Eyman letter demands different strategy to defend $30 car tab initiative, I-976

$30 car tab initiative sponsor Tim Eyman spent Thanksgiving weekend working on an 11-page letter to the Attorney General's Office. It calls into question their defense of Initiative 976 and argues it should first ask a King County judge to reconsider his preliminary injunction putting the initiative on hold.

"This is their brief, it's crap. They did a horrible job with it," Eyman said in an interview with KIRO 7. He showed the briefs he intends to file with the court on Monday. "This is the documentation showing all the ways that they didn't make various arguments, and they didn't even defend it."

Attorney General Bob Ferguson tweeted late Wednesday that his team is working through Thanksgiving weekend on a direct appeal to the State Supreme Court to lift the injunction and let $30 car tabs take effect.

But Eyman wants the Attorney General to first ask the King County Judge, Marshall Ferguson, to reconsider the case first.

"If you're going to do it, then do it right. They've done a horrible job of defending it in round one. Do a motion for reconsideration and give yourself a chance to clean up the mess that you ended up creating."

Deputy Solicitor General Alan Copsey presented the state's defense of I-967. The Attorney General's Office says he's one of the most respected attorneys in the state.

But Eyman is defending himself against a campaign finance lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's Office, and he wants it off the case.

"We're going directly to this judge and say your honor, you can't possibly allow the attorney general to continue to defend the taxpayers of the state of Washington when they have so many conflicts and when they've done such a bad job in this case so far."

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office told KIRO 7, "We are professionals, and we take the responsibility of defending the will of the voters very seriously."

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