CRAZY! AG wants $7.8M fine, lifetime ban on all my future political activity!

COMPLETELY CRAZY: AG wants $7.8M fine, lifetime ban on all my future political activity, & me personally to be a PAC forever (retroactive to 2012). Judge’s decision tomorrow, Wed, Feb 10, 1-3pm.

8 1/2 years of investigation, litigation, and persecution of me and my family and my supporters. Nearly $2 million in taxpayer money spent going after me — more than all other campaign reporting cases in the last 8 years combined!

With so much riding on this case, is it any wonder the AG would violate the law to further his vendetta?

From Richard Sanders’ closing argument:

“Now we know the declaration and motion were false … I’m talking about perjury and Attorney General Robert Ferguson suborned that perjury. So we’re asking the court to do two things: one, find the truth, factually find that the statement is false and misleading, and secondly, deny the State the benefit of this Order obtained through its own misconduct. If the court didn’t know it was a lie then, it knows it now.”

What the AG is demanding is insane ($7.8M, lifetime ban, etc).

But the unprecedented aspects of this case over the past 8 1/2 years are endless — here’s a few examples:

* On day one, AG said he’d never settle the case (they settled w/ the Green River Killer over murders but “never” with Tim Eyman over reporting?)

* The AG’s case is all about “failure to report” but the law makes it the sole responsibility of the treasurer to do reporting — I was never the treasurer so the case should’ve been dismissed years ago.

* When it came to the committee’s treasurer (Stan Long was a CPA, tax attorney, and former IRS investigator), the AG never interviewed him, deposed him, charged him, or even contacted him.

* A wife can’t be forced to testify against her husband (“spousal privilege”). But the AG filed papers to interrogate Karen anyway. In response to my attorneys objections, the AG said “how do we know they’re married?” When we filed our marriage certificate, the AG responded “this only shows they were married, how do we know they are married?” After a lot of lengthy motions and costly hearings, the judge eventually ruled the AG could interrogate her. And they did (despite her significant health challenges).

* The massive costs of litigation got so bad that I filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2018.

* Because of the State was now a creditor, it gave them control of how my funds could be spent. In court, they argued my attorney — the brilliant superstar lawyer Joel Ard — “was not competent” to represent me. They succeeded in bullying Joel off the case.

* Now lawyer-less, I filed a motion to default, telling the judge that I wasn’t capable of defending myself, that I was out of money, and to move to the penalty stage. The AG refused and the judge went along with them.

* For the next 9 months, I was forced to represent myself. I asked other lawyers to take over and each refused because they saw what happened to Joel.

* The AG hit me with so much discovery that I couldn’t keep up so they told the judge to impose $500 per day fines — the judge went along with it. I tried my best to handle the discovery but they kept moving the goalposts and I simply didn’t know how to deal with it because I had no legal counsel to advise me.

* When the $500 per day fines didn’t succeed at getting me to complete discovery, the AG told the judge I should be punished further. They said I, Tim Eyman personally, should be declared a political committee and that the money I received from friends and family to survive the AG’s onslaught should be ruled campaign donations (and thus needed to be reported). The judge went along with that.

* In September 2019, former supreme court justice and now private attorney Richard Sanders agreed to represent me.

He and his firm then spent the next 8 months handling all the AG’s discovery. Hundreds of hours of attorney time, paralegal time, staff time. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was so much being demanded that they had to buy a commercial grade computer to handle it all. But they finally succeeded.

* And then what happened? After this arduous, costly effort by Richard’s firm to complete discovery, the AG then turned around and wiped us out, taking almost every dollar we had (both money in my legal defense fund and money in our family’s personal account). That left nothing to pay Richard.

* The trial was originally scheduled for November 2018. But the AG got it delayed, first to Jan 2020, then July 2020, then Nov 2020. Once it started, it got delayed to December and then January.

And now, on Feb 10, 2021, after 8 1/2 years, there will be a decision.

Here’s what the AG is demanding:

* $7.8 million in fines (I’ve got $7501.45 in my legal defense fund).

* A lifetime ban on all my future political activity (RIP 1st Amendment).

* That the judge not reverse his previous ruling that I, Tim Eyman personally, am a political committee. What does that mean? I would become the first person in human history to have to register with the government as a “person PAC” and hire a treasurer to file monthly reports (retroactive to 2012) showing all my personal and family transactions. And because I am a PAC, the treasurer I hire would be prohibited from using my own money to pay for my own personal and family expenses.

Regardless of the details, the AG will inevitably appeal the ruling resulting in years of additional delays.

With the entire weight and power of the government bearing down on us for 8 1/2 years, we’ve only withstood it thanks to the prayers, friendship, love, and support of thousands of great people who recognized this abuse of power and injustice and wanted to help us fight back.