State senator, former congressman among those who allege fraudulent opposition to Washington income tax bill

OLYMPIA – Supporters of the state’s proposed income tax on millionaires allege the record number of those who signed in against the legislation is inflated by thousands of fraudulent and duplicate entries.

Among those who say they were fraudulently signed in against the bill are state Sen. Victoria Hunt, D-Issaquah, a co-sponsor of the legislation in the Senate, and former Democratic Congressman Derek Kilmer, who represented the state’s 6th Congressional District from 2013 to 2025.

“I was alerted to the fact that I had been signed in con for the House hearing with the Finance Committee on the millionaires tax over the weekend and confirmed it myself, looking at who had signed to testify, that somebody had signed in without my permission on my behalf,” Hunt said Monday. “I don’t know why a senator would sign in to a House hearing in any event. It was not me.”

Invest in Washington Now, a group supportive of the income tax, said Monday it has confirmed more than 100 people had fraudulently signed in against the legislation since they became aware of the issue Friday. According to the group, there have been at least 15,573 duplicate testifiers for the Senate hearing and more than 22,251 duplicates for the House hearing as of Sunday morning.

Many of the falsified signatures were submitted either late at night or early in the morning. Adam Glickman, secretary-treasurer of Service Employees International Union 775, said Monday he was “shocked, to say the least,” to learn someone fraudulently used his information to sign in “con” at 4:32 a.m. on Thursday.

“I was even more appalled to learn that I wasn’t the only one that happened to over the weekend,” Glickman said Monday.

According to the group, falsifying the information could be both a civil and criminal violation of state law.

Republican lawmakers have frequently pointed to the more than 90,000 people who signed in “con” to the bill in committee as evidence that it is broadly unpopular. The legislation has passed the state Senate and is scheduled for a hearing in the House Finance Committee on Tuesday.

As legislation is considered in committee, members of the public have the option to testify in person or remotely for or against the legislation. They also have the option to sign in either “pro” or “con” through an online form, submissions that are tallied.

The submission form asks for a testifier’s name, address, contact information, their position on the legislation and any written testimony they wish to submit to the committee. However, there does not appear to be any verification to confirm that the information that’s submitted is accurate.

The bill to establish a state income tax on millionaires has received the largest number of opponents in committee in state history. According to the Washington State House Republicans Facebook page, more than 100,000 people have signed in “con” against the legislation ahead of Tuesday’s committee hearing.

“More than 70,000 Washingtonians have signed in CON to oppose the Democrats’ state income tax bill – the most ever recorded. Add your voice and send a message to Gov. Bob Ferguson and legislative Democrats: Washington does not want or need a state income tax,” the House Republican Facebook page posted Saturday. “This could be your last opportunity to directly weigh in.”

Supporters did not say Monday whether they believe the duplicates and false sign-ins are part of a coordinated campaign to inflate the number of people who appear to oppose the legislation in committee.

On Monday, Invest in Washington Now wrote in a letter to Chief House Clerk Bernard Dean and Attorney General Nick Brown that the number of fraudulent signatures “appears to be, at least in part, maliciously targeted against some of the most prominent supporters of the Millionaire Tax” and “calls into question the validity of the ‘con’ sign-ins broadly.”

The letter asks that Brown and Dean investigate the signatures and determine who is behind the effort.

“This is a clearly fraudulent effort to mislead legislators and the public about the level of opposition to the Millionaires Tax, and the ability to commit this type of fraud could undermine the integrity of the legislative process on this and other issues,” the letter states.

Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for the attorney general, said Monday the office had “received a letter from the group today and we still need to review it.”

“We do not generally confirm or deny questions about potential investigatory matters,” Faulk said in a statement.

Brian Heywood, the founder of Let’s Go Washington who testified against legislation during a Senate committee hearing earlier this month, said in a statement Monday that “even with their wildest claims, this is still the most unpopular bill in history.”

“These attempts to minimize the concerns of voters don’t change the outcome, it just emphasizes how desperate they are to downplay the clear and historic rejection,” Heywood said. “The legislature set up this process for people to make their voices heard. Encouraging voters to communicate with their lawmakers is one of the most meaningful activities people can engage with in a representative government.”

Following a Feb. 6 hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, cited the more than 60,000 people who signed in “con” as a sign of the “overwhelming opposition” to the proposal.

Braun added that Senate administration was “very confident” in the system to detect and prevent bots from submitting mass submissions.

“There are some duplicates, but a relatively small percentage, and they were in both the ‘con ‘ and the ‘pro’ statement,” Braun said on Feb. 10. “So, overwhelming opposition to the bill, overwhelming folks signed in to testify against the bill versus for the bill.”