Tim Eyman is a conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 political activist

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

 in the U.S. state of Washington. He advocates for a smaller state government, through lowering state taxes and fees. He has written 19 initiative

Initiative

In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...

s and one referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

.


Eyman's work on Initiative 695 in 2000 ($30 Car Tabs) was recognized by the Conservative Political Action Conference

Conservative Political Action Conference

The Conservative Political Action Conference is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States....

 with its Ronald Reagan Award.

In February 2002 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...

reported that Eyman paid himself $165,000 from campaign donations, while claiming to be working for free.
Eyman initially denied receiving payments, but later admitted wrongdoing.
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission

Washington State Public Disclosure Commission

The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission is a non-partisan agency of the Washington State government. Its purpose is to collect reports from political candidates and ballot measure sponsors regarding campaign contributions and expenditures, and provide these reports to the public. The...

, the state equivalent of the Federal Elections Commission charged Eyman with diverting $233,000 from his initiative campaigns.

and Eyman eventually settled with the Washington State Attorney General's office, paying $50,000 and accepting a lifetime ban on involvement in any political committee's financial accounts.

Since the settlement, Eyman's co-sponsors and chairmen in his Permanent Offense political committee became more actively involved; Monte Benham of Kennewick became the head of Permanent Offense, though Eyman remained involved politically.
On January 30, Eyman filed an initiative and a referendum, both intended to repeal a measure which added sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

 to the list of categories against which discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

 in housing, lending, and employment is banned in the state of Washington.