After months of I don't know what, the Washington State Public Disclosure commission has finally launched an investigation into allegations that initiative profiteer Tim Eyman and his partners illegally financed their Initiative 517 signature drive with funds raised to gather signatures for Initiative 1185.

As I first detailed back in August, Eyman's signature gathering contractors are accused of running a complicated scheme that attempted to force subcontractors to collect I-517 signatures for free as a condition of employment for collecting signatures on the more lucrative I-1185. The complaint includes affidavits and invoices that suggest canvassers were ultimately paid for I-517 signatures at a time the campaign had reported raising little or no funds.

If proven, these allegations would amount to a flagrant violation of the laws governing the funding and disclosure of such signature drives. Ironically, I-517 would make it easier to run such signature drives in the future.

Personally, I'm not confident that the PDC retains either the resources or the will to thoroughly investigate such a complex operation. So I'm crossing my fingers that they ultimately hand it off to the Attorney General's Office for a proper investigation.