Property-rights initiative attracts the most dollars

Property-rights Initiative 933 is attracting more money, pro and con, than any other measure on the state ballot this November.

Altogether, supporters and opponents have donated more than $1.6 million in cash, goods and services to the campaigns for and against the initiative.

The opposition committee, Citizens for Community Protection, has collected slightly more than $1 million, and the pro-933 Property Fairness Coalition about two-thirds as much, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Fourteen Seattle-area environmentalists have contributed more than $480,000 to the opposition campaign, each giving at least $11,000. They include photographer Duncan Haas and entrepreneurs Paul Brainerd and Douglas Walker.

The anti-sprawl group Futurewise has given $142,000 in cash and about $23,000 in in-kind contributions, while The Nature Conservancy has contributed a total of more than $72,000.

Among I-933's supporters, the Washington State Farm Bureau, the initiative's sponsor, has given $50,500 in cash and about $150,000 in in-kind contributions and loaned the campaign another $75,000. The Farm Bureau's county affiliates have contributed another $134,000.

Most of the campaign's remaining money — $200,000 — has come from Americans for Limited Government, an Illinois-based, libertarian-oriented group that is backing property-rights and spending-cap measures in several states this fall.

Initiative 933: top contributors


Property Fairness Coalition (pro)

1. Washington State Farm Bureau

$50,500 and $149,721 in-kind

2. Americans for Limited Government

$200,000

3. Building Industry Association of Washington

$25,000

4. Snohomish County Farm Bureau

$20,000

5. Thurston County Farm Bureau

$20,000

6. King/Pierce County Farm Bureau

$20,000

7. Clark/Cowlitz County Farm Bureau

$20,000

8. Lewis County Farm Bureau

$20,000

9. Spokane County Farm Bureau

$10,000

10. Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights, Enumclaw

$8,342

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS from all sources

$492,083 cash + $150,844 in-kind

Citizens for Community Protection (con)

1. Futurewise

$142,000 + $22,812 in-kind

2. Duncan Haas, Seattle

$75,000

3. The Nature Conservancy

$68,500 + $4,221 in-kind

4. Paul Brainerd, Seattle

$50,000

5. James Roush, Medina

$50,000

6. Douglas Walker, Seattle

$50,000

7. Nancy Nordhoff, Langley

$50,000

8. Peter Goldman, Seattle

$50,000

9. Lucy Hadac, Seattle

$35,000

10. United Food & Commercial Workers, District Council 17

$25,000 + $610 in-kind

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS from all sources: $918,544 cash + $94,941 in-kind

Source: Public Disclosure Commission

Campaign-finance reports indicate the pro-933 campaign has already spent most of its money collecting signatures to get the initiative on the ballot and had less than $8,000 in the bank at the end of July.

— Eric Pryne