I-933 backers' fight fails to follow path of Oregon measure

When Washington property-rights activists filed Initiative 933 earlier this year, they had hoped to replicate the surprising success of a similar initiative in Oregon in 2004.

There, Measure 37 passed with 61 percent of the vote even though its backers were outspent by an opposition that included most of Oregon's political establishment: business, labor, environmentalists, the governor.

But I-933's supporters have had much more trouble raising money than their Oregon counterparts. And, with the election a few days away, they trail the opposition in fundraising by a far wider margin.

As of Monday, I-933's opponents had raised $3.7 million and spent $2.2 million of that on television advertising, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

The initiative's supporters had spent less than $220,000 on radio and TV. That's about a quarter as much as Oregon's Measure 37 campaign spent on broadcast ads in a less populous state.

Total contributions to the pro-I-933 campaign total $1.2 million. And $500,000 of that was spent months ago to collect signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

"On the shoestring budget we've got, it's tough," campaign spokesman John Stuhlmiller said. Still, he said he is confident the initiative's grass-roots support will help it prevail.

I-933 would require governments to compensate property owners for many existing regulations that restrict what they can do with their property. Supporters say it would restore fairness to the system. Opponents say it would create regulatory chaos, encourage sprawl and cost taxpayers billions.

Lately, backers have tried to turn their empty coffers into a campaign asset by portraying the initiative as an underdog. For example, Dan Wood, of the Washington State Farm Bureau, I-933's sponsor, points to the other side's contributions from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Paul Allen's Vulcan.

"We don't have millionaires and billionaires funding our campaign," he has said.

I-933's foes say their fundraising success reflects the breadth of opposition. They also say they must spend a lot to counteract an advantage they say the state Attorney General's Office conferred upon the measure: "We're running against the ballot title," campaign spokesman Aaron Toso said.

The title summary of the initiative drafted by state lawyers is inaccurate and misleading, the opponents contend. They tried unsuccessfully to get a judge to change it earlier this year.

I-933 supporters like the wording and are considering legal action against Skagit County because it inadvertently left the title off its ballots.

Western Washington University political scientist Todd Donovan said both sides probably have overestimated the significance of the ballot title. He also said the opponents' financial advantage may be even greater than the raw dollar figures suggest. In initiative campaigns, spending by opponents "yields a lot more bang for the buck than 'yes'-side spending does," Donovan said.

Opponents often can succeed when they raise what he calls "the three C's: cost, controversy and confusion."

That's what the I-933 foes have tried to do. For example, one of their TV spots cites studies that conclude the initiative would lead to lawsuits and cost taxpayers as much as $8 billion.

I-933's backers call those ads scare tactics. In one of its radio spots, state Farm Bureau President Steve Appel says opponents "have outspent us and, well, to use a technical farm term, have spread a lot of manure."

But the pro-I-933 campaign hasn't had the money to give those ads much play in the state's larger markets.

That wasn't the case with Oregon's Measure 37. Supporters were outspent more than 2-to-1 by opponents after the initiative qualified for the ballot. Yet they still had enough to spend more than $900,000 on radio and television.

Many of those ads featured Dorothy English, 91, a widow who became a powerful symbol for the measure as she claimed that Oregon's land-use laws had prevented her from subdividing her land.

But I-933's ads feature no such symbols. Stuhlmiller, the I-933 campaign spokesman, said likely candidates backed out, fearing media scrutiny and possible economic repercussions.

Another difference between the measures is that in Oregon the timber industry bankrolled the Measure 37 campaign while in Washington big timber companies are staying neutral on I-933. "We were hoping, frankly, that we would got more from timber and other friends," Stuhlmiller said.

So the Farm Bureau and its county affiliates have been responsible for nearly half the contributions to the I-933 campaign. Americans for Limited Government, an Illinois-based, Libertarian-oriented group, has given most of the rest: $360,000. It also is financing similar property-rights-initiative campaigns in Idaho, California and Arizona.

Environmental groups and wealthy environmental activists and sympathizers have provided much of the anti-I-933 campaign's money, but many labor unions, businesses and business leaders also have contributed.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com