Watertown\’s Steve Aylward, right, and his co-chairs on the Gas Tax ballot question, Geoff Diehl and Holly Robichaud, received a national award from the American Association of Political Consultants.
Watertown’s Steve Aylward and his two campaign received national recognition for their work on passing Question 1 which removed the link of Massachusetts’ gas tax to inflation and faced a well-funded “No” campaign.
On March 19, Aylward, a Republican State Committee member; Republican strategist Holly Robichaud; and GOP State Rep. Geoff Diehl of Whitman, co-chairs were honored by the American Association of Political Consultants with with the Ballot Measure Campaign of the Year for their work on Question 1. The ceremony was held in New Orleans
“Easily the biggest challenge was money,” Aylward said. “We were outspent 31-to-1.”
While the No campaign had the support of big construction firms and other groups, the Yes campaign relied on small donations from individuals. The average donation, Aylward said, was $50.
The first step to getting a ballot question on the ballot is to gather 100,ooo signatures from registered voters. While many measures use paid signature gatherers, the Question 1 group relied on an army of volunteers.
“We went to local newspapers, local TV, any format, to spread the word and it worked,” Aylward said. “The message was pure, the message was simple and people understood.”
The group got 143,000 signatures. Many were collected by the 800 volunteers, but others printed the sheet off the campaign website and went out on their own and turned the signatures in to their local town or city clerk’s office.
Aylward said he and his co-chairs want to see roads and bridges repaired and do not oppose raising the tax, but they want the increase to be voted on by the Legislature.
Even with the success of the signature gathering, Aylward said he still worried about the success of Question 1 at the polls. They won quite handily.
“Question 1 won by about 80,000 more votes that (Gov.) Charlie Baker won by,” Aylward said. “He and his team have openly admitted that if not for the gas tax he may not have won the governor’s race. We were able to get out fiscally conservative voters.”
Following the success in November, the group behind Question 1 has turned its attention to the MBTA and public transportation in the Bay State. They formed MTBA – Massachusetts Taxpayers Best Ally – to push for reform of the funding of the T.
“We want to make sure people are aware with some of the waste associated with mass transit,” Aylward said.
They will look at the pension for the MBTA, and the spending on the system.
“Like Charlie Baker said, we don’t have a revenue problem we have a spending problem,” Aylward said. “Why are we spending all this money and not getting the service we need.”