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| Tim Eyman loses appeals |
In 2021, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that Eyman intentionally committed “numerous and blatant violations” of Washington’s voter-approved campaign finance laws. On multiple occasions, the state caught him illegally and intentionally concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions that ended up in his personal bank account.
Following a trial, the court ordered Eyman to pay a civil penalty of $2.6 million. In addition, the court ordered Eyman to pay $2.9 million to cover the state’s costs and fees associated with investigating and prosecuting the case. Eyman subsequently appealed, resulting in today’s decision.
“Yet another court determined that Tim Eyman engaged in an intentional conspiracy to conceal political contributions and kickback payments to himself,” Ferguson said.
“We appreciate that the Court unanimously upheld the overwhelming majority of the trial court’s ruling, including affirming Eyman’s numerous egregious and intentional violations, and keeping in place key court orders to make it harder for Eyman to engage in future illegal conduct.
"Importantly, the Court of Appeals ruled that the State is the ‘predominantly prevailing party’ in this appeal. Consequently, the court ordered Eyman to reimburse the costs we incurred responding to his appeal. This is in addition to the $2.9 million in attorneys’ fees he must already pay, which the Court of Appeals upheld.”
Highlights from the court’s detailed ruling here
While I don't appreciate the thrust of the initiatives Mr Eyman sponsored I have to consider if the laws he was expected to follow can be understood by someone without a law degree and advanced study of codes and legal rulings. If he was "paying himself" I would think that is a violation -unless there is a code, law, ruling etc that one might be compensated for time, mileage, printing, etc. If he had just figured out a way to milk supporters with similar grievances against run-amuck bureaucracy then good on Bob.
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