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Eyman’s legal battle with state is nearing an end

Published 1:30 am Friday, January 8, 2021

Initiative promoter Tim Eyman talks to reporters, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in front of the Temple of Justice at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down Eyman's Initiative 976, a measure that would have steeply discounted the price of car registrations at $30 while gutting transportation budgets across Washington state. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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Initiative promoter Tim Eyman talks to reporters, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in front of the Temple of Justice at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down Eyman's Initiative 976, a measure that would have steeply discounted the price of car registrations at $30 while gutting transportation budgets across Washington state. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Tim Eyman talks to reporters Oct. 15, 2020, in front of the Temple of Justice at the Capitol in Olympia. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, file)

OLYMPIA — Initiative promoter Tim Eyman’s civil trial on allegations that he has repeatedly broken campaign finance laws is nearing an end.

Closing arguments got under way Thursday and will conclude, possibly Jan. 15, in Thurston County Superior Court.

The state, in a lawsuit filed in 2017, accuses Eyman of concealing the movement of funds between initiatives in 2012, getting a kickback from a signature-gathering vendor, and failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions.

The state is seeking $2.6 million in penalties and is asking Superior Court Judge James Dixon to treble the sum as allowed by law. It also wants Eyman permanently barred from directing financial transactions for any political committees going forward.

Richard Sanders, Eyman’s attorney, said in the start of his closing that Eyman has done nothing that is barred by state campaign finance laws.

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