Anti-Tax Leader Confesses He Used Campaign Money
The New York Times
February 5, 2002
By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK
SEATTLE, Feb. 4 - As the driving
force behind several tax-cutting
initiatives, Tim Eyman has sometimes
been called the "unelected governor"
of Washington State.
But in a confession that stunned his
supporters and opponents alike, Mr.
Eyman, a 36-year-old businessman,
said today that he had lied when he told reporters in recent days that he had never
profited personally from the fund-raising drives he conducted for his initiatives.
At a news conference this morning, Mr. Eyman fought back tears as he announced
that he had diverted at least $45,000 he had raised for his tax revolt, and said he
would send a letter to supporters, "asking them what is the right thing to do" with
other money collected for the cause.
Mr. Eyman's confession came after he faced persistent questioning from The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer about his diversion of $165,000 in campaign donations to
a private account over which he had sole control. After days of denying that he
benefited personally from the move, Mr. Eyman called The Associated Press on
Sunday night to say that his statements to the newspaper constituted "the biggest
lie of my life."
"The fact is, it is true that I made money in past campaigns and planned to make
money on future campaigns," he said, criticizing himself for what he called his
"ugly and stinky and disgusting" behavior.
He said the $45,000 "went into the black hole, the family
budget," and he added: "It sounds so clichéd. But
everybody does it. Literally, everybody makes money in politics. I wasn't honest
about not being able to do initiatives for free."
Fellow members of Mr. Eyman's anti-tax group, Permanent Offense, said they were
shocked.
"He fooled me like he fooled everybody else, and I feel just as betrayed as
everybody else, and outraged," said Monte Benham, a group leader in eastern
Washington.
Mr. Benham also said he was proud of Mr. Eyman for coming forward and showing
"nerve and a lot of courage" in his confession.
Mr. Eyman, who runs a small company that makes wristwatches for fraternities
and sororities, had told The Post-Intelligencer that he made "plenty of money" at
his business and had no need to dip into campaign funds.
But at the news conference today, he said that running the tax-cut movement,
which has included campaigns for initiatives that rolled back state taxes and fees
and as recently as last November capped local property-tax increases, had
consumed an inordinate amount of time and hampered his business.
Because state campaign-finance laws give fund-raisers fairly broad discretion over
how money is spent, it is not clear that Mr. Eyman broke the law in paying himself,
since the money could be construed as a campaign expense for his salary. But he
could be in legal trouble if he lied about it on disclosure forms, said Doug Ellis, a
spokesman for the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Mr. Eyman, reached by telephone at his business today, said he had no further
comment. In his earlier remarks, he said he had done nothing illegal, adding: "The
biggest thing I'm guiltiest of is an enormous ego. Hubris."
And, he said, "This entire charade was set up so I could maintain a moral
superiority over our opposition, so I could say our opponents make money from
politics and I don't."
Mr. Eyman also said he did not believe the revelations would hurt the anti-tax
effort because, he said, "the initiatives were always about ideas, not about me."
Mr. Benham, the group member who criticized Mr. Eyman, agreed with that notion
and suggested that the flap had been stirred up by opponents of the tax-cutting
movement.
"They have bruised our cause," he said, "but they haven't killed us. We will come
back, and perhaps stronger than before."
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