Building a textbook bi-partisan coalition

Proposition 88 sought to add a new statewide $50 property parcel tax and collect the new tax from each of the more than 10 million homeowners and other property owners in California.

Meridian’s goal was to build a bi-partisan coalition opposed to the property tax. We started by securing the base and locking down taxpayer groups and business groups.

Our second objective was to reach out to the education stakeholders. Despite the fact the funds raised from the Proposition would go toward education, we successfully secured the endorsements of the California Parent Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, the California School Boards Association, and many parents and education leaders. We then went after endorsement from elected officials, the Republican and Democrat parties, and labor.

By Election Day, we had built a broad bi-partisan coalition — bring together groups that rarely, if ever, are on the same side of an issue.

Proposition 88 was defeated in a landslide — 23 percent to 77 percent.