OLYMPIA — Three campaigns appear to have collected enough signatures for their statewide initiatives to make the fall ballot this year — and each of them spent more than $1 million to do it.
The Olympian newspaper reported that recent filings with the Public Disclosure Commission show that most of that money came from just a few donors, and all of the campaigns used paid signature gatherers.
Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1125 would limit highway tolls to stretches of road that are directly improved by tolls collected, and it would require legislative approval for each one. Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman, who opposes adding light-rail to the two major bridges over Lake Washington, gave $1.1 million of the nearly $1.3 million the campaign raised.
About $35,000 more comes from Eyman’s Help Us Help Taxpayers group. The campaign has spent just under $1.2 million.
A coalition formed last week to fight the measure that includes environmentalists, labor unions and corporate executives with the Washington Roundtable. No reported donations are on file yet for the newly formed No on I-1125 Committee.
Another measure that appears headed for the ballot, I-1163, would require training and background checks for home care workers. The Service Employees International Union Healthcare 775 Northwest donated all of the $1.4 million raised by that campaign, which has spent $1.2 million.
The measure would essentially re-enact a home-care-standards measure that voters approved a few years ago. Lawmakers declined to pay for it during the economic downturn.
Costco Corp. was the driving force behind the third initiative, I-1183, a liquor-privatization plan. The wholesaler donated all of campaign’s $650,000 in cash and most of the in-kind contributions for that effort, which has collected and spent nearly $1.9 million.
The proposal would hand the state’s liquor sales and wholesale distribution to supermarkets and other private concerns. Unlike liquor measures rejected by voters last year, it would restrict sales mainly to large supermarkets and warehouse outlets.
A counter-campaign, the Protect Our Communities committee, raised $27,493, most of its coming from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21. The union represents some state liquor employees who would lose jobs. An additional $5,417 was from the Washington Beverage Co., which is seeking to lease the state’s warehouse.
Elections officials are working to verify that each of the initiatives has enough signatures to make the ballot, but David Ammons, a spokesman for the secretary of state, said all are expected to qualify.
The work is expected to carry into next week.
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