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Initiative foes raise $2 million for 10-1 edge over supporters
Initiative foes raise $2 million for 10-1 edge over supporters
Beth Silver; The News Tribune
The campaign fighting the initiative to lower car tabs has amassed $2 million,
outraising its opponents 10-to-1, according to reports filed Tuesday with the
state Public Disclosure Commission.
The No on Initiative 695 campaign has spent about $476,000 on mailers, yard
signs and radio ads. That leaves about $1.4 million in the bank for its final
push before the Nov. 2 election.
Expect to hear its ads on the radio starting today and to see ads on TV and
in the mail in about 10 days, said Mark Funk, the campaign's spokesman.
Voters will decide Nov. 2 whether to approve the ballot measure, which would
set car tabs at a flat $30.
The anti-initiative campaign has run $54,000 in radio ads in the Seattle-Tacoma
area, about $10,500 in the Spokane area, and $20,000 in the rest of the state.
It spent another $45,000 on media relations and consulting with Seattle-based
Pacific Public Affairs and The Rockey Co.
Amalgamated Transit Union of Washington Local 1834, based in Lacey, donated
about $49,000 to the anti-695 campaign in bus advertising, printing costs and
fliers.
The campaign's biggest donors include The Boeing Co., which pitched in $95,000,
and Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, which donated $60,000 apiece.
But the large donations will stop from now on. State law prohibits donations
of more than $5,000 from Tuesday until Election Day.
"The money that business and labor have brought to the table in this campaign
isn't that great compared to the loss of money for our highways and roadway
construction. Two million dollars is a drop in the bucket," Funk said.
The pro-initiative campaign, meanwhile, has spent about $154,000, leaving
it with about $50,000.
"All the conventional rules say we're going to lose because whoever raises
the most amount of money wins. But we've turned conventional wisdom on its head
up to this point," said the initiative's promoter, Tim Eyman.
The campaign has spent about $43,000 on mailings, which have increased from
10,000 at a time to about 100,000 per run; $8,700 on a database; $48,000 on
postage; $27,000 for yard signs and bumper stickers; and $11,000 on printing.
The campaign plans to spend the remaining money on mailings and fliers, said
campaign treasurer Suzanne Karr.
"I don't ever expect to get the kind of money the opposition has. We get very
small checks," Karr said. "Our biggest strength is that I have a volunteer database
of people who are really willing to put a lot of time."
Of the 3,700 donors to the pro-initiative campaign, the biggest were Wes and
Nancy Lematta, who sent $5,000. The Lemattas own a helicopter company in Vancouver,
Wash.
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* Staff writer Beth Silver covers politics and state government. Reach her
at 253-597-8603 or beth.silver@mail.tribnet.com.
© The News Tribune
10/13/1999
