I really only went to Tim Eyman’s press conference yesterday so that we’d finally have more than just that one photo of Washington’s least favorite initiative-peddling goblin.
The rest of this post I probably could have written from a bunker without internet access. That’s because Eyman tries the same thing—with the same goal—every time. He wants to kill Sound Transit and he’s going to try to do it by choking off one of their revenue sources: car tab fees.
Yesterday, Eyman, who still faces allegations that he illegally profited off past campaigns, announced his latest statewide initiative. I-947 would mandate that all car tab fees cost no more than $30 and would ban limit revenue for transportation benefit districts, which local governments use to raise money for transportation projects.
Car tab fees are crucial to funding Sound Transit projects. A quarter of the money for Sound Transit 3 is projected to come from car tabs, also known as MVET. Staff from Sound Transit are still calculating the full effect of the initiative, but say it could cut between $6.9 billion and $8.1 billion in funding to the agency through 2041.
In announcing his initiative, Eyman made the same arguments that others have repeatedly made about ST3: that it was initially pitched as a $15 billion package that ballooned to $54 billion and that voters were misled about the car tab fee increases included in that package. I’ve addressed those arguments before here and here. Eyman also parroted an argument made by Democratic State Senator Reuven Carlyle made last year, arguing that taxing people for light rail hurts the chances of raising revenue for education (transit advocates called bullshit).
Abigail Doerr, an advocate at Transportation Choices Coalition who campaigned for ST3, stood by as Eyman announced his initiative. Eyman has “no credibility” and “no investment in this community,” she told reporters, reiterating that Puget Sound voters approved ST3 just eight months ago. With potential federal funding cuts, “we need all the resources we have,” Doerr said.
“When you’re dealing with $54 billion… that is having an impact on everybody in the state,” Eyman said, despite the fact that only taxpayers in Puget Sound pay for Sound Transit. “There’s only so much money available.”
This, from a story I wrote last year, remains applicable:
To wage war on urban transit, Eyman will rely on mistrust of Seattle from voters elsewhere in the state. The only voters whose MVET fees fund Sound Transit are those in the Puget Sound cities and counties where Sound Transit builds projects. Yet, by railing against “Seattle-centric” Sound Transit, Eyman is building a campaign message urging voters all over the state to get back at a transit agency they don’t even pay for. In a list of reasons voters should support the initiative, Eyman and his associates Mike and Jack Fagan slam Sound Transit and its “multi-billion dollar choo choo train boondoggles.”
“If you want your $30 car tabs back, support our initiative,” the site reads. “If you want to derail Seattle-centric Sound Transit, support our initiative.” (A bit of irony here: Eyman is framing Sound Transit as too Seattle-focused in order to appeal to anti-Seattle sentiment in the rest of the state. Meanwhile, transit advocates inside Seattle are criticizing ST3 as too suburban. The plan would build more than four times as many miles of light rail tracks outside Seattle as inside the city.)
Eyman will take the same tack this year as he works to gather signatures to get his initiative on the ballot.
If you want to stop him, decline to sign I-947 and tell everyone you know to do the same.
