AG Ferguson’s persecution of Tim Eyman, Eyman’s plea, and a creepy AG employee

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On Friday, there was another hearing in the never ending Tim Eyman lawsuit at Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia, Washington State.  This was just the latest hearing in a long series of many hearings in Bob Ferguson, Washington State Attorney General’s litigation against Initiative guy Tim Eyman.  Over the past few years, almost 800 pleadings have been filed in this case.  This author has occasionally covered this case at a few points along the way (see articles here, and here).  However, Friday’s hearing was unique in several impactful ways.

Tim Eyman – alone and under attack by the full force of the state

First, this is the first hearing where we get to see Tim Eyman, in his own words, discuss the case without legal counsel.  This lawsuit is essentially a case stemming from an original 2012 Public Disclosure Commission complaint filed against Tim Eyman and his political committees involved in initiatives which mostly reduce taxes.  Eyman has a 20 year history of filing, promoting, and frequently passing initiatives to reduce taxes in Washington State (see here).  He isn’t always successful, but his cumulative successes over the years can’t be denied or ignored.  Obviously, these successes have infuriated political insiders, the bureaucrats and vendors who rely on easy government cash, and politicians who always want to spend the people’s money on pet projects. 

Depending on how one views Eyman’s successful initiatives over the years, they have reduced the amount average citizens would have paid on their taxes by close to $40 billion over 20 years (see link here).  Since Eyman is so clearly a guy identified with depriving the state of this cash which they could have squandered by now, then the wrath and resources of the state is focused entirely against this one guy.

It was inevitable that Eyman would have his detractors and they would do everything they could do to stop his efforts.  Democratic legislators always propose bills in Olympia to water down or restrict the citizens’ initiative process.   Sometimes, when the state legislature is controlled by Democrats, they even try to violate the state constitution to undermine the state’s initiative process as they did last year on I-940 (see article here, and here).  Tim Eyman has had his run-in with the joys of the state’s campaign finance laws before back in 2002 (see article here).  However, this current case is unique in almost every measure.  In THIS case, unlike every other campaign finance case filed by the AG in Washington State’s history, the state is uniquely concentrating the full force of the government to destroy one man over violations that are commonly made by many of AG Ferguson’s campaign donors and allies.  There is no proportionality in this lawsuit against Eyman compared to the violations that he may or may not have committed.

Here are just a few unique elements to the Eyman case:

• State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has stated from the beginning that he would never settle this lawsuit with Tim Eyman.  For context, the State settled with the Green River killer, but they will “never settle” with Tim Eyman.
• Ferguson has spent more on pleadings, staff costs, and investigative costs on this case than any other campaign finance case in state history. (See article for reference here)
• The level of harassment against Eyman is unique in the AG’s history.  For example, tossing out Eyman’s attorney using the fact the AG is the only creditor in Eyman’s bankruptcy court hearing to force his attorneys to resign and the unique legal attacks targeting Eyman’s wife.
• The AG (and PDC before them) did not even bother to meet or contact his treasurer (the guy legally responsible for the reporting) for the first few years of this investigation (normally this is the first person they would interview in this type of case), and this failure to meet with the treasurer was particularly tragic because the treasurer, Stan Long, died in a car accident two years after this case started.  There was plenty of time for the state to have interviewed the guy. They did not because they don’t care about the truth. Their focus is only on stopping Eyman.
• The AG has planned 35 3^rd party depositions on supporters of Eyman.  This has NEVER happened in any other campaign finance case.
• When Eyman’s attorneys have tried to reach out to the AG to ask for a settlement demand (See here), the AG refused to respond and just went to the media.  See article here.
• Unique in the history of campaign finance lawsuits, the AG wants to deny Tim his rights to participate in the political process with a lifetime ban for participating with initiatives – the only thing he has done for the past 20 years. (for more on this you can read an editorial published by a small paper in Washington State – the Leavenworth Echo (linked here). The AG tried to convince the paper to change their article, which, to the credit of this paper, they refused (linked here).

Tim Eyman’s own words and that creepy, weird AG attorney

The video from Friday’s hearing is linked earlier in this article.  It is worth reviewing the part where Eyman speaks to the judge (at 23:00 min).  He is obviously emotional, any normal person would be. Eyman spoke longer than what an attorney would ever do in a situation like this.  Imagine yourself in his shoes.  As someone also present in the courtroom, this author also witnessed the laughing and joking among the AG attorneys.  In fairness, we don’t know what they were laughing about, but it was bad optics and added to the ugliness of the setting.  There is no need to parse his lengthy speech here. Despite the obvious pressure, he does a decent job summarizing his case.

Normal people who listen and watch Eyman’s presentation to the judge can’t help but be moved by his situation, particularly because, based on the AG’s own filings, this case is mostly about a failure to report two transactions (over which there is a dispute as to whether they should have been reported – see here) back in 2012.  The AG has played pat-a- cake litigation with everyone from the Spokane County Democratic Committee to the Democrat Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (see partial list here for comparative examples) who also violated the campaign finance laws and the AG never bothered to harass these people in this way.  Not even close.  The AG, in fact, willfully averted their eyes and refused to dig deep on any other case. The AG’s political allies paid fines, pat-a-cake, and then settled their lawsuits and moved on.  That is not an option for Tim Eyman.  Even the 2011 case against Moxie Media, which the previous AG pursued and which demonstrated willful and well-funded efforts to evade the Fair Campaign Practices Act of Washington State (RCW 42.17A) by Democratic Party donors and unions, the AG both found a way settle the case, Moxie Media paid a fine, and they were even allowed to have secretive funding sources pay the fine (see article).

Of course, the biggest difference between most of these cases and Tim Eyman is that he committed the cardinal sin of reducing taxes in Washington State.  There is no other reason to target him in this manner.  Tim Eyman is mainly known for his anti-tax initiatives in Washington State.  In fact, astoundingly enough, right in the middle of this chaos, he was able to manage another successful signature gathering campaign which will put a $30 car tab initiative on next November’s ballot.  Eyman isn’t always successful, but he still has a remarkable track record of success over 20 years.  Washington State voters want lower taxes and usually vote to lower them.  This annoys big government types, including the state AG, who will do anything to support their goal of bigger, bloated government.

The legal issues being addressed at Friday’s hearing were relatively minor.  The judge rejected an odd AG request regarding discovery.  The judge allowed the AG to add in a few more claims to the lawsuit (based on a fairly minor set of violations in a separate complaint filed in 2016 – see here).  However, it probably was in Eyman’s best interest to allow this since the AG was just planning to file additional lawsuits anyway.  Eyman was requesting a temporary delay of the case and discovery since he no longer has an attorney due to the AG forcing his attorneys off his case, which they could do through his bankruptcy case (which I’ll discuss in more detail below). Finally, Eyman wanted a continuance (an extension to allow Eyman time to find adequate counsel), but since he didn’t file a continuance motion correctly, that was rejected, so now the AG gets to proceed to depose Eyman supporters without any counsel representing Eyman to be present.  

As a little bit of a distraction and to add a whole new level of creepiness and a weirdo to an already unusual hearing – one of the AG’s attorneys who was participating in the case (he was conferring and instructing the attorneys during breaks and crossing the bar to meet with them at their table), was new to this author.  Having filed a lot of campaign finance complaints, this author was interested in properly identifying all the AG staff in the room.  However, for the first time in this author’s nine-year experience interacting with state and local government, this attorney refused to give his name or even clarify which department he worked.  He reluctantly admitted he did work in the AG’s office and gave me only his first name “Eric” but refused all other information.  After requesting other people to help identify this creepy guy on Facebook, Mr. Secret Agent man has been identified, and it is bizarre that he even tried to refuse to identify himself. 

His name is Eric Newman and was a failed King County Superior Court Judge candidate in 2016.  The Seattle Times endorsement of his candidacy at the time is linked here.  The results from his failed campaign is linked here.  He received a respectable 44% in that election. His public information on the bar association is linked here (his Bar Association number is 31521).  His Facebook profile is available (see image nearby).  It turns out, after he lost his race for judge, the AG hired him to head up the Anti-Trust Division. 

Even weirder than Eric Newman’s refusal to identify himself in a public setting – he is a listed attorney in the Eyman case, which makes his adamant refusal to identify himself in the courtroom even more bizarre and pointless.  He doesn’t work in the Campaign Finance Unit, which is technically the AG division suing Eyman, and since the head of the state’s AG anti-trust division is spending his time going after Eyman than we can better understand why the AG won’t be pursuing any anti-trust action against Google and Facebook (even though the AG had a solid campaign finance case against them which would have allowed for real discovery, which the AG refused to do – see another pat-a-cake settlement here).  Of course, it was entirely coincidental that both companies and many of their employees donated to Ferguson’s political election campaign.

Bob Ferguson’s rules – crucify those who politically oppose you, and cover up for your allies – yes, this is corrupt

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson appears to be using his office to settle personal vendettas and to assist him with political payback for his friends.  Tim Eyman is the most obvious victim of this agenda, but not the only one.  The AG staging the Kim Wyman campaign finance case for optimal impact on her election is a good example.  This AG never did this to any Democratic Party candidate in this state.  Despite the large number of times this author exposed their violations in excess of Wyman’s campaign finance violations.  This AG never uses press releases to embarrass and harass Democratic Party candidates or groups.  Exclusively, the AG uses them against Republicans and conservative aligned groups.  This author has written about some of this before (see here).  This merits much more in-depth reporting beyond the scope of this article.

One of the most surreal aspects of this case is the AG’s decision to force Eyman’s attorneys off his case so he can’t be represented. This bizarre result has occurred because Eyman was forced into bankruptcy a few months ago due to the fact that the AG is causing him to spend more money than he has or will ever had. Eyman filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Since the only listed creditor he has in this case, other than attorneys, is the Attorney General’s office, as his primary creditor, they have the ability to direct how he uses his remaining assets in the bankruptcy process. Once they had this leverage, the first thing they did is oppose the naming of Eyman’s attorney, claiming he was not competent to represent him. In Federal Bankruptcy Court on Friday, January 4th, the AG prevailed and was able to prevent Joel Ard (one of the potential attorneys) from representing Tim Eyman. (because the bankruptcy court has effective veto power over Eyman’s finances in the bankruptcy process). They also opposed Eyman’s attorney for his divorce, his tax attorney, and all others who dare represent Eyman in any case. For the record, these very same attorneys are some of the most knowledgeable attorneys in the state on RCW 42.17A, and there is a very limited number of attorneys experienced in this area. As Joel Ard explained to the bankruptcy judge and said in Federal Court. Now Eyman has no legal representation, and this gives the AG even freer unchecked opportunities to abuse the legal process without adult supervision or brakes. The AG has made it impossible for Eyman to even get another attorney, as Joel Ard (Eyman’s attorney rejected by the AG) explained very well in Federal Court.

It doesn’t matter if you like Eyman or not.   It doesn’t matter if you like his initiatives or not.  The question is whether what is happening to Eyman is just or right or proportionate to the alleged violations.  If people look at this case closely, most people would find this situation ridiculous.  Theoretically, the judicial system should step in like mature adults and ensure the Constitution isn’t entirely abandoned, but this isn’t happening here.  Instead, the judges in Washington State seem to give far too much deference to the AG’s office, which the AG’s office has not earned or deserves.  While Eyman’s statement to the court (see Eyman’s pro Se filing linked here) on Friday was not legally significant, it is the first time he has had a chance to present his perspective without an attorney’s filter.  It is compelling, and it should require people of good will to reconsider how much power has been handed to the AG’s office without any oversight or adult supervision.  Knowing the politician Ferguson is willing to abuse his powers as AG today, what would he be like as Governor tomorrow?  Does anyone have any doubt that he would abuse that office as well?  He would probably do much worse. Today, it is Eyman who is being destroyed, tomorrow it could just as easily be you.

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Background articles:

AG Ferguson loses another legal skirmish with Tim Eyman – strangely, no AG press release

Eyman’s Pro Se response documents filed in court Jan 18, 2019

Eyman wins major court motion against Attorney General, Ferguson could be first AG in state history forced to testify under Oath

Eyman wins lawsuit against State, exposing unconstitutional effort by legislature, saves initiative process

Leavenworth Echo – December 3, 2018 – “Tyranny of the Law” (AG didn’t like this article)

Seattle PI – Connelly:  AG wants Eyman held in contempt, fined $2,000 a day

AG’s Motion of Contempt Against Tim Eyman (January 2018)

Eyman’s Response to AG (January 12, 2018)

Jeffrey Sprung PDC Complaint #27563

History article about King County Initiative 18 (reduce size of council)

Seattle PI – Eyman is hit with $2.1 million campaign finance lawsuit

Kiro 7 – March 31, 2017 – Video of AG Ferguson talking about Eyman lawsuit

Seattle Met – Aug 19, 2011 – “Andrew Villeneuve Takes on Tim Eyman”

The Olympian Editorial- Oct 20, 2015 – “Send Eyman’s Ideas out with the Trash”

Seattle Times – July 22, 2016 – “Eric Newman for King County Superior Court Judge position #44”

AG Press Releases about Tim Eyman over last year

AG Press Release – “In AG Investigation, Court finds Tim Eyman violated June 29 Order”

AG Press Release – “Judge Doubles Eyman’s Contempt Sanctions”

AG Press Release – “Ferguson files $2.1M Campaign Finance lawsuit against Tim Eyman”

AG Press Release – “AG Ferguson Demands Documents be disclosed in Eyman Investigation”

AG Press Release – “AG asks courts to hold Eyman, Committees, in Contempt”

AG Press Release – “AG Subpoenas enforced by court in Tim Eyman probe”

AG Press Release – “In AG Investigation, Court Finds Tim Eyman violated June 29 Order”

AG Press Release – “Tim Eyman, Committees pay AG $20K in Costs and Fees for months of delay”

AG Press Release – “AG: Judge Orders Signature Gathering Firm to disclose documents in Eyman probe”

AG Press Release – “Court rejects motion to dismiss 2 Defendants in Eyman campaign finance case”

AG Press Release – “Eyman and Committees violated campaign accounting and disclosure laws”