The new initiative will be filed under I-745. To get the required 180,000 signatures by July 7, Eyman said he's hiring paid signature gatherers. It likely will cost between $400,000 and $500,000, he said.

Eyman relied solely on volunteer signature gatherers for his successful Initiative 695, the car tab tax-cutting measure. That he's having to hire people to do the work this time around may be a sign that things aren't going as well.

He refused to say how many signatures he already had gathered for the transportation initiative.

"Clearly we're taking a risk," he said. We "literally have to start over."

-- Patrick (patrick1142@yahoo.com), May 10, 2000

Answers

You know, sooner or later Washington residents will grow tired of Eyman's antics.

I mean really, when will it end? "Eyman Files I-799: The 'Minivans Don't Get Taxed' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-811: The 'Bus Routes Can't Use Roads' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-845: The 'Watch Salesmen Get Free Cars' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-850: The 'Revoke the Speed Limit' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-861: The '28-lane Freeways, Everywhere (except in my neighborhood)!' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-890: The 'Set Gas Prices at 50 cents/gallon: Who Gives a damn what it REALLY Costs?' Initiative" "Eyman Files I-899: The 'Transit Riders Must Pay My Auto Insurance' Initiative"

Don't laugh. Eyman will do it. And Washington residents like marsha, zowie, and craigster will be only too glad to kneel before him and obey his every command.

-- Common Sense (1@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000.

The tragedy in all this is that I-722 may either fail to get on the ballot, or if it does, it will probably be ruled unconstitutional, if it passes.

Tim Eyman should be focusing his efforts on re-developing I-722, which will benefit ALL homeowners in the state. This is unlike I-711 (or I-745), which is only guaranteed to benefit the DOT in Olympia.

It does seem like this is the beginning of the end for Tim Eyman. Imagine if I-695 is upheld to be unconstitutional, and, later, I-722 encounters the same fate. Tim will have zero credibility.

But, still, I'm very grateful for the monies he will have saved my family over the next many years. We should never forget that.

But, here, in America, it's "What have you done for me, lately?".

Bye-bye, Tim. It was nice while it lasted.

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), May 11, 2000.