Print  email 

Battle joined on I-1033: Eyman has sigs, foes have PAC ready to fight

• Published July 02, 2009

• Comments (0)

Looks like we'll have a real showdown on the Nov. 3 ballot over taxes and spending and what services the public thinks it needs in Washington.

Tim Eyman says he dropped off 314,227 petition signatures for his Initiative 1033 at the state election's office in Olympia today. The staff at the Office of the Secretary of State will use a sampling of signatures to determine whether there are 241,153 valid signatures, the minimum to qualify for initiatives this year, and Eyman is expecting a three-week wait for what is a likely formality to approve his measure for the ballot.

Meanwhile, opponents announced they formed a No on 1033 Coalition that includes typical left-of-center voices in Washington politics and a few more: the Washington Education Association, Service Employees International Union 775, Sierra Club Cascade Chapter, American Federation of Teachers Washington, Alzheimer's Association (Western and Central Washington Chapter), Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, Fuse Washington and others.

The Washington State Hospital Association and others also are aligned, according to materials the coalition made available today.

Eyman says his measure will lower property taxes. I-1033 puts a limit on how much of general fund revenues the state, cities and counties can spend, letting the cap increase each year to reflect growth in population and inflation. Excess funds are then put into a property-tax relief fund the following year.

As we reported yesterday and this morning, critics think it hampers state's ability to keep up with rising education and health care costs by locking in state revenues at their lowest ebb.

"We are 100 percent against this initiative," SEIU spokesman Adam Glickman said this morning by phone. He has concerns about the state's ability to pay for health care for the vulnerable.

Christian Sinderman, a longtime political operative and Eyman nemesis was on hand for Eyman’s signature turn-in, and he briefed reporters on the down side of I-1033. The Associated Press is filing a story, and we'll have their take on the topic in the Friday morning paper.

Here are links to Eyman's campaign web site, to the No On I-1033 web site, and to the Washington State Budget and Policy Center's critique of the initiative.

The policy center contends that if state revenues grow by $1 billion next year, half would become unavailable to the state. Eyman described that as guesswork, saying “these guys are pulling numbers out of their butt. They are guessing what it will be.’’