OLYMPIA, Wash. — Tax rebel Tim Eyman usually manages to rile the political establishment with his establishment-whacking, high-anxiety initiatives. But this time around, sticking to an abstract topic like performance audits, he has lowered the decibel level.

With even some of his longtime critics joining his reformist campaign, his Initiative 900 is widely expected to pass. Indeed, he's predicting a landslide — and already working on a 2006 measure from his initiative factory.

The measure is drawing support from across the political spectrum, as well as from some editorial pages that scorned his long line of anti-tax initiatives.

"People wonder: 'What's the catch?"' Eyman said. "It must be nefarious and evil. I just tell them, don't let it creep you out too much that you like I-900. It's ala carte — you can support me this year and I can go back and be the devil next year."

Performance audits, long popular with conservative talk radio and think tanks like the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, has gained new bipartisan cache, with the Democratic controlled Legislature, Gov. Christine Gregoire and state Auditor Brian Sonntag shepherding through a less ambitious plan this year.

For the uninitiated, performance audits allow watchdogs to dig into the effectiveness and efficiency of government agencies and programs. The state auditor has long been confined to a bean-counter study of financial and legal compliance.

After a decade of advocacy by Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, Sonntag and others, the 2005 Legislature finally approved the concept and financing. But those audits will be limited to state agencies and programs, with a citizen advisory panel, not the auditor, picking the targets.

Lawmakers earmarked $2.8 million for the first two years, and required that the audits be farmed out to the private sector. In a separate vote, lawmakers also authorized performance audits of transportation programs.

Eyman pitched his plan as "Sonntag on steroids." The initiative would give the auditor authority to study all state and local programs, including lightning rods like Sound Transit and the Seattle Monorail Authority. There are over 2,000 units of local government.

The initiative allows audits of the judiciary and the Legislature, although a court challenge likely would strip away that power.

Eyman, who usually relishes criticizing Olympia, gives the Legislature credit for passing its own version, House Bill 1064. He dressed up in a gorilla costume to tout his "900-pound gorilla" initiative, but said lawmakers' weaker version also has merit.

"The only thing we're debating is whether 900 is unnecessary or makes the Legislature's version better," Eyman said.

Miloscia, who has never before supported an Eyman initiative, is on board I-900.

"I welcome it as Step 2," he said.

Sonntag isn't officially taking a position, but makes it clear he's happy to get all the authority and money he can.

"When it rains, it pours," he said of the sudden attention to a management tool he's been advocating for 12 years. "It's all converging."

Eyman's committee, Voters Want More Choices, raised over $600,000, much of it from a single donor, investment banker Michael Dunmire of Woodinville. The money went mostly to get the initiative on the ballot. No ad campaign is planned.

Opponents, including some local officials and a large union representing local government workers, are urging a no vote, but haven't raised money for a media campaign.

"We understand and agree that performance audits are a good thing, but this goes beyond what is needed or prudent right at this moment," said Pam Carter, president of the Association of Washington Cities and a Tukwila city councilwoman.

"The initiative doesn't provide enough money and creates more state bureaucracy. If the auditor quadrupled staff to do all these audits, it could cost $90 million a biennium."

Sonntag said his office would prioritize within available dollars.

Local governments have been tightening their belts for the past decade, especially since Eyman initiatives severely limited growth in property taxes, Carter said.

Gregoire opposes the measure because of its price tag and because she prefers the law she recently signed, said spokeswoman Carol Andrews.

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On the Net:

Text and arguments: http://www.secstate.wa.gov

Eyman: http://www.permanent-offense.org

Permanent Defense: http://www.permanentdefense.org