Eyman eyeing initiatives

OLYMPIA – Initiative advocate Tim Eyman is back with another ballot plan – this one aimed at keeping the Legislature from curbing the citizen initiative and referendum tools.

“The message is clear – get your hands off the citizens’ initiative,” he said Tuesday.

A leading Eyman critic, David Goldstein, said Eyman has lost his touch for finding topics anyone would care about. “It’s really just whining,” he said.

Eyman is a Mukilteo businessman best known for his initiatives to roll back government affirmative action, slash car tabs to $30 a year and limit property tax increases. He now makes a living running his initiatives.

He planned to file an initiative today with the secretary of state that says any legislation to restrict initiatives must gain voter approval before it can take effect.

In recent years, legislators have chafed under the impact of initiatives, particularly Eyman’s, which have reduced state and local revenue by billions of dollars. Still, most lawmakers insist they support the time-honored process of citizen legislating, which the state constitution puts on a par with their own power.

But the Legislature also regularly considers changes in the process, including mandates for more voter information about the potential cost and impact of initiatives. Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, once proposed abolishing the process, saying it had turned into a mindless game of Russian roulette, mandating expensive new services and cutting the tax base.

Eyman said most lawmakers are more subtle in attempts to hamper the process. New bills would prohibit paying signature-gatherers by the signature and posting petitions on a public bulletin board or store counter, and would give Seattle voters veto power over initiatives, Eyman said.

Under his proposal, legislation dealing with the initiative process would require a final step before becoming law – voter approval. He said his lawyers insist this extra step is legal.