Ballot Measure
Statewide Experience.Anzalone Liszt Grove has developed a national reputation as one of the most successful and strategic firms when it comes to tough ballot measure contests.
Below is a list outlining a few of our ballot measure successes:
Raising the Tobacco Tax in California. This year, despite being outspent by more than 2:1 by Big Tobacco, we successfully helped Save Lives California increase the cigarette tax in the state by two dollars a pack, with equivalent increases on other tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.
Passing Taxes in Oregon and Determining the Interplay of a Corporate and Income Tax Measure at the Ballot. With the successful passage of Measures 66 and 67 in January 2010, we accomplished what has rarely been done anywhere else in the country since
Defeating Issue Two in Ohio. Referred to as “the most meaningful contest of 2011,” this campaign to protect the collective bargaining rights of public employees involved numerous quantitative telephone surveys and qualitative Internet ad tests in Ohio on behalf of the We Are Ohio campaign. Our message research was instrumental in helping to frame daily media communications and outreach efforts to targeted subgroups key to electoral success.
Defeating Anti-Union Initiatives in Oregon. Since 1996, Oregon labor organizations and our firm have been locked in an almost unceasing battle with conservative activist and perennial initiative system-abuser Bill Sizemore. Indeed, between 1996 and 2008, Sizemore placed dozens of anti-union and anti-government measures on the ballot (including four attempts at Paycheck Deception, two attempts at Federal Deductibility tax laws and one TABOR initiative). And while Sizemore has been prolific in his ability to qualify bad-guy measures like these to the ballot, we’ve been just as tenacious in our defense of the values and policies we care about, boasting a 33-0 record on Oregon statewide ballot measures
Passing Medical Marijuana in Florida. We served as pollsters and message watchdogs on Florida’s medical marijuana campaign in 2016 – passing this amendment with 71% of the vote at the same time Donald Trump and Marco Rubio carried the state for Republicans. Because Florida law requires 60% support for amendments, we knew research had to look for winning messages among some conservative voters and cranky Independents, who often vote against progressive policies at the ballot box. We used a message of compassion, leaned
Beating back paycheck-deception in California. Our firm helped develop the winning message frame for California’s Proposition 32 – the odious payroll deduction measure that was defeated handily. CalPeek, the state’s largest political notebook called Lisa Grove one of the “winners” coming out of the California election.
Defeating Idaho Propositions 1, 2 and 3. In 2012, we were hired by the Idaho Education Association to help overturn three draconian education reform laws, Propositions 1, 2 and 3. We successfully defeated all three propositions with well over a majority of voters soundly rejecting all three ballot measures. The “Luna Laws,” named after state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, would have replaced teachers with laptops, rewarded teachers for “teaching to the test,” and silenced the voices of educators in matters related to what happens in Idaho’s schools and classrooms.
Defeating the Insurance Industry in California. In early 2010, we were hired by California Consumer Watchdog to conduct the research and develop the message strategy necessary to defeat California insurance behemoth Mercury Insurance’s Proposition 17. If successful, Mercury’s proposition would have reversed nearly two decades of consumer protections, deregulating the car insurance industry in California and allowing insurance companies to unfairly penalize responsible motorists.