Initiatives that go thunk

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The Tim Eyman Initiative Machine is running on empty. Two of Eyman's recent high-profile initiatives have been struck down by the courts.

Eyman has no problem selling his ideas to a public clamoring for lower taxes. But he is inept at writing initiatives that stand up to judicial scrutiny. Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy struck down Initiative 722 Friday, saying it violated the state constitution. I-722, like Eyman's earlier Initiative 695, tried to accomplish too much at once. It attempted to roll back local tax and fee increases imposed in the second half of 1999 and limit growth on future property taxes.

It's the "and" that causes Eyman so much trouble.

A few months earlier, the state Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 against I-695. That measure tried to set car tabs at $30 and require a public vote on all tax and fee increases. The high court ruled I-695 unconstitutional because it violated the one-subject rule and attempted to create an automatic referendum on any statewide tax or fee increase.

Judge Pomeroy issued her I-722 ruling, news accounts said, "just a breath after" attorneys finished their arguments. In other words, she knew quickly the initiative was a loser.

Initiatives by nature are first drafts of what in a legislative setting would be six- or seven-draft bills. But once an initiative is written and signatures are gathered, the measure cannot be changed. The sponsor and the public are stuck with it.

People are still arguing about I-695. Proponents proclaim the sky didn't fall after the initiative passed (and the Legislature adopted $30 car tabs). Opponents say there isn't enough money to pay for roads and ferries, and the Legislature this year may raise car tabs a modest amount to build more roads.

After Pomeroy's ruling on I-722, Eyman predicted the ruling would act like "gasoline on the fire of enthusiasm" for his newest initiative, Initiative 747, which would create an even tighter property tax limit than I-722.

Public frustrations over taxes are real and cannot be ignored. But voters ought to be skeptical of Eyman's anti-tax initiatives, which promise voters a whole lot more than the law allows.