We're committed to getting Initiative 1185 on the ballot to extend the 2/3's vote requirement for the Legislature to raise taxes. It passed with 64% of the vote just two years ago, the 4th time voters approved it. There is a clear consensus on the necessity of extending the 2/3's before the next legislative session. Olympia went hog wild in 2010 during that "2/3-less" session imposing $6.7 billion in higher taxes. They'll do it again next year with taxpayers being targeted with EVEN HIGHER job-killing, family-budget-busting, recession-extending tax increases without I-1185's protection and extension.

Jack & Mike Fagan are working non-stop processing petitions and donations and answering letters, phone calls, and email requests. To supplement our volunteers who are out collecting signatures, we've hired a paid signature gathering company to give voters more opportunities to sign I-1185's petitions. WE ARE FOCUSED ON SUCCESS. Each week, our PO Box in Spokane is packed with petitions and donations from supporters, but THEY'RE NOT COMING IN AT A PACE THAT ENSURES OUR SUCCESS.

There's not much time left to raise the funds and the signatures. So far, we've received lots of regular sized donations (650 individual donations since January) from our regular supporters and we're starting to see a groundswell of enthusiastic support from the business community like I-1053 received in 2010 (the endorsement by the Association of Washington Business last March has really inspired enthusiastic support from a broad cross section of the business community as exclusively reported by the Washington State Wire on April 21st - Business Groups Lining Up Behind Eyman's New Anti-Tax Initiative).

Here's a couple of recent emails:

From: Larry Jensen
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 7:07 PM
To: Tim Eyman

hi tim, i have been sending one filled petition a month and am putting one in the mail today. thanks for your efforts. we voted last night to send $1000 from the skagit farm bureau. larry
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From: Bruce Beckett
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 9:22 AM
To: Tim Eyman
Subject: I-1185

Tim, The Washington Restaurant Association is sending $25,000 today to Voters Want More Choices. Thank you for your work on this important initiative, we appreciate it.

We also received two $100,000 donations from BP Oil and Conoco Phillips (not hard to guess why: Plan for oil-barrel 'tax' dies, SEATTLE TIMES, February 2, 2012, It would have cost taxpayers $2.75 billion and is the largest tax in Gregoire's $3.6 billion proposed tax package. "(Senator) Haugen said a barrel charge probably would be declared a general 'tax' by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, and there's no way it could win a two-thirds legislative majority for tax hikes, as required by Tim Eyman's Initiative 1053).

And we are deeply grateful for and impressed by the donations received during the month of April and reported on May 7th by the "Association of Washington Business Political Action Committee" with some of their funds being used to I-1185 -- they filed as a "continuing" committee with the PDC (I would guess that this $5.1 billion tax increase in 2010 likely inspired their support for I-1185):

* Washington Realtors $25,000
* Port Blakely Tree Farms $10,000
* Equilon Enterprises $50,000
* Tesoro Companies $100,000

We are deeply grateful for this groundswell of support from our regular supporters (650 so far) and the business community -- a broad coalition of supporters who understand that united we stand, divided we fall -- but it's still not enough to guarantee I-1185's success. We need a lot more contributions and signatures during the months of May and June to ensure that voters get their 5th opportunity to approve the 2/3 protection.

There is no limit on how much a person, company, or association can contribute to an initiative campaign because the voters will have the final say. Personal checks, company checks, association checks are fine:

Voters Want More Choices -- Save the 2/3's
PO Box 18250
Spokane, WA 99228
Campaign phone number: 425-493-8707

Street Address: N 7020 Wall St, Spokane, WA 99208

Tax ID # for Voters Want More Choices is 76-0713455

Checks made payable to "Voters Want More Choices -- Save the 2/3's"

I want to hear from you. We've been asking for contributions since we started. We are asking that you all participate and be as generous as possible.

Help us make this initiative a success (and help pay back Tim's leftover loan to I-1053 from a 2nd mortgage on his home).

Go to our website to help.