VICTORY: Judge sided w/ me against the sponsor of those 5 liberal initiatives that try to raise the capital gains income tax EVEN HIGHER.

VICTORY: Judge sided w/ me against the sponsor of those 5 liberal initiatives that try to raise the capital gains income tax EVEN HIGHER. He can’t print up petitions or start collecting signatures until my litigation is done.

She agreed w/ me and ruled that the sponsor and his lawyers broke the rules.

Fri, June 3, 2022

VICTORY: the judge sided w/ me against the sponsor of those 5 liberal initiatives that try to raise the capital gains income tax EVEN HIGHER. He can’t print up petitions or start collecting signatures until my litigation is done (the deadline for him to collect and turn in 400,000 voter signatures is July 8th).

She agreed w/ me and ruled that the sponsor and his lawyers violated the law and broke the rules.

Here’s how this has played out:

1) The capital gains income tax that the Democrats passed in 2021 is set at 7%. Last month, a liberal activist filed 5 initiatives that all try to raise the tax EVEN HIGHER.

2) Bob Ferguson bent-over-backwards to issue very biased ballot titles for all 5 initiatives (because that’s what Bully Bob does: when he supports a liberal initiative, he ignores the law requiring neutral wording and instead describes it in a fluffy favorable way).

3) The forces behind these liberal initiatives were counting on printing up petitions and collecting signatures in May, June, and all the way until the July 8th.

4) But I filed 5 lawsuits challenging each of the AG’s biased ballot titles.

5) Once the liberal activist saw my lawsuits, he hired a high-priced Seattle law firm to also challenge the titles (with a straight face, they actually argued the AG’s wording wasn’t fluffy enough).

6) When the AG asked that one judge decide all 5, I objected which forced a delay because a hearing had to be scheduled with one of the judges.

7) At that hearing, Judge Indu Thomas shocked everyone when she didn’t even allow the issue of consolidation to be presented because she had this threshold question: did the liberal activist and his lawyers screw up by filing one lawsuit against all 5 initiatives versus filing individual lawsuits against each one as I had done?

8) This forced another hearing and required us to file briefs answering that question.

9) In their briefs, the sponsor’s high-priced Seattle lawyers and the AG said doing one lawsuit was fine, that it had been done before, that it was “close enough” and should be allowed.

10) In my brief, I made it clear they had violated state law and local court rules by not doing them separately (I wrote about it here).

11) Last Friday, the judge issued her ruling: she sided w/ me and against the initiative sponsor, his high-priced Seattle lawyers, and the AG.

From her ruling:

FINDINGS OF FACT & CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

A consolidated petition is an improper method to appeal similar ballot titles.

Consolidation is the purview of the Court and not the parties.

The fact that the Court has in the past permitted a party’s consolidation, does not in and of itself support the proposition that consolidation is the correct result in these cases or that a consolidated petition is appropriate under the statute.

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED the initiatives shall be severed into new court files with newly assigned numbers to be assigned in the ordinary course.

— END —

VICTORY!

So what’s next?

We’re now waiting for the Court to schedule hearings with 5 different judges who will decide the wording for the 5 initiative ballot titles. Only after the judges issue their rulings can petitions get printed.

Again, the deadline for them to collect and turn-in 400,000 voter signatures is July 8th.

If I hadn’t filed my lawsuits, they would’ve had nearly 2 months to collect those signatures.

Is it any wonder Bob Ferguson wants to prohibit all my future political activity?

Please donate to my legal defense fund today:

Mail-in donation: Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund, 500 106th Ave NE #709, Bellevue, WA, 98004
Or donate online:
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Appealing the AG’s ridiculously unconstitutional restrictions on the First Amendment is absolutely critical. Because if he gets away with it with me, he’ll just target someone else.

And I refuse to let that happen.

I’m only here is because of the love and support of folks like you who’ve watched this gross abuse of power by the AG and are willing to help me and my family get through this.

I love you all.

And now a message from Larry Jensen & Sid Maietto:

We’re asking folks to donate to our PAC so we can keep fighting for taxpayers with attorney Joel Ard’s initiative: STOP ALL INCOME TAXES.

The taxpayers of Washington need our help now more than ever. Donate to our political committee so we can keep fighting for you:

Mail your check — made payable to “Permanent Offense I-1499” — to: Permanent Offense, PO Box 6151, Olympia, WA, 98507
Or donate online: PermanentOffense.com

Kindest Regards,

Sid Maietto & Larry Jensen

— END —

Thanks everyone.

Larry, Tim, & Sid