By Annette Cary

Tri-City Herald

Clint Didier has filed to intervene in support of limiting car tabs to $30 in the King County Superior Court lawsuit attempting to block Initiative 976 from taking effect.

Didier, a Franklin County commissioner, filed in the lawsuit Friday with four other Mid-Columbia taxpayers after failing to get his fellow county commissioners to agree to have the county file as a third-party intervenor in the case.

The commission heard a legal opinion at its meeting last week that joining the lawsuit would be beyond the scope of the county prosecutor’s office.

If it did file, the court would be expected to exclude the county because it is not a necessary party to resolve the lawsuit, said county administrator Keith Johnson after a closed-door session to discuss possible litigation.

“The attempt by the city of Seattle and a narrow group of government officials and entities to negate this vote of the people is an abuse of power that cannot go unchallenged,” Didier said at the meeting.

The initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot was approved by 53 percent of the voters, with 72 percent of the voters in Franklin County supporting it. The vote in Benton County was 67 percent in support.

Didier said that 33 of the state’s 39 counties approved the initiative, with nine counties having votes of more than 70 percent in support.

Change of venue request

The initiative sets vehicle car tab registration fees at $30, eliminates Transportation Benefit District fees and cuts other transportation fees, with an estimated $2 billion impact to the state transportation budget through 2025. It was sponsored by Tim Eyman.

Locally, the roll back directly affects Richland and Prosser. Both use car tab fees to pay for local local transportation projects.

Richland is looking at a $1 million hole in its budget, Prosser a $100,000 one with the loss of the fees.

And less direct, Kennewick’s Ridgeline Drive at Highway 395 and Pasco’s Lewis Street Overpass downtown are unexpected casualties since the governor ordered the state Department of Transportation to delay unstarted transportation projects.

The lawsuit claiming the initiative violates the state Constitution was filed by the Washington State Transit Association, Garfield County Transportation Authority, King County, the Association of Washington Cities and the city of Seattle.

They also are asking that a judge make an immediate ruling to prevent the initiative from taking effect.

Didier is asking for a change of venue, saying that it is a conflict of interest for the case to be heard by a King County judge, elected by the people of King County, since King County is one of the parties filing the lawsuit.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is defending the initiative in the lawsuit.

He has already given notice that he will not challenge the case being heard in a King County court, according to court documents filed by Didier.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the initiative was “poorly drafted hodge-podge” that violated the state Constitution by covering more than one subject.

It improperly attempted to win support by hiding unpopular provisions among more popular ones, plaintiffs said.

The attorney general said in court documents filed Friday that the state Supreme Court has made clear that the single-subject rule does not require legislative bills or initiatives to be narrowly focused and has upheld initiatives with multiple far-reaching effects.

Eyman praises Didier

Ferguson also pointed out that state Supreme Court already rejected nearly all of the plaintiffs’ arguments after voters approved a similar initiative in 2002.

The more recent initiative avoided the problem of bonds with car tab revenues already committed to bondholders, which the Supreme Court found was a concern in the 2002 initiative.

Eyman praised Didier’s intervention in the lawsuit after he could not get Franklin County to join him.

“He didn’t take no for an answer,” Eyman said. “Clint rounded up some fellow taxpayers and is doing this on his own. Clint is the kind of elected official that taxpayers long for.”

Didier, a Republican, may be better known in most of Washington state a former player in the National Football League. He played for the Washington Redskins and Green Bay packers in the 1980s and now is a farmer near Eltopia.

Although Didier could not overcome legal concerns of his fellow commissioners about the county becoming a party to the lawsuit, some possible other actions were suggested at the meetings.

For example, the county could consider filing a “friend of the court” brief or it could work with the Washington State Association of Counties in support of the initiative.