BREAKING NEWS: Eyman violates the law again - and lies to supporters
Once again, initiative profiteer Tim Eyman has made a costly mistake, printing up thousands of petitions for Initiative 917 that are invalid under state law, NPI's Permanent Defense has learned.
The news was first reported by MajorityRules, a citizen action organization which shares Permanent Defense's mission of fighting Tim Eyman and his anti-tax initiatives, working for real tax reform in Washington State, and promoting the value of public services.
Permanent Defense has more in its Special Report, which you can find here, but the basic story is that Eyman carelessly failed to correctly follow a new state law that requires initiative petitions to include an oath that must be signed by the signature gatherer who circulated the petitions.
The oath affirms that the person who circulated the petition followed state law and did not bribe voters or forge their signatures.
The Secretary of State has announced that petitions that are out of compliance with the law will be rejected - which means all of the original petitions Eyman printed up for Initiative 917 are potentially worthless and won't count.
But that's not what Eyman told his supporters. In a letter this month, Eyman blatantly lied, assuring his supporters that the old petitions are "still good and acceptable" when in fact that may not be the case.
Additional information can be found in the Special Report.
If you are a member of the media and would like to contact Permanent Defense for comment on this story, follow this link.
UPDATE and Clarification: Originally MajorityRules (and subsequently NPI and Permanent Defense), reported that the petitions did not include the required declaration at all. As it turns out, the original petitions do include the declaration, but it is incorrectly printed and it blends in seamlessly with the text of the initiative, which makes it nearly impossible to see. For more information, see the updated Special Report or Steve's update at MajorityRules.
The news was first reported by MajorityRules, a citizen action organization which shares Permanent Defense's mission of fighting Tim Eyman and his anti-tax initiatives, working for real tax reform in Washington State, and promoting the value of public services.
Permanent Defense has more in its Special Report, which you can find here, but the basic story is that Eyman carelessly failed to correctly follow a new state law that requires initiative petitions to include an oath that must be signed by the signature gatherer who circulated the petitions.
The oath affirms that the person who circulated the petition followed state law and did not bribe voters or forge their signatures.
The Secretary of State has announced that petitions that are out of compliance with the law will be rejected - which means all of the original petitions Eyman printed up for Initiative 917 are potentially worthless and won't count.
But that's not what Eyman told his supporters. In a letter this month, Eyman blatantly lied, assuring his supporters that the old petitions are "still good and acceptable" when in fact that may not be the case.
Additional information can be found in the Special Report.
If you are a member of the media and would like to contact Permanent Defense for comment on this story, follow this link.
UPDATE and Clarification: Originally MajorityRules (and subsequently NPI and Permanent Defense), reported that the petitions did not include the required declaration at all. As it turns out, the original petitions do include the declaration, but it is incorrectly printed and it blends in seamlessly with the text of the initiative, which makes it nearly impossible to see. For more information, see the updated Special Report or Steve's update at MajorityRules.
