OLYMPIA — Like a dog that's been kicked too often, Tim Eyman can't help but flinch every time another newspaper editorial writer offers a friendly pat.

Eyman has long been pilloried in the press and scorned by Washington's political establishment for his steady barrage of tax-cutting ballot initiatives.

But Eyman's latest initiative — calling for performance audits of state and local government — has drawn scant opposition and is instead winning praise from newspapers and media commentators across the state. Eyman says the editorial endorsements for Initiative 900 are the first he has ever received.

While Eyman says he welcomes the support, he finds it a little unnerving. "Creepy" is the word he uses.

After all, running initiatives has become Eyman's livelihood. And in his constant quest for donations, he relies heavily on an us-against-the-establishment message.

In a recent e-mail, Eyman told his supporters not to worry about the gush of mainstream support. "It won't last long," he assured them. "We will soon return to our infamous anti-tax, government-hating reputation." He promised the media will "go bonkers" next year over his plans for yet another initiative to cap car-tab fees.

Eyman is apparently feeling so neglected by his old foes he has been supplying reporters with phone numbers and e-mail addresses for some of I-900's few outspoken critics.

"If the initiative loses," he says with a laugh, "we'll blame all of this mainstream support."

In the past, Eyman was often the center of attention come election time. But I-900 is getting little notice.

That's partly because this election season has been dominated by talk of repealing the Legislature's recent gas-tax increase and by the multimillion-dollar slugfest between doctors and trial lawyers over two medical-malpractice initiatives.

The bigger reason, however, is probably that I-900 is about performance audits — not exactly an issue that riles the masses.

"900-pound gorilla"

But the lack of controversy surrounding I-900 might belie its significance.

If it passes — and that seems almost certain — Washington will have one of the nation's most far-reaching performance-audit laws. And the state Auditor's Office, long an obscure outpost, will become vastly more prominent and powerful.

For nearly four decades, state law explicitly barred the state auditor from evaluating performance. In other words, auditors weren't allowed to scrutinize an agency's efficiency or check whether a program was getting results. Instead, state auditors could look only at financial and legal compliance.

"If our folks see something that relates to performance ... they can't go there," said state Auditor Brian Sonntag, a Democrat who was first elected in 1992.

Eyman is actually a latecomer to the performance-audit crusade. Sonntag and others, most notably state Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, for years have been pushing to unshackle state auditors.

"This is not a new fad," Sonntag said.

But it apparently took the threat of another Eyman initiative to get the Legislature to act. As Eyman gathered signatures for an initiative that he dubbed the "900-pound gorilla," the Democrat-controlled Legislature approved its own performance-audit measure.

Eyman pressed ahead, however, and eventually gathered more than 300,000 voter signatures, easily enough to qualify I-900 for the ballot.

His "Voters Want More Choices" political-action committee spent nearly $500,000 on paid signature gatherers. Most of the money came from a single donor: Michael Dunmire, an investment banker from Woodinville who is nearing retirement and has said he sees the initiative as a chance to give something back to the state.

Some Democrats argue that I-900 isn't needed now that the Legislature has approved performance audits. But Miloscia and Sonntag — who initially said Eyman's initiative went too far — now support it.

The differences between the Legislature's version of performance audits and Eyman's are significant.

• The Legislature granted the auditor authority to audit only state agencies. I-900 gives Sonntag the power to do performance checks on more than 2,500 state and local government agencies, including cities, counties and school districts.

• The Legislature called for a citizen oversight board to decide which agencies and programs should be audited. I-900 leaves that to the state auditor.

• The Legislature earmarked $2.8 million in the current two-year budget for performance audits. I-900 dedicates more than $12 million a year in sales-tax collections — a nearly 50 percent increase in the Auditor's Office budget.

Eyman calls his approach "Sonntag on steroids."

Too much authority?

That's precisely what worries I-900 opponents, mainly local-government leaders.

They fear it will cost cash-strapped cities and counties millions of dollars responding to information and data requests for the audits. Even worse, they say, performance audits are subjective, and I-900 will give Sonntag's office the power to essentially dictate what every agency or program should be doing.

Some critics fear that Sonntag — or some other elected auditor down the road — will use performance audits to grab headlines or to punish political enemies.

"I'm really concerned about putting that much authority in one agency of the government," said Yakima City Councilwoman Mary Place, who previously served two terms as mayor.

Sonntag said such fears are unfounded.

Although I-900 gives it authority to look at any government program, Sonntag's office estimates it will be able to do only about a dozen performance audits each year.

"It doesn't mean we'll be marching into every mosquito-control district," he said.

But Sonntag and Eyman have sharply different views on how performance audits should be conducted.

Sonntag says his role is to be constructive and to turn his office into a "best-practices clearinghouse" for government agencies. "This is not a 'gotcha' business," he said.

Eyman, on the other hand, says performance audits would be most effective if they were used to embarrass government officials who are not doing a good job. He hates the fact that Sonntag's office currently gives state agencies a chance to respond to financial audits before results are made public.

"It's the embarrassment that causes the reform," Eyman said.

Some longtime supporters of performance audits predict I-900 will save taxpayers heaps of money.

"We've had so much growth without controls over the years, I think there's definitely billions of dollars in savings out there," said Bob Williams, president of the conservative Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

Sonntag and Eyman, however, are trying to keep such expectations in check. While both say performance audits will go a long way toward restoring public trust in government, you won't hear either of them promising billions of dollars in savings.

"Everyone asks the question, 'How much money are we talking about?' " Eyman said. "The reality is, nobody can tell you that because we've never looked."

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com