OLYMPIA, Wash. — Editor's note: Video aired Feb. 2021
Initiative sponsor Tim Eyman will have to pay nearly $2.9 million to reimburse Washington taxpayers for costs and fees related to the campaign finance lawsuit brought against him by Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
The amount is in addition to the $2.6 million penalty Eyman was ordered to pay in February as a result of the 2017 lawsuit by Ferguson's office that accused Eyman of soliciting kickbacks, laundering donations and flouting campaign finance law in a long-running scheme to enrich himself.
In February, Thurston County Superior Court Judge James Dixon also ruled that Eyman will no longer be allowed to have any financial control over political committees.
The court previously found Eyman committed other violations as part of the case, including that he failed to disclose more than $766,000 in campaign contributions that he received in personal accounts.
"Eyman is a repeat violator of our state’s voter-approved campaign finance laws," said a statement from the Attorney General's (AG) Office. "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."
Eyman is under a court order to pay $10,000 every month and he has been consistently making payments, according to the statement from the AG's office.
To date, Eyman has paid $494,589.08 to the state, including $355,498.95 in contempt sanctions and fees related to his willful delay of the state’s case.
Beginning January 2022, the court-ordered amount increases, and Eyman must pay the state $13,500 every month, the statement said.
“Tim Eyman broke the law — repeatedly — and in order to delay his day of reckoning, he willfully dragged out this case with frivolous and cost-inflating litigation tactics,” Ferguson said in a statement. “This decision ensures that Tim Eyman bears the cost of his years-long obstruction of our case — not the taxpayers.”
