Background

Our client was confused. Their high priced lobbyist was predicting results that that didn’t match reality. On paper, they had a development proposal providing excellent retail shopping and dining for the Accokeek community in Prince George’s County Maryland that needed a boost. This development should have been popular among local residents. But at each public hearing before the County Council, a vocal minority would show up slander the proposal.

The local government approval for this development was in jeopardy because of all the negative feedback. Some Council members favored the proposal but were reluctant to step forward without evidence of broad support. Our client turned to us for answers. We knew the vocal minority was propped up by corporate interests who were threatened by our new development and what this new competition meant for their business. We had to produce enough supporters to give cover for the elected officials who were on board with our plan.

Our goal was simple. We had to drown out the vocal minority and show the County Council that this proposal had the support of local residents. We needed to push people to the point of public endorsement. We needed to turn a resident into a supporter, a supporter into an activist, and an activist into an ally who would speak up at the public hearings on behalf of our client.

Since we didn’t have time for an in-depth survey to identify support county-wide, we decided target residents within a narrow radius of the proposed development.

We began a “sandwich” operation of persuasion mail with a tear-off return card, mail chase calls and canvassing to generate post card endorsements for presentation to the Council. Our mail chase calls included testimonials from residents and encouraged recipients to return the pre-paid postage supporter card. We also put a field operative on the ground to answer residents’ questions and help collect the supporter cards.

In measuring success, we had hoped to get 50 supporter cards returned. We knew that this number would give sufficient cover for our allied Council members and prompt the body to act. Within two weeks, however, over 180 individuals had returned supporter cards, endorsing the Accokeek Crossing Development to local leaders. The groundswell of support was enough to break the regulatory logjam and the project is now proceeding on schedule.