Yesterday, September 21st, 2015, felt a lot like February 5th, 2002. That was the day that people all over Washington State woke up to the news that Tim Eyman had confessed to taking over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of campaign funds for his own personal use while falsely claiming he was working as a volunteer.
The story had been broken the night before by The Associated Press’ Dave Ammons, who now works for Secretary of State Kim Wyman. Ammons was telephoned by Eyman two days after the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a story by reporter Neil Modie which questioned Eyman’s suspicious payments to himself.
The story Ammons subsequently put out on the wire was a doozy, chock full of quotes from Eyman that revealed his true sleazy character. In one fell swoop, Eyman admitted to deceiving the press, the public, his followers, and even his own co-sponsors, Jack and Mike Fagan and Monte Benham. Here’s a selection:
The next day, the story was carried in the papers:
Thirteen and a half years have gone by since, but Eyman’s behavior has not changed. The Public Disclosure Commission’s investigation into his I‑517 finances runs two hundred and forty-four pages, and the included documentation confirms what we have long suspected: Eyman flouted Washington’s public disclosure law by illegally using dark money to qualify Initiative 517.
What’s truly fascinating are the transcripts of the interviews conducted by PDC staff with Eyman and his associate Eddie Agazarm. These interviews detail the extent to which Eyman made unwritten side deals with his associates that his other associates were apparently unaware of. It’s quite the tangled web.
The following exchange, in particular, is very revealing. It’s an excerpt from an interview between PDC staff and Eddie Agazarm, who owned the old Citizen Solutions along with Roy Ruffino. (Citizen Solutions was dissolved and reformed as an LLC a few years ago.) In the interview, Agazarm claims that Ruffino was not enamored with I‑517, Agazarm and Eyman’s initiative on initiatives, which NPI fought and defeated two years ago with a diverse, bipartisan coalition.
Eddie Agazarm: [Tim] was angling to get paid earlier, right there in that letter.
(Discussing nature of “partnership” described in July 8, 2012 email exchange)
Eddie Agazarm: Tim and I and William and Roy and I had discussed at one time, Tim becoming a partner in Citizen Solutions. But that’s been, probably for that reason, never discussed again.
PDC’s Phil Stutzman: What do you think [Paul Jacob was expecting a payment from Tim] for?
Eddie Agazarm: Maybe for consulting.
(Discussing the “something” Tim was working on with Paul Jacob that could result in some national recognition.)
Eddie Agazarm: I would think it would be 517, but I cannot say that on firsthand knowledge. So I’m speculating that it was 517, but it could also be other things.
PDC’s Tony Perkins: What would they be working on together that Tim would be reluctant to explain to Roy Ruffino?
Eddie Agazarm: 517.
PDC’s Tony Perkins: Why would he be reluctant to explain that?
Eddie Agazarm: Roy doesn’t have anything to do with 517. Roy didn’t like 517. If Tim wanted to get paid to hurry up and help 517, or anything to do with 517, Roy wouldn’t… Roy was like, “no on 517” the whole time.
The above on-the-record interview took place on November 8th, 2013 (which was after I‑517 had been defeated), according to the transcript of the conversation.
Here’s a rundown of the players involved in the I‑517 signature drive:
Many people try to make a habit of learning from their mistakes. Tim Eyman clearly doesn’t. He has chosen, over and over and over again, to make his PDC reporting as convoluted and confusing as possible, to frustrate those of us who are trying to track his initiative factory. He deliberately chose to conceal money during the I‑517 signature drive. He has himself to thank for the trouble he’s in.
The PDC’s release of its findings yesterday led to a media field day. KING5 made the completion of the investigation its top story on the 5 PM evening news broadcast, running not one, but two segments by Natalie Brand and Elisa Hahn.
(In the thumbnail above, Paul Jacob can be seen standing behind Eyman.)
KIRO ran its own story at 11 PM, which hasn’t been posted to the Web.
Every major newspaper in the state ran the story too, from The Seattle Times to the Spokesman-Review to The News Tribune of Tacoma and The Herald of Everett.
The Times Company’s Walla-Walla Union Bulletin picked up the Times story, while The Olympian and The Bellingham Herald carried The News Tribune’s story (all three papers are owned by McClatchy).
Even more papers carried an Associated Press wire version of The News Tribune’s story, like the Yakima Herald, Longview Daily News, Tri-City Herald, and The Columbian. Broadcast outlets also had the AP version, from KCPQ to KXLY.
The Puget Sound Business Journal felt it merited a blog post.
Public radio’s Austin Jenkins filed a report for WSU’s NW News Network, which was also carried by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Online-only publications, from the Seattle P‑I to Crosscut, had the news as well.
Here’s a look at some of the above-the-fold headlines in this morning’s papers:
Finally.… finally! Tim Eyman’s past misdeeds are catching up to him.
Eyman’s attorney says Eyman will not be attending this Thursday’s enforcement hearing at Public Disclosure Commission headquarters in Olympia. But we will.
PDC staff are recommending that the Commission vote to refer the linked cases concerning Eyman’s extremely serious public disclosure law violations to Attorney General Bob Ferguson for prosecution. The Commission may vote to refer the matter to Ferguson on Thursday after hearing the staff report.
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