Winning in the Face of Organized Opposition

Transcription

1 Winning in the Face of Organized Opposition Building the Community Support You Need To Pass Your Referendum A research project supported by the IAPD/IPRA Joint Public Awareness Committee

2 2004 Illinois Association of Park Districts and Illinois Park and Recreation Association. Printed in the United States of America. The IAPD/IPRA Joint Public Awareness Committee commissioned this report. No part of this report may be reproduced, wholly or in part, without the written permission of IAPD and IPRA. Violators will be subject to prosecution under federal copyright laws. Reviewers: Ted Flickinger, Illinois Association of Park Districts; Tom Ford, Illinois Parks and Recreation Association; Rick Hanetho, Carol Stream Park District; Jane Hodgkinson, Western DuPage Special Recreation Association; Tom Mammoser, Dundee Park District; Mark McKinnon, Homewood-Flossmoor Park District; Peter Murphy, Illinois Association of Park Districts; Bill Wald, Illinois Parks and Recreation Association. Published by The Illinois Association of Park Districts 211 East Monroe Street, Springfield, Illinois / and by The Illinois Park and Recreation Association 106 North Schmale Road, Carol Stream, Illinois / Interior design: Myk Snider, Sphere Public Relations Group Copy editor: Rodd Whelpley Cover photo: Cover design:

3 Introduction As if it weren t hard enough to pass a referendum to build or expand a recreation facility, many park and recreation agencies now face active opposition from so-called anti-tax groups and for-profit health and fitness centers. This document addresses the need to overcome opposition from organized groups. The ultimate issue for you, however, is winning the referendum. That s the war, and any battle with an organized group is only a battle, even if it is a really crucial one. So, for what it s worth, just remember that the final measure of success will be the number of voters who actually go to the polls and punch or pull yes for you. This manual simply addresses the need to prevail in the face of organized opposition. Nevertheless, these principles are also quite effective in running any referendum. A crucial concept to grasp at the outset is that being right is irrelevant: no single brilliant message or argument will ever constitute a campaign, nor will any message on its own activate a single voter. A campaign is a coordinated series of actions that together change the relationship of the voter to the issue and to you. This manual suggests that counter-arguments and rebuttals to specific opposition charges are not the way to prevail in this conflict. It s likely that an organized group s strongest attack will come in the final days of the campaign, leaving no opportunity for give and take. Furthermore, engaging a group on that level might well be counter-productive in that such a debate would necessitate arguing on their terms. Finally, some groups will have deep pockets and a pretty simple message: oppose higher taxes. There is no killer message that can neutralize these factors. There is no silver bullet action that can inoculate against their efforts. Park, recreation and conservation agencies rarely have a message as simple as no new taxes, but park districts do have a crucial advantage: they ARE the community. They touch the lives of the voters in real and immediate ways. The key to winning such a campaign is not any particular argument or technique: it is the establishment of a trust relationship with the community. This is based on as much personal contact and as many personal connections as possible. In technical terms, this process is known as branding. This guide will address techniques that will help you to achieve this brand equity. Page 1

4 The guide is organized as outlined below in steps which are, for the most part, chronological, but it still might be helpful to glance through the whole thing before starting a major campaign. 1 Develop Your Strategy A Research B Audiences C Messages D Branding 2 Build Capacity A Yourself B Collateral Materials C People and Roles 3 Implement Your Campaign A Campaigning B Paid Media C Earned Media D Election Interference Act 4 Manage the Work A Budgets and Timelines B Internal Communication C Final Tips 5 Addenda A First-time Expansions B Recreation Departments C Seniors Page 2

5 1 Develop Strategy A Research The old carpenter s rule is measure twice, cut once. Otherwise, the joke continues, no matter how many times you cut the board, it s still not long enough. So begin by measuring your community and its support for you and your proposed new facility. Think about these questions. What do people know about you? What do people think about you? Who do people listen to? Who do people talk to? What do people expect from you? What do people want from you? What kind of proposal will people be willing to accept? How do you find the answers to these questions? The classic methods of market research include focus groups, surveys and interviews with key leaders. Simply taking the gauge of people you talk to won t give you good information. Very few people will ever admit to you that they oppose your referendum (except for the cranky ones). People that you talk to are not representative: either they are familiar with you and your programs, or at the least they are reluctant to say anything unpleasant or awkward. (Ever tell an engaged couple that their marriage would be a bad idea?) Focus Groups. Focus groups are invaluable for uncovering qualitative perceptions and attitudes. By gathering 8 12 people from a target demographic, any one of whom might not be particularly articulate about the issues, an experienced facilitator is able to coax ever more focused viewpoints out of the whole group. Professional facilitators can be invaluable, particularly in the difficult task of recruiting participants, but do-it-yourself discussions are certainly possible. Costs involved in focus groups can include professional recruitment (the better the job of finding representative participants, the more accurate the results will be), honoraria for participants (typically $50 75 for an hour and half session), refreshments, rental of a facility (with one way mirror and taping capability), and professional facilitation and conclusions. If you choose the do-it-yourself option, be very careful to find people who are not the usual suspects or active participants in your activities, and make sure to have some third party conduct the session. Otherwise you run the risk of hearing only what people think you want to hear. Professional focus groups can cost from $3,500 $5,000 per group. Page 3

6 Surveys. Surveys are best for quantifying overall attitudes and for correlating differences in attitude to demographic groups. Professional facilitation of a survey is pretty much mandatory, for two reasons: first, the outside expert provides a level of credibility to the results; second, a professional market research firm has the resources to obtain appropriate call lists, to make the calls and to tabulate the results. Professional surveys can cost from $5,000 $10,000 depending on complexity and sample size. Note: if the results are highly favorable, make sure to publicize that fact. Interviews with key leaders. To the extent that you are able to reach out to leaders all across your community, this technique can not only yield invaluable qualitative information, it can also be a first step to building bridges to important constituencies. There are pros and cons to using a community relations professional for this task. On the one hand, a professional costs money and does not build the same personal relationship that you yourself could establish. On the other hand, there are two reasons to consider using a professional: if you lack the time for a series of meetings, or if there is a possibility that some leaders have personal issues with you. In these cases a professional might be able to uncover information that you might not. These are the kinds of information that may be very helpful to know and to make explicit as you do your research: Who supports and who opposes your referendum? Who are acknowledged leaders in the community? Why do current users use your facilities? Why don t non-users use your facilities? What do people think of the local health and fitness providers? What level of expansion do various groups think is appropriate for you? What demographics correlate with supporters and opponents and with which messages and modes of communication? Conversely, which messages resonate best with which demographics? What question didn t we ask? information knowledge The goal of such research is not simply to compile information, but to extract from the data useful knowledge that results in power. Once you find out about people s current perceptions, contrast that with the perceptions you d like them to have. This will guide you Page 4