Andrew Villeneuve
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Andrew Villeneuve is a prominent political activist in Washington State.
He is the leader of a progressive citizens' group, the Northwest Progressive Institute, which he founded in August of 2003. He also founded Permanent Defense in 2002 to oppose Libertarian Tim Eyman, who had sponsored a series of tax-cutting initiatives, and to fight for real tax reform.
Villeneuve is also an active member of the Democratic Party in Washington State.
He has led or worked in opposition efforts to several initiative campaigns in Washington State, including campaigns against Initiative 776 (2002), Initiative 892 (2004), Initiative 900 (2005) and Initiative 912 (also 2005).
He has also advocated for respect of Washington State's public disclosure laws. In August 2004, Villeneuve jointly filed a complaint with Washington's Public Disclosure Commission, alleging that initiative sponsor Tim Eyman had fraudulently misused campaign funds, violated the public disclosure law, and had engaged in conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Andrew Villeneuve is arguably Washington's most prominent opponent to Tim Eyman's initiatives. Quoted in Associated Press stories dozens of times in relation to those initiatives, he focused on the financial propriety of Eyman's campaign in an attempt to cut off support from conservative donors.
Villeneuve has appeared in or on almost every major media outlet in Washington State. He has made radio appearances on three major Seattle stations, including KVI 570, KOMO AM, and KIRO AM. He has also appeared on KGMI AM (Bellingham) and Spokane Public Radio, among others.
He has made notable television appearances on KIRO TV (Channel 7, Seattle) KCPQ (Channel 13, Seattle) and TVW (Television Washington). He has been interviewed or quoted in dozens of Associated Press and local newspaper articles.
Villeneuve's comments were summarized as the most prominent in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article on community opinion in a forum titled "Sound Off" opposing the initiative[1]:
- Tim Eyman's initiatives endanger the financial health of the state of Washington. Eyman has been a thorn in the side of public officials and of progress for too many years. His latest measure, along with Initiative 864, would cause terrible damage to the state budget. Eyman has gone too far. His insane plans should be condemned and thrown out with his one-sided rhetoric. How are we supposed to recover from a 25 percent tax cut? ... No matter what plan Tim Eyman has, it's bad. He and his policies must go. Protect your quality of life and your local community by declining to sign Initiative 864 and Eyman initiatives.
Villenueve is a student who lives in Redmond, and has also been active in working on the city's Master Transportation Plan. He is also an advocate of "placemaking" - an idea advocated by the Project for Public Spaces.
