Brian Heywood Funds WA Conservative Ballot Push
Brian Heywood, a Washington state technology entrepreneur and prominent Republican donor, has emerged as the primary financial backer behind a sweeping series of conservative ballot measures aimed at reshaping state policy. Heywood, who founded the software company Taiho and has a history of contributing to GOP campaigns, is directing significant resources through his political action committee, Let Washington Vote. This group is championing a suite of over a dozen initiatives designed to circumvent the Democratic-controlled legislature and place conservative policy choices directly before voters. The measures cover a wide range of contentious issues, including public safety, education, and taxation. Key proposals include initiatives to toughen penalties for drug possession and repeat theft offenses, which roll back aspects of recent criminal justice reforms. Another major push seeks to allow parents to opt their children out of certain sex education lessons and to give parents more power to challenge school library books they deem inappropriate. Additionally, the group is pushing for a measure to ban income taxes at the local level, a move intended to preempt future tax hikes in liberal-leaning cities like Seattle. Other proposed initiatives aim to limit the governor's emergency powers and roll back the state's new long-term care payroll tax. Heywood's involvement represents a significant escalation in Washington's political landscape, utilizing the state's initiative process to advance a conservative agenda that has stalled in the legislature. His financial backing has provided the necessary muscle to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures required to get these measures on the ballot. This effort is drawing fierce opposition from Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups, who argue that the measures are funded by wealthy outsiders and could undermine public education, worker protections, and environmental regulations. The battle lines are being drawn for a costly and highly contentious election cycle, with Heywood's money at the center of the storm, testing the power of direct democracy in the state.
