From: tal@plts.uucp (Tom Limoncelli)
Newsgroups: soc.motss,soc.bi
Subject: Strategy Learned (was: What to do about Colorado)
Date: 7 Nov 1992 10:29:55 -0500
Organization: P.L.T.S., North Plainfield, NJ, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: plts.uucp

In article <1992Nov6.224918.2006@tcsi.com> miket@hermes.tcs.com (Michael Turner nmscore Assoc.) writes:

>Maybe the #2 people in Colorado had a different strategy: run a quiet
>campaign.  The #9 stuff was all over the news here in CA, in part because
>the #9 promoters were so inflammatory.

Strategically speaking, I think we all learned a lot in the last year.
"Run a quiet campaign" works for anti-discrimination laws like what
passed in New Jersey and Connecticut (and many other states this
year).

The other thing we learned is "run a loud campaign" works when going
against pro-discrimination (OR9 and CO2).

Hindsight is perfect, and we should have realized this earlier.  When
we're trying to keep something quiet, they're trying to make it loud.
...and vice-versa.  New Jersey (more specifically, Connie and John of
Voters for Civil Liberties) spent 8 years building coalitions with
other groups (mostly religious) while keeping it quiet.  If the
religious radicals had stated a loud, "Don't you see what the
hooooomooooseeeexxxxuuuualllsss are doing???" campaign, it would have
been all over for the bill.

The NJLGC (New Jersey Lesbian Gay Coalition) sent money to fight OR9
but kept hearing that CO2 was doing fine and didn't need any.  Maybe
that was part of No On 9's strategy, keep everyone in a "it's so close
panic" so they don't drop support.

This is a common strategy.  Clinton knew he was going to win but was
holding volunteer-only rallies to tell his workers that it's so close,
they have to work twice as hard.  He rented a 25,000 arena in New
Jersey for a pep-rally the Sunday before the election!  Certainly he
knew at that time that he was going to win (The "Last 72 Hours Of The
Clinton Campaign" special on Nightline said this happened.)

Another element is that the National Gay Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
hasn't been very helpful on local projects.  Someone from NGLTF hinted
to New Jersey (before NJ passed their bill) that their goal was the
national bill, and that every time a state passes a local bill they
find it harder to get $$$ and support from that state for the national
bill.  The Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) on the other hand realizes
that get-any-state-we-can is better than never-get-anything.  They also
realize that when lobbying for the national bill, it's very effective
to say, "Nothing outragious has happened in the 6 states that have
passed it, so you can relax that passing it on a national level won't
spawn a disaster."  The HRCF also realizes that each state passes a
slightly different bill, and the national bill can use the "proven
portions" to make a more effective bill, and a bill that can pass
easiest.

Conspiracy theory people might now claim that the NGLTF wanted either
CO2 or OR9 to pass so that they could leverage it to passing the
national anti-discrimination bill.  Most likely they were just so busy
transitioning to their new Director that it slipped through the
cracks.  Considering that they've had so little money lately that
they've had to cut down staff to a minimum, maybe it's just that they
COULDN'T help more than they did.

I see NGLTF re-shaping itself.  There is a new directory coming on
board, and that promises big changes.  We have a president that isn't
working against us, and that promises a big change.  I think we should
all back NGLTF, the ACLU, and other organizations that are going to
need our help in the next 4 years.

So, how do we send checks to NGLTF?

Tom
-- 
Tom Limoncelli -- tal@plts.uucp (home) -- tal@warren.mentorg.com (work)
"TUESDAY, NOVEMBER THIRD" is an anagram for "MANY VOTED, BUSH RETIRED!!!"
Newsgroups: soc.motss