Eyman initiative may qualify early

Tim Eyman is ready to turn in early – he claims to have more than enough signatures to get I-985 on the ballot, and has made an appointment to turn them in to the Secretary of State’s office on Thursday, June 19, at 11:00 am.

Like only he can, Eyman is maximizing free press to mobilize the surprising number of people who still think he’s a good idea. He plans to turn in 224,880 (or so) signatures on Thursday, bask in the glow of the press attention, and use that free media to encourage 50,120 (or so) more people to sign by the July 3 deadline. PolitickerWA’s Bryan Bissell has the numbers.

He’ll also work in a fundraising ask to help pay off that second mortgage he took out on his house. As he likes to say, “there’s no limit on amount that can be given.”

Joe Turner at the TNT notes that the press is well aware of Eyman’s shenanigans and yet they just can’t turn away. We're guilty too. Famous for being famous, for wearing silly costumes, for ruining serious news coverage and for misdirecting the state economy, Tim Eyman is our very own Paris Hilton. Only not as pretty.

I-985 would open up carpool lanes to all cars – allowing one more lane for you to be stuck in and ensuring that bus rapid transit remains an oxymoron. It earmarks a certain percentage of transportation funding, preventing any flexibility in spending for light or heavy rail or any kind of mass transit. It requires some things WSDOT is already doing, like clearing accidents faster. It also requires cities to synchronize traffic lights.

We like that last one, but not enough to vote for an Eyman initiative. There’s more than one way to be famous – compare Paris Hilton to Lauren Bacall – and Eyman’s overstayed his fifteen minutes. There’s also more than one way to improve traffic, and we hope to see more flexibility and more mass transit than is allowed under I-985.