Getting Started on a Ballot
Measure Campaign
Friday, January 15, 2010
Six Stops to Success
Putting your Transportation Message in Service
Upcoming Webinars
February 19, 2010:
Building a Winning Coalition
March 19, 2010:
Making Your Message Matter
April 23, 2010:
Social Media: Friending, Tweeting & Blogging
Your Way to Success
May 14, 2010:
Silencing the Naysayers
All webinars will begin at 1:00 PM ET. Registration
is available online at www.cfte.org or www.napta.net
California Transit Initiatives Training Workshop
Sacramento, CA
March 9, 2010
Sheraton Grand Hotel
This workshop is an abridged version of the biannual Transit Initiatives and
Communities Conference tailored to meet the needs of communities in
California. For more information visit www.cfte.org.
Sessions to Include:
•Winning Campaigns & Effective Coalitions
•Marketing & Media Strategies that Work
•Building the Transit Vote Coalition
•California Statewide Measure
APTA's
2010 Local Coalition
Grant Program
• Ten $5000 Grants to be awarded
•Projects designed to support local transit
agencies advocate for more local and state
funding encouraged
•Contact Kylah Hynes ([email protected]) for
more information
Getting Started on a Ballot
Measure Campaign
Today’s Program
• Campaign Principles
• Keys to Success
• Election Issues
• Lessons Learned
• Seattle Story
• Audience Questions
Speakers
• Art Guzzetti, Vice President of Policy,
American Public Transportation Association
• Alan Wulkan, Co-Founder/Managing Partner
of InfraConsult, LLC, Scottsdale, AZ
• Joni Earl, CEO of Sound Transit, Seattle, WA
Getting Started on a Ballot
Measure Campaign
Alan C. Wulkan
Managing Partner
Phoenix Voters Put Transit on Track
National Election Results
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Fail
Source: Center for Transportation Excellence
Pass
Principles
● Focus on winning
● Follow keys to success
● Survey early and often
● Early fund raising
● Keep it simple
● Transit elections are unique
● Answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”
Keys to Success
●
●
●
●
Champion(s)
Professional political consultant
Grassroots support
Campaign funding
Keys to Success
● Champion(s)
 Recognized household name
 No political interest
 Time commitment
 Examples
○ Former Mayor – Austin, Texas
○ Chamber Leaders – Tempe, Arizona
○ Former City Council – Tempe, Arizona
○ City Councilman – Charlotte, NC
Keys to Success
● Professional political consultant
 Local vs. national
 Get the best available
 Listen to the consultant
 Issue campaign experience
 Realistic budget
 Campaign strategy critical
Keys to Success
● Grassroots support
 Business community
 Neighborhood groups
 Community organizations
○ League of women voters
○ Service organizations
 Speakers bureau
 Diverse support
Keys to Success
● Campaign funding
 Committee chair key
 Broad-based finance committee
○ Set realistic budget
○ Money comes late
○ Big and small contributions
○ Know the law
Election Issues
● What’s in it for me?
● The 1% myth
● All rail systems over budget and little
ridership
● Transit should pay for itself
● Cheaper options
Election Issues
●
●
●
●
●
Other priorities
Government mistrust
Empty buses
Transit does little for air quality
National anti-rail experts
Elections Summary
Lessons Learned
● Usually multiple attempts before a funding
referendum is passed
● Outcome often more influenced by other
issues (the economy, government interest,
etc.) than support for public transit
● Can succeed as stand-alone or in combination
with highway proposition
● The most successful campaigns had grassroots
support and professional management
Elections Summary
Lessons Learned
● Many well-financed, well-endorsed tax
initiatives fail due to grassroots opposition
● Successful transit election is more likely if:
 You have a good map
 Specific projects are linked with the funding
request
 Proposition is focused at the short-term and
immediate time frames
● Most transit elections usually are close
because a relatively small number of direct
constituencies benefit from the tax
Sound Transit
Six Stops to Success—A Six-Part
Webinar Series
Part II: Getting started on a
ballot measure campaign
Joni Earl
Sound Transit CEO
January 15, 2010
Huge roads-transit plan gets trounced (Nov. 2007)
Sound Transit turns to citizens in push for expansion
plans (April 2008)
Sound Transit sending voters $17.9 billion rail-and-bus
plan (July 2008)
How transit supporters closed the deal with voters (Nov.
2008)
Key ingredients to success
Leadership
Content
Know your audience
Make the case
Close the deal
Leadership
Sound Transit Board 2008
Content
Know your audience
Make the case
=
Close the deal
Oran Viriyinci photo
Questions & Discussion
Six Stops to Success
Putting your Transportation Message in Service
Upcoming Webinars
February 19, 2010:
Building a Winning Coalition
March 19, 2010:
Making Your Message Matter
April 23, 2010:
Social Media: Friending, Tweeting & Blogging
Your Way to Success
May 14, 2010:
Silencing the Naysayers
All webinars will begin at 1:00 PM ET. Registration
is available online at www.cfte.org or www.napta.net
California Transit Initiatives Training Workshop
Sacramento, CA
March 9, 2010
Sheraton Grand Hotel
This workshop is an abridged version of the biannual Transit Initiatives and
Communities Conference tailored to meet the needs of communities in
California. For more information visit www.cfte.org.
Sessions to Include:
•Winning Campaigns & Effective Coalitions
•Marketing & Media Strategies that Work
•Building the Transit Vote Coalition
•California Statewide Measure
APTA's
2010 Local Coalition
Grant Program
• Ten $5000 Grants to be awarded
•Projects designed to support local transit
agencies advocate for more local and state
funding encouraged
•Contact Kylah Hynes ([email protected]) for
more information
For More Information on CFTE:
www.cfte.org
[email protected]
(202) 234-7562
For More Information on NAPTA:
www.napta.net
[email protected]
(202) 496-4807