Ballot Asses

David Goldstein of Washington state is mad at Tim Eyman, sponsor of various successful anti-tax ballot intitiatives in that state. So Goldstein is sponsoring Initiative 831, which would, in Goldstein's formulation, officially declare that the people of Washington "do hereby proclaim that Tim Eyman is a Horse's Ass."

Alas, the Bowdlers in the Attorney General's office find that language a little too spicy, and want it changed to the bland, uninformative "a disparaging term that denotes a self-important, silly or stupid person." Goldstein is suing to get his original, tougher language on the ballot.

Comments

[Anonymous]

I just LOVE referendums and ballot initiatives!

[Matt]

Hey, at least this will tie up the legislature so they can't go screw things up. At least for a while.

[sagar]

If this Eyman guy is anti-taxes, then it looks like Goldstein is the Horse's Ass.

[Warren]

horsesass.org!!
I wonder how he got ahold of that URL.

Speaking of bizarre websites, is it too much to ask that postings be supported by links to at least semi-reputable sites.

[Peter Bagge]

The most pathetic thing about this "horse's ass" initiative is that it's target, Tim Eyman himself, thinks it's hilarious and is rooting for it's passage.

Eyman has a bit of a personality cult here in Washinton State, which is something his opponents only contribute to by constantly disparaging him personally, without taking into consideration that people would be voting for those tax-cutting initiatives whether his name was attached to them or not.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how easy it would be to create a ballot initiative that would give bread and circuses to the people daily.

[Heather]

I am also a Washington resident, and the precieved problem with Tim Eyman's initiatives is not that they are anti-tax, but they are ill researched and not technically legal.
The horses ass shot comes from Tim Eyman being caught diverting campaign contributions to his own personal bank account, which he had previously stated he would never do. He then made amends with the residents of Washington by going on the local news with tears of remorse in his eyes and saying that he felt like a "horses ass."
His public has since forgiven him however, beings the contributions keep coming as well as the crappy initiatives.

[Peter Bagge]

Heather -- I'm not an admirer of Tim Eyman the Man either, and I also think he's become way too "initiative happy" as of late, though I voted for some of the first ones he backed.

My point was simply that his opponants dwell way too much on him personally and his recent screw ups as a way to discredit his initiatives, which I think is intellectually lazy on their part, as well as very condescending towards the voters. They really need to do better than this "horse's ass" schtick to convince Washingtonians that we ought to be paying more taxes.

[David Goldstein]

Okay, this may be a pathetic hobby, but I just love browsing my web logs and finding the discussions producing links to our site.

The point behind I-831 is simply to call awareness to the fact that the initiative process is in serious need of reform, and at the very least, encourage voters to be more skeptical of initiative sponsors and the legislation they write. You may disagree with my tactics, but you have to admit they worked. I went from unknown, concerned citizen to international press coverage simply by filing a joke initiative.

This is admittedly bread and circuses, and that's what Tim Eyman has been feeding the media and the public for years. I'm simply trying to out-Eyman, Eyman. (Read my statement online for an in depth discussion of my tactics and strategy: http://www.horsesass.org/statement.html )

And Peter, if you believe Tim's belabored claim that he finds I-831 hilarious and is actually rooting for its passage, then you probably also believed his claim that he wasn't profiting off his own campaigns (or his current claim that I-807 stops a state income tax... when it has nothing to do with an income tax.) I've had the opportunity to debate Tim on the radio a number of times, and when he gets all flustered and starts calling my campaign pathetic, and me an idiot, I'm pretty sure he's not find this funny.

The fact is, Tim Eyman has turned the initiative process into his own state-sanctioned fundraising scam. The main reform we talk about is requiring all initiatives to undergo constitutional review prior to being placed on the ballot, so that when voters pass an initiative, they can be sure it will be come law. This would go a long way towards restoring faith in the system.