Eyman uses ruse to plead for signatures

OLYMPIA – For the second time in his career as a ballot measure pitchman, Tim Eyman on Monday tricked most of the state’s major media into showing up for a nonevent.

Arriving dressed as space villain Darth Vader, Eyman stood before a face-full of microphones, TV cameras and audio recorders. In his hand was a thin sheaf of signed petitions for Referendum 65, his controversial proposal to veto a gay-rights law.

To get the measure on the November ballot, Eyman must submit 112,440 signatures by 5 p.m. today.

Had he gathered enough? Will Washington vote this fall whether to repeal a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation? The scrum of reporters around Eyman and his cart full of document boxes tightened.

He peeled off his mask. He unfolded a speech. He held a red light saber over his head and announced …

That he’d be back today.

He wasn’t turning in any petitions. In fact, he said he didn’t know how many signatures had been gathered so far.

“Frankly, we have no idea,” Eyman said, standing there in his knee boots, cape and plastic codpiece. He then launched into a public appeal for supporters to bring their petitions to Olympia.

“Feel like you’ve been duped this morning?” Eyman supporter Mike Fagan told the crowd of reporters at the Secretary of State’s elections office. “Well, you have.”

Even for Eyman – a man who has shown up for previous news conferences dressed as a gagged chain-gang convict and as a gorilla – it was a startling move. Eyman last week sent out an announcement that he’d be “bringing down petitions” to the office Monday.

“Hope to see you there,” he wrote.

Reporters assumed that “bringing down petitions” meant “turning them in.” Which presumably meant that he had enough signatures to get the measure on the fall ballot. Which meant news.

Also fooled Monday was the elections office, which had set up a table and gathered seven staffers to tally the thousands of petitions they expected Eyman to show up with. Two were $12- to $14-an-hour temps hired for the occasion.

“This is ridiculous,” scoffed Eyman critic Andrew Villeneuve, who kept up a stream of commentary – “lie,” “misleading,” “lie” – during much of Eyman’s speech. “Once again Tim is just using the media to further his campaign.”

“When will reporters stop rewarding Tim for lying to them?” said fellow liberal blogger David Goldstein, who several years ago sponsored an initiative to have Eyman officially declared a “horse’s ass.”

Monday marked the second time that Eyman has duped reporters with a fake petition turn-in. Two years ago, he scheduled a news conference and, TV cameras rolling, proudly toted hundreds of Initiative 864 petitions into the Secretary of State’s Office. Then he announced – drum roll please – that he didn’t have enough signatures.

Asked Monday why he’d wasted everyone’s time, Eyman was unapologetic.

“We’re willing to do whatever’s necessary,” he said. “There’s no such thing as bad press. That’s just the reality.”