Eyman's absence doesn't slow endeavors of anti-tax activists
Jump to full article: Seattle (WA) Times, 2002-06-20
Author: Ralph Thomas / Seattle Times Olympia bureau
Intro: Opponents of an initiative to strengthen the state's spending limit are trying to scare off potential supporters by tying them to one of the measure's biggest backers: tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Butt Out of Washington, a coalition of labor unions, education groups and health-care organizations, ran full-page newspaper ads this week painting Initiative 791 as a sinister attempt by Big Tobacco to attract young smokers.
"They've found a new way to target our children," the ads proclaimed.
Andy Grow, a paid spokesman for the opposition campaign, said the ads were aimed mainly at businesses and groups that might consider donating money to the I-791 campaign, which is struggling to get enough voter signatures to qualify for the fall ballot.
"We're trying to help people understand that if they get in bed with Philip Morris, they are going to be painted with that same brush," Grow said.
I-791 supporters called the ads a deceptive attack funded mostly by groups with a vested interest in keeping state spending unfettered. . .
Filed in March, I-791 would restore the two-thirds vote of the Legislature for state tax increases and reserve spending. . .
Filled with slogans such as "One more pack of big tobacco lies," the ads say Philip Morris is bankrolling I-791 — and urging businesses to help out — in an effort to hold down taxes and boost corporate profits.
Philip Morris spokesman Dave Tovar said the company, which has a variety of subsidiaries in Washington, is worried how tax increases would affect all its business interests, not just tobacco. But he denied trying to recruit other businesses to support the initiative.
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