Tim Eyman

In February 2020, Eyman was found to have been in violation of Washington campaign finance laws for at least the last seven years, concealing nearly $800,000 in political contributions.

On November 21, 2019, Eyman announced that he is running for Governor of Washington in 2020, while making a public comment at a Sound Transit meeting.

On February 13th 2019, Eyman was accused of stealing a $70 office chair from an Office Depot in Lacey. On February 19th the Lacey city prosecutor filed one count of theft against Eyman related to the incident. Through his attorney, Eyman released a statement that the incident was caused by his being distracted by telephone call when he returned to the store to pay for services and merchandise. The charge was settled under the condition that Eyman avoid further criminal activity.

On 21 November 2019, Eyman announced that he is running for Governor of Washington in 2020, while making a public comment at a Sound Transit meeting.

On March 15, 2018, Eyman introduced two referendum measures with the intent to put all or portions of a recently passed law EHB2957 that effectively phases out non-native finfish aquaculture to a public vote. Eyman withdrew both referendum measures after Cooke Aquaculture, the only company farming nonnative Atlantic salmon in Washington, made it clear they did not want to be associated with his referendum campaign.

Divorced from his wife, the couple are the adoptive parents of three children. In 2018, the strain from escalating litigation led to Eyman filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and contributed to his divorce.

In March 2017, the Attorney General of Washington sued Eyman for $2.1 million accusing him of enriching himself with money donated to initiative campaigns. The lawsuit stems from a 2015 investigation by the Public Disclosure Commission into Eyman's use of donations to different initiative campaigns.

In March 2017, The Washington State Attorney General sued Eyman for $2.1M accusing Eyman of enriching himself with money donated to initiative campaigns. The lawsuit stems from a 2015 investigation by the Public Disclosure Commission into Eyman's use of donations to different initiative campaigns.

Former Republican Attorney General of Washington, Rob McKenna, urging a NO vote on I-517: —

Eyman sponsored 25 initiatives for 2012, of which only Initiative 1185 made it onto the November general ballot. It passed with 63.91% of the vote. Approximately 95% of the money to support the initiative was reportedly from "corporate behemoths such as oil companies ... the national beer and soda-pop industries and big pharmaceutical firms."

Eyman filed Initiative 517 on April 15, 2012, to "set penalties for interfering with signature-gatherers or signers." It was referred to 2013 session of legislature, which declined to pass it, sending it to the general election for November 5, 2013. Among those opposing I-517 were former Republican Attorney General of Washington, Rob McKenna, publishing on smartergovernmentwa.org:

In 2009, Eyman sponsored I-1033, which would apply a cap on revenue tied to the consumer price index and population. The bill is similar to TABOR which was enacted in 1992, and then placed on a five-year timeout in 2005 by referendum, in Colorado. The initiative was rejected by voters.

In 2008, Eyman sponsored I-985, which had the purpose to reduce traffic congestion through various means including:

Eyman submitted approximately 290,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for the 2008 general election. The initiative claims to follow the recommendations of a congestion study by state auditor Brian Sonntag, but former state transportation secretary Doug MacDonald stated that there is "no connection" between the study's findings and the initiative's goals. Auditor Sonntag himself directly refuted the claim that I-985 implements the recommendations of the state congestion audit.

In 2007, Eyman spearheaded Initiative 960, intending to make it harder for the Legislature to raise taxes and fees. The legislature repealed it in 2010.

In a 2006 interview with the Seattle Weekly, Eyman said "...there are Democrats and Republicans that really respect the initiative process. It’s those particular elected officials I admire the most, because they realize that they don’t have all the answers". As of 2019, according to Eyman, he had no formal party affiliation and was "equally frustrated by Republicans and Democrats at times". Writing in 2005, David S. Broder described Eyman as "a personable young man".

In August 2006 a Thurston County judge blocked a tongue-in-cheek initiative (I-831) proposed by Seattle-area computer programmer and blogger David Goldstein that would have allowed voters to criticize – or support – Tim Eyman by declaring, "The citizens of the state of Washington do hereby proclaim that Tim Eyman is a horse's ass.".

In February 2002 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Eyman paid himself $165,000 from campaign donations, while claiming to be working for free. Eyman initially denied receiving payments, but later admitted wrongdoing. The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, the state equivalent of the Federal Elections Commission charged Eyman with diverting $233,000 from his initiative campaigns. and Eyman eventually settled with the Washington State Attorney General's office, paying $50,000 and accepting a lifetime ban on involvement in any political committee's financial accounts. Since the settlement, Eyman's co-sponsors and chairmen in his Permanent Offense political committee became more actively involved; Monte Benham of Kennewick became the head of Permanent Offense, though Eyman remained involved politically.

Eyman's work on Initiative 695 in 2000 ($30 Car Tabs) was recognized by the Conservative Political Action Conference with its Ronald Reagan Award.

Born in Yakima, Washington, Eyman graduated from Washington State University and later established a mail order business serving fraternities and sororities. Since 1999, he has been the sponsor of a number of anti-tax initiatives in Washington which have had mixed results. In 2019, he declared his intentions to run as a Republican in the 2020 Washington gubernatorial election.

In 1999 Eyman sponsored Initiative 695, a petition-initiated referendum to lower the price of car tab fees in the state of Washington to $30. Following the success of that measure, Eyman established a political action committee called Permanent Offense to campaign for other anti-tax initiatives. In 2000 he began taking a salary as head of Permanent Offense, receiving $45,000 that year. According to Eyman, his decision to begin paying himself was due to the time he had invested into campaigning that had resulted in a loss of income from his watch business. He has since been described as a "professional initiative filer".

Timothy Donald Eyman was born in Yakima, Washington and adopted shortly after birth. He graduated from Yakima's West Valley High School and went on to attend Washington State University (WSU) on an academic scholarship, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1988 in business management. At WSU, he was initiated into Delta Tau Delta and competed on the university's intercollegiate wrestling team, finishing third in the Pacific-10 Conference.

Timothy Donald "Tim" Eyman (born December 22, 1965) is a gubernatorial candidate, anti-tax activist, and businessman from Washington. Eyman has been variously described as a populist, libertarian, and conservative.