Sponsors of six GOP-backed voter initiatives on climate policy, taxes, policing and parental rights are accusing Democrats and allied groups of an illegal campaign to block the measures from getting on the 2024 ballot.
The alleged tactics range from a public hotline to report sightings of petition gatherers to alleged harassment — and even cash incentives for paid signature gatherers to leave the state and go work in Florida or elsewhere.
Let's Go Washington, the group backing the initiatives, released a letter Friday from former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, demanding initiative opponents "cease and desist" in such efforts.
"We demand that each of you take the necessary and appropriate steps to halt illegal interference with the rights of voters to sign initiative petitions," wrote McKenna, a partner in the Orrick law firm, warning of a lawsuit if the campaign didn't stop.
McKenna's letter claimed evidence of "a coordinated intimidation campaign" including harassment of signature collectors outside supermarkets and other public spaces in Ridgefield, Clark County; Camas, Clark County; and Tacoma. Some incidents, the letter asserted, became physical, required police intervention and led to disruption or termination of the signature collections at those locations.
The letter was addressed to SEIU 775, the politically influential home health care workers union, as well as the progressive group Fuse Washington and FieldWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based political firm.
Initiative opponents defended their "decline to sign" campaign and denied they're harassing anyone. They said they're exercising free speech rights to warn potential petition signers the measures are largely bankrolled by a single wealthy donor and would threaten funding for important public services.
In an interview this week, Aaron Ostrom, executive director of Fuse Washington, called the complaints from conservatives about the hotline and other anti-initiative efforts "manufactured outrage — which is kind of their love language."
He said initiative opponents started the hotline to look out for "fraudulent activity which often happens with paid signature gathering — people will say anything when they are getting paid and trying to get your signature."
In a follow-up statement responding to McKenna's letter, Ostrom said initiative opponents "will not let a multi-millionaire and his MAGA Republican sponsors intimidate us from educating voters about the content and impact of these destructive initiatives."
The conflict foreshadows what is shaping up as an expensive and hard-fought campaign next year over the initiatives, which have been promoted by Republicans as a counter to policies pushed through by Democrats who control every level of state government.
The petition drives have been mostly funded by Brian Heywood, a Redmond businessman who has so far donated and loaned nearly $6 million to the effort.
Heywood slammed opponents of the initiatives for the efforts he said were aimed at preventing signature gatherers from doing their work, whether through intimidation or incentives to leave the state.
"Some of the guys, like, the signature gatherers don't want to deal with anything, right? Some of them have run away. The other side has done something where they pick the weak ones and then go after that person," said Heywood, the CEO and founder of the hedge fund Taiyo Pacific Partners.
Heywood and other initiative supporters referred to the opponents showing up at supermarkets and other petition drive sites as "blockers," who have been paid to obstruct the initiative campaign.
Jess Honcoop, a Let's Go Washington spokesperson, said such "blockers" have screamed at petition gatherers or otherwise made scenes in an effort to shut down the campaign.
Heywood said he knows of at least one instance where a signature gatherer was paid $3,500 to go to Florida and work there. (Let's Go Washington provided a screenshot appearing to show such a payment for airfare, a hotel and a rental car, but the full context of the screenshot was not entirely clear.)
The signature-gathering industry employs workers who go state to state for the best pay, and the combination of better weather and cash has been an effective enticement for some, Heywood said.
"Some people have left," he said. "I believe this is an active campaign to pull them out of the state."
Recent campaign finance filings show SEIU 775 paid $250,000 between Nov. 21 and Nov. 30 to two out-of-state political firms, including FieldWorks, for consulting and other work in opposition to the initiatives.
Adam Glickman, SEIU 775 secretary-treasurer, declined an interview request. In an email, he also would not comment on whether the union was funding incentive payments for signature gatherers to leave Washington.
In an emailed statement, Glickman said the union's members "are committed to stopping this single right-wing ultra rich hedge fund manager from creating a giant tax cut for the ultra rich and defunding billions of dollars a year in education, paid family leave, long-term care benefits and the fight against the climate crisis."
The anti-initiative hotline has been publicized by a coalition of groups, including unions, the state Democratic Party and the ACLU of Washington.
Flyers advertising the hotline ask for the public to call to report sightings of signature gatherers. Callers to the hotline are greeted by an automated voice message, which asks for the "location, time of day, a description of the circulator."
Three Republican state senators this week cited the hotline and other alleged initiative interference in announcing proposed legislation that would create a 25-foot "buffer zone" around signature-gathering activities.
"It's bad enough that one of our major political parties would back this nonsense. But what gets me is that this effort to squelch civil liberties would be promoted by a group that claims to support them, the American Civil Liberties Union," said state Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, in a news release about the bill.
Alison Holcomb, political strategies director for the state ACLU, said the organization "strongly believes in the rights of individuals to gather signatures on petitions." But Holcomb said people also have a First Amendment right to publicly express opposition to initiative proposals.
Holcomb also pointed to an online guide published by the ACLU that advises respectful behavior when opposing initiative drives and points out that state law makes it a gross misdemeanor to interfere "with the right of any voter to sign or not sign" an initiative or referendum petition by "threats, intimidation, or any other corrupt means or practice."
Shasti Conrad, the chair of the state Democratic Party, said in an interview the party backed the hotline as a way "to combat misinformation and disinformation" by the initiative campaigns.
But she acknowledged the hotline's call for physical descriptions of petition gatherers may have been a bad look. "The description part of it was probably a bridge too far, and I can admit that," she said.
In recent weeks, Let's Go Washington has submitted more than 400,000 signatures apiece to the Secretary of State's Office for three of its proposals.
That includes Initiative 2117, intended to repeal the state's Climate Commitment Act, which set up a carbon-pricing system for greenhouse gas emissions. The law has already raised $1.8 billion for clean energy projects, transit and other programs, while also generating backlash by contributing to the state's high gasoline prices.
Sponsors also recently turned in signatures for Initiative 2113, which would remove restrictions the Legislature imposed on police pursuits of criminal suspects, and Initiative 2081, which would give parents the right to review K-12 instructional materials and require parental notification of school-provided medical services.
The group's other pending initiatives would repeal Washington's new capital gains tax, prohibit state or local income taxes and allow people to opt out of the state's new long-term care insurance program and payroll tax.
The initiatives need 324,516 valid signatures from registered voters by Dec. 29. If they qualify, the proposals will go to the Legislature for consideration at its session starting in January.
Lawmakers can adopt and pass the proposals into law as written. If they take no action or reject the proposals, the initiatives would appear on the November ballot for voters to approve or reject.
