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Passing California's Proposition 5

Campaigns & Elections, Feb, 1999 by Richard Maullin

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Strategic Underpinnings

The strategic importance of unanimity among the Indian tribes - those with and without gaming - was crucial. As a result, the gaming tribes' leadership undertook an intensive effort to enlist active support for the proposition from as many California Indian tribes as possible. Ultimately, 88 tribes joined the Initiative cause, allowing the campaign to say "96 percent of all Indians living on California's reservations ask you to vote Yes on Proposition 5." Other key elements of the communications strategy included:

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* Inoculating the public early against opponent messages. The decision was made not to attack the federal government, the California legislature or Wilson, despite his failure to negotiate satisfactory compacts with gaming tribes. Instead, proposition supporters would focus on Nevada gambling interests as the opposition - a decision Ken Ramirez, Prop 5's campaign chairman and vice chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, described as "smart strategy and rooted in the facts." By characterizing the opposition as "big Nevada casinos" ready to spend millions to kill off competition from Indian gaming, the campaign was able to poison the opponents' "message well" at the outset.

* Positioning the gaming issue as one of "Indian self-reliance." The Prop 5 campaign characterized Indian gaming as the means tribes were using to lift themselves out of poverty and isolation and toward becoming economically independent members of society. Anchored in the bedrock of the American ethic of self-determination, pro-5 ad messages highlighted Indian efforts to achieve self-reliance, as contrasted with the Nevada casinos' desire to eliminate competition.

* Using Indian spokespersons to deliver messages with emotional content. Prop 5's ads relied on simple, emotional messages delivered directly by tribal members. Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, was chosen as the primary campaign spokesperson. He became a recognizable symbol of the tribes' dignity and strength, voicing trust in the voters' ability to recognize the validity of the Indians' position. As Ioanna Patringenaru would remark in The Los Angeles Times opinion section, "The steady stream of Yes ads, starring eloquent Native Americans and beautiful western landscapes, captured the imagination of political writers up and down the state."

* Implementing an "immediate response" strategy. Most ballot measure campaigns strive to stay on message, never giving the opponents' arguments a second airing through direct rebuttal. But research showed the opposition's messages were potentially very strong, so as Paul Mandabach, president of Winner/Wagner & Mandabach, put it, "We had to break with conventional wisdom, and commit to rebuttal ads. We opted for the strategy of never letting our opponents gain even a toehold of credibility." Consequently, the pro-5 campaign countered, swiftly and directly, any claim, argument or assertion the opposition made.

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Passing California's Proposition 5

Campaigns & Elections, Feb, 1999 by Richard Maullin

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