The Earnings Tax Campaign

"Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency ask the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?
But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right."
    -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
The Earnings Tax Campaign
 
I was disappointed, but not surprised that the earnings tax passed in Kansas City by a healthy margin.
 
After the first focus group in January and first round of polling, it was clear that the earnings tax would pass- and pass easily.
 
That’s for many reasons. The most obvious is that seniors do not pay this tax and they vote heavily. There is simply no message that could make them vote against a tax that they do not pay and provides them services.
 
At the end of the campaign, polling showed that we were winning among voters who actually paid the tax. The problem is that too many voters simply did not pay the tax.
 
What’s clear to me though is that the campaign dollars we did spend were used wisely.  Polling showed that our mail was effective to the targeted universes. Our ad, “Don’t Work Here” made our point about job creation for us. It was a major gaffe by Dan Cofran, and rightly will go down in Kansas City election history as one of the worst mistakes by a spokesman. 
 
The Yes campaign was right to pull him off the campaign trail. I don’t want to overstate it, but that mistake could have made this election extremely close. He gave voice to what people believe- that the earnings tax drives jobs from Kansas City.
 
This election will come again in five years, or whenever we gather 3500 signatures, and we will be better prepared. We were able to identify grassroots activists in all wards of the City, we were able to identify small business owners who have moved or want to move and more importantly we have a good deal of data to employ.
 
We knew from the beginning we would not win the first campaign. But all bets are off for the second one.

Comments

[Gonna Get It Done]

Fantastic......rally and repeal the E-Rip Off