The past week must have been exciting for local balloteer Tim Eyman. First, the state Supreme Court appeared to side with Eyman when it heard arguments from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown about the consitutionality of Initiative 960, last year's successful Eyman-sponsored measure requiring a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature to raise taxes. Brown had hoped to get the court to directly address the issue, but observers said the justices weren't receptive to her arguments. Eyman sent out a press release later that day claiming victory. ...
Eyman's press release also asked for money. Apparently he needs it. Erica C. Barnett at the Stranger recently reported that the ballot king's campaign "appears to be around $230,000 in the hole, as Eyman has not yet repaid a $150,000 loan and the campaign has spent about $80,000 more than it has received in contributions."
Still, a lack of funding hasn't stopped him from promoting the heck out of his latest traffic congestion measure, Initiative 985. Last week, he taunted the state government, warning them in an open letter to "start getting ready" to implement the measure if it passes into law. But as Brad Shannon at The Olympian reports, lawmakers aren't exactly shaking in their boots about I-985. A spokesman for Gov. Chris Gregoire called Eyman's taunts a "might presumptuous."
Today, Eyman found friends in an unlikely place – the editorial board at The Seattle Times, which argues that voters deserve to have a clear ballot title for Charter Amendment 7, a measure that, if passed, would double the number of signatures required to put an initiative on the ballot. A King County Superior Court judge will decide later today whether to order elections officials to change the title. Eyman, however, will be hoping like mad that the charter amendment will fail – no matter the language – because if it passes, the law would effectively put Eyman and his initiative machine out of business in King County. ...
A few odds and ends from the news:
Regaining the edge: Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi more than doubled Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's fundraising total for August, raising $1 million in a three-week period, compared to Gregoire's $473,000. Still, Rossi also spent about $2.15 million during the month, while Gregoire spent a cool $1.26 million. ...
Re-reading 1984: The Seattle Times reports some Seattle police officers are now wearing pager-sized cameras to record "exact accounts" of events and hold police more accountable. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union told The Times it was concerned about moving toward a "surveillance society." ...
Re-watching 1973: Politico's Ben Smith dug up this video of a previously unseen video of McCain's release from the Hanoi Hilton. ...
For the young guns: In the wake of this series of articles from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about youth gang culture, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed spending $9 million to help cut juvenile violent crimes in half by June 2010. ...
For He giveth, and He taketh away: University of Washington professor David Domke, an expert on faith and politics, writes in today's Times that McCain has to be careful not to lose moderate voters while courting evangelical Christians. ...
For us, by us: And finally, there's a new study saying Sound Transit's new proposal will "cut car and truck travel as much as 30 percent, reduce carbon dioxide pollution by nearly 100,000 tons a year and save consumers $41 million annually in reduced fuel costs if voters approve the plan and commuters switch to transit." A note: The study was conducted by consultants for Sound Transit. ...
