How a David vs. Goliath Policy Fight in California Scored an Unexpected Victory
A case of regulatory overreach prompted California-based public affairs consultant Matt Klink to engage advocacy platform CiviClick for an ambitious campaign. Their goal: defeat a proposed rule change by an agency that hadn’t lost a regulatory fight in close to a decade.
The campaign waged by CiviClick on behalf of Klink’s clients took an unexpected turn and left the staff of the Southern California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) reeling.
Q: Tell us about the campaign
Matt Klink: So the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) wanted to introduce two regulations — one for heaters, one for air conditioners — that would have forced any new construction to convert to all-electric and then have a timed phase out for any consumer, homeowner, renter or business replacing their air conditioners. Basically, they wouldn’t have been able to buy a natural gas replacement, or if they did, you had to pay taxes for the privilege of buying the natural gas replacement. This was one of those unique rules that had a definite direct-to-consumer implication for 17 million Californians were it to pass.
Q: Where were you targeting?
Klink: One of the few places in Southern California where they’re building new homes is out in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Now, homes are already expensive here. If the AQMD rule would have passed, you’re going to make an already expensive home that much more expensive. Another thing to consider is the drain on the electrical grid. Can the grid even handle the additional drain on power? You add all this stuff up and many people just thought, this isn’t well thought out.
Q: What was your goal?
Klink: So we knew that we needed to generate real emails from real voters very quickly on a highly technical air quality regulation — not your common piece of legislation. CiviClick was able to quickly identify real voters in the constituency of the AQMD board and send emails to these people immediately.
Q: Why did you choose CiviClick for this campaign?
Klink: I just found that CEO Chazz Clevinger had a fundamental grasp of what we needed to do and his team had a willingness to understand the nuances of the effort, which was going to be a little bit technical. That’s what set CiviClick apart. They had the ability to take the tech speak and put it in terms of common usage. On top of that, they knew the local targets who would respond to the messaging that was constructed. Finally, they said, ‘these are the results that we guarantee.’
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We did two separate rounds of outreach, and they met the targets in both rounds early. AQMD staff are not used to getting tens of thousands of emails so it made a massive difference in turning the tide.
Q: Was it that simple?
Klink: No. Halfway through, they amended the rules, which meant that we had to start all over again because the staff at the SCAQMD said, ‘Oh, people are commenting on the old rule, not the new rule.’ And we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ll do it again.’ So we did it again, and we were able to generate three times the number of letters (emails) that we generated originally.
Q: What did CiviClick know that other vendors didn’t?
Klink: This wasn’t a congressional district. This wasn’t a city council seat. The SCAQMD represents four Southern California counties: Los Angeles Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. It consists of elected and appointed board members. So the elected board are not elected to the Air Quality Management District. They’re elected to a County Board of Supervisors seat and then appointed to the AQMD seat.
CiviClick quickly picked up on that nuance and realized that this was a region-wide issue. They really helped us focus in on how this arcane rule would directly impact consumers. And don’t forget, the AQMD likes to throw around terms like ‘particulate matter’ and ‘pollutants’ — stuff that, frankly, most consumers eyes gloss over when they hear it. CiviClick was really good at helping us humanize this issue. What’s it going to mean for my family’s pocketbooks?
Q: Chazz, can you give us some numbers of how many voters were contacted for this campaign?
Chazz Clevinger: We generated more than 20,000 constituent messages to the SCAQMD on this campaign for Matt and his client. To hit these numbers, we conducted aggressive omni-channel outreach to an audience of over half-a-million people in the region from our database of advocates. It was grueling work at times, and required meticulous planning and execution. But Matt was clear and concise in his vision. Most importantly, Matt raised the money to run the campaign effectively and gave us enough time to get the job done. He’s a great partner to be in a foxhole with, because he understands the importance of time, money, messaging, targeting, and planning much better than most consultants.
Q: You mentioned fundraising, did that help make the difference in this campaign?
Clevinger: The number one reason advocacy/policy campaigns fail is due to a lack of proper funding and planning. Oftentimes, advocacy campaigns start in the fourth quarter, when they should have launched much earlier. Fortunately, on this project we got started early thanks to Matt. We faced well-funded opponents — who weren’t used to losing. But after a six month struggle, we won by one vote. Another big factor in this victory was our superior data, technology, and execution. Unlike most platforms that push standardized form letters, we drove personalized 1-to-1 messages and engaged in individual storytelling at a uniquely granular level, and that resonated with the SCAQMD.
Q: Matt, how did CiviClick made a difference in this campaign?
Klink: The stuff that they did for us, I still believe that that made the ultimate difference. This wasn’t a campaign against clean air. It’s just that this was not a well-constructed rule and not well thought out. The staff at the SCAQMD aren’t used to losing so I think this sends a message that if you can make consumers aware, or homeowners aware or renters aware of the costs of these regulations, then it’s not a rubber stamp by these agencies.
