Local News

Andrew Villeneuve of the Northwest Progressive Institute, urged the media today to censor itself and not write about a Tim Eyman email that referred to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee as a “lying whore.”

Eyman has made a living sponsoring initiatives, including a measure repeatedly approved by voters that requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, or voter approval, to increase taxes. Villeneuve has long opposed Eyman initiatives.

I debated whether to blog about Eyman’s email and Villeneuve’s plea tipped the balance.

Eyman, who frequently sends me emails and rarely sees them printed, sent a blast today regarding Inslee, saying in part:

Candidate Inslee repeatedly promised to veto any tax increase. He said no way to higher transportation taxes in 2013. Inslee said he’d grow jobs to generate more tax revenue. What a lying whore he turned out to be. In recent weeks, he’s made it clear he’ll sign any tax increase the Legislature unilaterally imposes.

For the record, Inslee during his campaign never ruled out increasing taxes for transportation and did say he supports sending a tax measure to the ballot to raise money for transportation. He also has opposed new taxes, although he’s been open to extending existing taxes.

And you know what they say about people who live in glass houses. Eyman admitted long ago that he lied about taking $45,000 in campaign contributions as salary.

Villeneuve wrote (but probably didn’t want us to?): “Our assessment of this message is that Eyman is being deliberately prevocative (sic) in order to get his name and viewpoint into blog posts and stories on the transportation package.”

He urged reporters “not to take the bait. This isn’t news. Let the only response to this despicable commentary be from his opposition. Eyman deserves to be called out for his inappropriate and disparaging remarks, but he does not deserve more headlines and on-air mentions by the traditional press.”