AG Bob Ferguson’s purposeful sabotage of I-976 was confirmed when he celebrated the ruling. Here’s all the ways he torpedoed our $30 Tabs Initiative

Our $30 Tabs Initiative I-976 reduced citizens’ tax burden, limited government power, held Sound Transit accountable, and was sponsored by Tim Eyman.

AG Bob Ferguson opposes reducing citizens’ tax burden, opposes limiting government power, is a Sound Transit defender, and is out to destroy Tim Eyman.

So Ferguson was totally opposed I-976, didn’t vote for I-976, and never wanted it to take effect.

So when Seattle sued the voters and challenged I-976, Sen. Steve O’Ban immediately recognized Ferguson’s obvious conflicts and called on him to recuse himself and name outside counsel (https://steveoban.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2019/11/OBAN-AG-LETTER.pdf). Ferguson was defending Sound Transit’s tax in another case (CLEAR CONFLICT). And he was suing me to put a stop to “Eyman initiatives” like I-976 (CLEAR CONFLICT). 

Nonetheless, Ferguson refused to name outside counsel.

Why?

Because he knew outside counsel would vigorously defend I-976 and he wanted to sabotage I-976 from within.

And he wanted to use its failure to attack me.

He irreparably harmed the defense of I-976 at the outset by refusing to:

* File a motion to move the case out of King County even though King County was one of the plaintiffs — any first year law student would have done this.
* File a motion to affidavit the judge. When asked about this, Bob Ferguson said: “There’s a downside in asking a judge to recuse – if unsuccessful, you risk offending a qualified and capable judge. Consequently, my Office is cautious about asking judges to recuse.”  An affidavit of prejudice isn’t “asking” – such a motion automatically expels the judge from the case. Ferguson knows this so his statement was an obvious attempt to mislead the people and the press. I wrote about that here: https://permanentoffense.com/bob-ferguson-sabotages-i-976-from-within-jay-inslee-must-call-special-session-do-not-pay/

The AG then tanked the preliminary injunction hearing (the judge asked, “What does section 12 do?” The AG’s response: “I don’t know.”). 

After losing that motion, the AG compounded the problem by refusing to do a motion for reconsideration to supplement the record before taking it to the supreme court (here’s a list of all of the AG’s obvious errors and omissions — 25 total. He could have fixed them before appealing but he didn’t: https://permanentoffense.com/call-to-action-we-must-all-send-emails-to-bob-ferguson-insisting-on-motion-for-reconsideration/). 

It was only because of superstar Clint Didier and attorney Stephen Pidgeon intervening in the case that we scored a huge victory in February when Judge Marshall Ferguson upheld the initiative (on single subject and ballot title) and lifted the injunction (https://permanentoffense.com/huge-victory-i-976-takes-effect-but-sound-transit-refuses-to-comply/):

But then the AG undermined that huge victory by filing his paperwork late:

I wrote about it here: https://permanentoffense.com/no-30-tabs-because-of-bob-ferguson/

Every step of the way, Ferguson was sabotaging I-976 and attacking me.

So when last week’s ruling came down, and the supreme court ruled that AG’s Bob Ferguson’s ballot title for I-976 was “misleading and deceptive,” he celebrated the court’s rejection of I-976 and attacked me. It was pretty bizarre (a lawyer isn’t supposed to be happy when he loses a case).

In 22 years of doing initiatives, the AG’s office has never been more partisan when it comes to citizen initiatives. Under Gregoire and McKenna, the AG’s office was neutral — they treated liberal initiatives and conservative initiatives the same.

But under Bob Ferguson, when it’s a liberal initiative, he’ll bend-over-backwards to put his thumb on the scale for it (in terms of ballot titles, the legal defense, and public statements). But when it’s a conservative initiative like I-976, he’ll undermine, bad-mouth, and sabotage it every step of the way.

AG Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against me seeks a lifetime ban on all my future political activity.

Please help me survive it.

Please help with that (BACKGROUND: TimDefense.com):
Paypal: paypal.com/paypalme/timdefense
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/Help-Tim-Eyman-Survive-Fund/donate
Mail-in donation:
Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund
500 106th Ave NE #709
Bellevue, WA, 98004

In addition, we worked really hard on our $30 Tabs Initiative.