Eyman waits for fallout

By Warren Cornwall

Herald Writer

If Allen Raino’s judgment prevails, Tim Eyman’s political fortunes may suffer little from his admission that he spent thousands of dollars in campaign contributions on himself and his family and lied about it.

"He’s given back so much more than he could ever have taken," said the Arlington man who last year gave $100 to Eyman’s latest initiative campaign. "I’m going to donate to him again."

The opinions of people such as Raino may prove important as Eyman weathers news that he paid himself for his initiative work while publicly denying any payments.

The Mukilteo tax-initiative maven has said he is turning to his supporters for guidance, mailing a letter to 30,000 of them. Just as his political capital rose with his populist outreach to voters, it may now hinge partly on the response of his legions of volunteers, donors and voters.

"Getting initiatives on the ballot takes a person to do it and the resources," said Stuart Elway of Elway Research, a Seattle polling firm. "That’s why the donors particularly will decide his fate."

At the same time, the state’s campaign watchdog agency, the Public Disclosure Commission, is preparing to look into whether Eyman broke campaign finance laws by inaccurately reporting how money was spent.

"There’s no law that precludes people from being paid for that kind of work," commission spokesman Doug Ellis said. "The problem is when you don’t report it."

Eyman on Sunday said that he had paid himself $45,000 originally collected as campaign donations, and then lied about it when asked if he was profiting from the campaigns. He has said he was planning to pay himself another $157,000.

Several Snohomish County donors, though shaken by his admitted deception, showed little sign of abandoning him or his initiatives.

"You wish that he would have been honest up front," said Steve Arbaugh, a commercial fisherman in Everett who donated $300 to Eyman’s most recent campaign. "I’m willing to accept his apology. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."

But Christian Sinderman, a Seattle political consultant and political opponent of Eyman’s, said that for many, Eyman will now be branded as a profiteer and his initiatives will be tainted.

"Frankly I think he’s in effect slapped a surgeon general’s warning on these initiatives that in effect say, ‘The sponsor of this initiative is a liar.’ Why would you trust the contents of this initiative?"

Some who have been on the receiving end of Eyman’s pointed comments, though, steered clear of any strong criticisms.

Gov. Gary Locke said his faith in the initiative system remained strong and that he saw nothing wrong with Eyman being paid to run initiative campaigns, "as long as he’s up front about it."

"Just list who the money is going to and who benefits from it. It’s legal as long as you list it," Locke said.

For more than a year, Eyman has repeatedly denied profiting from his initiative campaigns.

In November 2000, Eyman told The Herald he took no profits from his campaigns for his personal use. "I get my expenses reimbursed, but I don’t need any (profits)," he said. He now said he took $45,000 for himself in December of that year.

In September 2001, Eyman repeated his denials to the Spokane Spokesman-Review in response to a story about his campaign finances, and again made those claims to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for a story published last week.

The PDC will be looking at whether Eyman inaccurately reported campaign spending, a violation that could result in fines, Ellis said. The scrutiny is informal for now. A decision on whether to pursue a full investigation will come by Friday, he said.

The focus falls on Eyman’s unusual two-tier system of political organizations he created in 2000.

Eyman created separate political organizations for each of his initiatives — four have been on the ballot since 1999, and two are now in the works. Those organizations collected contributions. A for-profit company Eyman created, Permanent Offense Inc., then billed the initiative organizations for thousands of dollars in services such as consulting and database management.

The for-profit company was the source of the $45,000 payment that Eyman received in 2000, said Suzanne Karr, who was then his campaign treasurer. She said the company was originally created partly with the intention of paying Eyman for his work, but that Eyman was troubled by the idea of being a professional consultant.

"He has in his mind the image of a paid consultant as a slimy thing," she said.

Karr, an Everett businesswoman, said Monday night she repeatedly pushed the ballot-box king to disclose that he was taking money from initiative backers, but added she felt his eventual confession was "a sincere statement of conscience."

There are two potential problems, Ellis said.

If Permanent Offense was paying Eyman for election work on a specific initiative, it may have effectively become a political committee, which must submit more detailed financial reports to the state, Ellis said. Spending reports may have also misidentified why money was going to Permanent Offense if it was meant to pay Eyman a salary, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

You can call Herald Writer Warren Cornwall at 425-339-3463 or send e-mail to cornwall@heraldnet.com.