Judge doubles Eyman contempt sanctions

Eyman and associates face $1,000 per day in fines on top of $137,000 already accrued

OLYMPIA — Thurston County Superior Court Judge James J. Dixon has doubled daily contempt sanctions against Tim Eyman and his associates to $1,000 per day in the campaign finance lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office last year.

The court held Eyman and for-profit signature gathering firm Citizen Solutions in contempt earlier this year for refusing to turn over documents even after the court ordered them to do so months earlier.

Until today, each of the two sets of defendants was fined $250 per day, for a total of $500. Those fines double to $500 per day per defendant, for a total of $1,000 a day, starting Friday.

Eyman and Citizen Solutions have been in contempt of court since Feb.16 for not turning over all relevant documents in the lawsuit. Through Friday, they collectively amassed $101,500 in contempt fines, in addition to $35,722.30 for the Attorney General’s costs and fees associated with bringing the contempt motions. In addition, on Friday the court ordered the defendants to pay the state’s attorneys fees and costs for having to bring this second contempt motion.

Judge Dixon also gave the Attorney General’s Office direct access to Eyman’s bank records on Friday.

“Tim Eyman and his associates are ignoring multiple court orders and refusing to turn over documents in order to avoid accountability for their intentional campaign finance violations,” Ferguson said. “It won’t work.”

In September of 2015, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) referred the Tim Eyman case to Attorney General Ferguson for enforcement. The chair of the PDC Commission described the case as “one of the most egregious the PDC has seen.”

In March of 2017, Ferguson filed the campaign finance lawsuit against Eyman, alleging improper personal use of more than $300,000 in contributions made to political committees, concealment of more than $490,000 in contributions and misleading reporting. The lawsuit also accuses Citizen Solutions of participating in a scheme to conceal campaign money the company funneled to Eyman.

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The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

Contacts:

Dan Jackson, Acting Communications Director, (360) 753-2716; danj1@atg.wa.gov