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