Disgraced initiative promoter Tim Eyman basically owns the front of this year’s general election ballot, which will feature an initiative sponsored by him (Initiative 976), a referendum to reinstate an initiative sponsored by him (Referendum 88), and twelve of his wasteful, deceptive, and unconstitutional push polls.
But he’s not a happy man.
Why?
Well, for starters, he keeps losing skirmishes in his long-running legal battle with Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is trying to hold him accountable for his repeated and willful violations of Washington State’s public disclosure law.
And if that weren’t bad enough, Eyman’s income has been falling. Since the beginning of the year, his monthly receipts have dropped significantly.
We don’t know the identities of all of Eyman’s benefactors, but we do know how much they’re collectively giving Eyman every month because he’s required to submit regular financial reports to the United States Bankruptcy Court.
(Eyman filed for Chapter 11 late last year in an attempt to stall Bob Ferguson’s campaign finance enforcement action against him, then tried to back out when that didn’t work, but has been kept in bankruptcy by Judge Marc Barreca.)
For January of 2019, Eyman reported monthly receipts of $29,626.16. Six months later, for July of 2019, Eyman reported monthly receipts of $7,984.08.
With his income having declined substantially, Eyman is now belatedly trying to cut his expenses. He’s still living beyond his means, though, which is something right wing candidates and elected officials frequently claim households never do.
In an attempt to boost his income, Eyman is asking his followers to take pity on him, telling them in an email today: “I’m getting the crap kicked out of me.”
What did he mean by that, since he’s been losing to Ferguson in a court on a frequent basis? What just happened to merit this woe-is-me email missive?
It turns out (and no, I’m not making this up) that Eyman’s feelings have been hurt by a few people who identify as right wing/conservative leaving comments on Facebook saying things like “Can’t stand him” and urging Eyman to own his many “errors” (Eyman’s political history is absolutely littered with a slew of own goals.)
In an era (error?) of Trumpian insults, those are some pretty tame criticisms.
And yet consider the effect those tame criticisms seem to be having on poor Tim, who responded with an eye-catching whine that (naturally) turned into a plea for money for himself: “I’m getting the crap kicked out of me.”
No doubt you’re under a lot of stress, but if you can’t take the heat, Tim, then, for goodness’ sake, why are you in the kitchen!?
You say you love politics, you say you’ll never quit pushing destructive initiatives that would wreck everyone’s quality of life, including yours and your own family’s, you delight in calling Democratic elected officials (and sometimes Republican ones, too) nasty names and impugning their motives. You’ve compared yourself and your followers on more than occasion to “junkyard dogs”.
But while you can dish out criticism with gusto, you clearly can’t take it.
You are in so many ways like your idol Donald Trump.
You don’t deserve anyone’s pity, or their money. What you deserve is justice — to be held accountable for your repeated and willful lawbreaking.
No doubt!