Last month, we reported that Tim Eyman’s main funder, Mark Dunmire, was MIA as a donor so far for Eyman’s latest initiative effort, I-1053, the attempt to reinstate the two-thirds requirement for raising taxes.
We also reported that Eyman had lent his political commitee $50,000.
The new campaign finance reports are due this week. So, we’ll know in a few days if Dunmire is on board with Eyman’s latest effort yet.
Dunmire’s help could make a big difference. An email memo from the Association of Washington Business that’s making the rounds among I-1053 supporters this week alerts folks that the initiative has about 160,000 signatures to date.
Initiative campaigns have until the end of June to turn in signatures. They need 241,000 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Given the typical rate of bad signatures, campaigns this year are shooting to turn in well over 300,000 signatures to be safe.
The email memo from AWB President Don Brunell says:
With the large number of initiatives seeking validation, the competition for paid signature gatherers is fierce. We are hearing that some campaigns are proposing to pay more than $5.00 per signature which makes working on the I-1053 less lucrative for the independent contractors who are doing the gathering for the signature firm. Our initial plan of reaching the signature gathering goal by mid-June is dependent on additional contributions as early as possible. If the goals are not met, the costs will only increase and jeopardize the success of the campaign. So far, 160,000 of the necessary 241,153 valid signatures required by 5 pm on July 2 have already been collected.
