Driving Force Behind I-695 Thinks Fast But Talks Faster Tim Eyman Wants To Cut Car-Tab Fees, Or Is He Just Trying To Bring Politicians To Their Knees?

It’s 5:56 on an August evening, and a red Nissan 240SX is boxed in deep in a center lane on Interstate 5 near downtown Seattle.

The turn signal’s on, but the car’s not moving. And the exit’s another mile. On the radio, a KVI-AM 570 producer promos John Carlson’s conservative hot-talk program, which starts in four minutes. The show’s special guest: Tim Eyman, chairman of Initiative 695, which would cut vehicle license tab costs to $30 a year.

In the Nissan, driver Eyman glances in the rearview mirror, pats down his bushy blond mop and exhales.

The motormouth marketer whose ballot measure the Establishment says could paralyze highway construction for years to come is stuck in traffic. And he’s late.

It’s just the kind of irony Eyman would enjoy if he weren’t certain the Establishment is wrong - and that he is just the guy to prove it.

“The reality is there’s plenty of money,” Eyman says. “The problem is the way they spend it. And no matter what we do, we can’t stop car accidents.”

But, he suggests slyly, his initiative could help. He illustrates in a rush: Lower vehicle taxes would give people more money to buy newer cars, which would break down less often. Then he asks, “You going to use that as a direct quote?”

For a savvy 33-year-old salesman who makes a living marketing fraternity and sorority watches to the parents of college students, for a fast-talking likable schmoozer who refers to the business he runs from his Mukilteo, Wash., garage as “we” because “it makes the company sound bigger,” championing a ballot measure is almost too easy.

After his first car-tab measure came up short of petition signatures last year, Eyman added a new section: Before any government can raise a tax or fee, there must be a public vote. Then he put his mass-mailing know-how to use. By July, he’d gathered more than a half-million signatures - the second-most in state history.

“Politicians are literally on their hands and knees begging me, `Please don’t pass this thing,”’ Eyman says, giggling.

It doesn’t hurt that the one-time recruiter for Washington State University’s Delta Tau Delta fraternity is a sound bite wizard.

About a state lawmaker who complains the initiative’s public vote on every tax eliminates the need for a Legislature, Eyman snaps, “No, it only seems like all you do is raise taxes.” Casting I-695 as a David and Goliath affair, he calls his opponents “big and powerful, but not real bright.”

Eyman’s been a talker his whole life. “He does everything at 100 mph,” says his brother Dan Eyman - but these days the effect is quite intentional.

“I pump it up as much as I can,” Tim Eyman says. “I talk about `ransoming’ and use words like `hostage.’ I know reporters don’t write down boring quotes. You have to overdramatize and flail your arms to break through the fog.”

He’s certainly getting noticed.

Whether drivers own a new Ford Explorer or a used Escort, I-695 would slice licensing taxes to $30, saving the average driver $142.

Meanwhile, the state would lose $1.1 billion in transportation funds in just two years, some of which gets funneled to cities, counties, health districts and transit authorities. And every local government in Washington would have to have a vote before raising anything from school lunch prices to pet license fees.

Local governments are panicked. State lawmakers, torn between a budget-buster and alienating constituents, are mum. Big business and big labor have joined to oppose I-695.

Eyman, who lives in a $433,000 house on a golf course, dismisses them as “paid guys and rich guys.”

“He’s definitely got the patter down, but I’m not sure how much of this goes beyond Tim himself,” says Mark Funk, a campaign consultant working for the No on 695 campaign.

Even some of Eyman’s biggest fans are torn.

“On one hand I want to support my family, but on the other hand, as an educator, what he’s doing frightens me a bit,” says brother Dan Eyman, athletic director for Yakima’s Eisenhower High School.

Yet Tim Eyman, whose own Nissan tabs run $148.50, seems driven as much by the chess match and theater of politics as any cause or ideology.

A good student from Yakima who walked onto WSU’s wrestling squad, he’s a big-picture guy who needs help with the little things. Someone else tracks the campaign’s money. Before his wife started helping with watch sales, he says his inventory fell into the “I think I’ve got one of those over here somewhere” category. He only bought a business license after hearing from city officials who read about him in a newspaper. Watching his toddler in the yard, Eyman’s always leaping a split second too late to stop tiny fistfuls of dirt from reaching his son’s mouth.

During college and after, Eyman had no interest in government until being inspired by Ross Perot (whom he now dismisses as a nut). His current fave is Minnesota Gov. Jesse “The Body” Ventura - “although he’s a little overexposed.”

While he clearly believes vehicle taxes are too high, the question he struggles most to answer is why he took on this particular issue in the first place.

Eventually, he settles on this: “Because it’s winnable.”

After a few deft lane changes, some speeding and a quick sprint along Seattle’s Seventh Avenue in his Birkenstocks, Eyman bursts into Carlson’s studio at 6:12 p.m.

Eyman and Carlson know each other from Initiative 200, last year’s successful campaign to end affirmative action in state hiring and contracting - Eyman’s first real foray into politics.

Eyman started I-200 in 1996 after seeing anti-affirmative action guru Ward Connerly on a Sunday talk show. Eyman admits he’d had no direct experience with racism or affirmative action, but was intrigued to see a black man take on such a charged issue.

When I-200 stumbled, Eyman and Rep. Scott Smith, R-Bellevue, passed it to the more-experienced Carlson and bowed out. This time, Eyman’s on his own.

Sort of.

He’s been on Carlson’s show enough that the producer jokingly calls the station “KVEyman.” And on this day, Carlson - who’s been so critical of I-695 on the air that he’s been listed by some as an opponent - changes his tune.

“I am now strongly on the other side,” Carlson says, and promises to give Eyman a $50 contribution.

For the next hour, the two boyish middle-class conservatives poke at politicians and initiative opponents and give Eyman airtime to plead for campaign contributions.

Carlson jokes that the state’s Department of Licensing did Eyman “the biggest favor in the world” in mid-August by accidentally mailing dual notices urging 460,000 Washington residents to pay their car tabs again. A caller playfully suggests Eyman report the $191,000 snafu as an in-kind contribution to I-695.

“It’s fun,” Eyman says. “The whole thing is fun. The whole idea is fun. I mean, what’s it worth to have … any politician have to ask your permission to raise taxes?”

Eyman’s face is flush and he’s still talking when Carlson finally boots him from the studio at 7 p.m.

POLITICAL DEBATES Two events today At noon today, I-695 sponsor Tim Eyman will debate former Gov. Mike Lowry at the Spokane Valley DoubleTree Hotel near Interstate 90 and Sullivan Road. Admission is $15. Call Ann Glynn at the Greater Spokane Symposium Series at (509) 835-2244 for more information. At 4 p.m., Eyman will debate Ken Dunham, of Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors, in the Sasquatch Room of The Lair Student Center at Spokane Community College. There is no charge, but those interested in attending are asked to RSVP by calling (509) 459-4117.