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Sat, July 6, 2019
To:
Our thousands of supporters throughout the state
(cc'd to the media, house & senate members, and Governor, and other candidates for office)
From:
Tim Eyman
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There's so much to say, I hope you'll read 'til the end.
WHAT STARTED THIS?
On the last weekend of this year's legislative session, Olympia went completely crazy raising taxes. Democrat Governor Jay Inslee and the Democrat-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate imposed 11 new taxes costing $27 billion. They did it without public hearings, without reading the bills, without sunlight in the dead of night.
It was Olympia at its absolute worst.
They slapped emergency clauses on their tax bills, immunizing them from citizen referendum.
And by doing it on the final weekend, they minimized public awareness and press coverage and cut short the time for a citizen initiative.
So they schemed and plotted and connived and contorted our state Constitution to take 4000 more dollars out of the pockets of every man, woman, and child in Washington state.
It was corruption, plain and simple.
I-1648 gave us the opportunity to respond to that.
BUT INITIATIVES ARE HARD
If they were easy, there'd be lots of them on the ballot every year.
How tough are they? Here's a perfect illustration:
* In 1998, we tried to qualify a lower car tabs initiative and fell short. In 1999, we qualified and voters passed our first $30 tabs initiative. In 2002, voters passed our second $30 tabs initiative. In 2016, we tried to qualify a bring-back-our-$30 tabs initiative and fell short. In 2017, we fell short again. In 2018, Karen and I sold off our family's retirement fund and loaned $500,000 to kick-start its' signature drive. With that start-up money AND 8 months of time, we raised an additional $170,000 and collected 352,111 signatures and qualified I-976 for this November's ballot.
Even with an overwhelmingly popular policy like $30 tabs, time and money made all the difference.
But also: the topic of $30 tabs is well understood because of two decades of public discussion, public debate, and public votes.
Term limits on new taxes? 11 new taxes costing $27 billion? 1648?
All were brand new ideas being brought to the attention of activists and voters for the first time.
Starting from scratch, we had very little time (the signature drive began in earnest just 4 weeks ago!).
We had very little money (supporters printed up their own petitions and made their own signs -- sorry folks, Karen and I didn't have another retirement fund to sell off 😊).
But despite all that, a rag-tag army of heroic citizens took up the challenge and worked their tails off for the last 4 weeks.
And yesterday, many of those wonderful people from all across Washington trekked to Olympia to help us get 1648 over the finish line. For hours and hours, teams of people worked really hard to combine and count the avalanche of petitions that came in this week.
It took all day.
None of us knew what the final number was gonna be because petitions were coming in from so many people and locations.
At 4:41pm, we announced that 1648 had fallen short (the signature count was a little over 198,000 ... but that number didn't include an additional 4300 signatures that were hand-delivered after that).
With 259K valid signatures required, a little over 202K wasn't enough.
I'm not gonna sugar-coat it -- it's a gut punch. So many heroic people put forth a tremendous amount of effort for this extraordinary initiative and it's heartbreaking we didn't make it.
But I'm absolutely certain:
* if we had more time, it would've qualified.
* if we had more money, it would've qualified.
* if we had qualified it, voters would've passed it by a huge margin.
* the seeds of later victory were sown by this campaign.
We've gotten 17 initiatives on the ballot for a public vote.
1648 will not be the 18th.
#18 will be a different initiative number. As will #19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
What will these future initiatives do? Exactly what 1-17 did: give the people the opportunity to limit the government's power over them.
As long as Olympia keeps doing what it did this year, voters will appreciate and embrace the initiatives we bring forward.
I've been sponsoring and qualifying initiatives for 22 years. I'm only 53 years old, so I'm going to keep sponsoring and qualifying initiatives for another 22 years.
Why?
* Because it needs to be done.
* Because I love doing it.
* Because I continue to learn, adapt, and persevere.
* Because there are heroic people like you who understand that persistence is the key to success.
I have faith. I have hope.
I love you all.
Tim Eyman
P.S. Let me know your thoughts on this: 30tabs@gmail.com or GiveThemNothing.com
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"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Benjamin Franklin
Copyright © 2019 Permanent Offense - $30 Tabs Initiative - Term Limits - Give Them Nothing, All rights reserved.
Paid for by Permanent Offense - $30 Tabs Initiative - Term Limits - Give Them Nothing
PO Box 6151, Olympia, WA 98507
Top 5 Contributors: Suzanne Burke, Puget Sound Chapter NECA PAC, Andrew Skotdal, Tim Eyman, Thomas O'Brien
www.PermanentOffense.com
www.TimDefense.com |
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