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Any policy can be repealed or amended to the point where it is meaningless. The board which passed it can do either of those things. A board with superior powers can do them. For example, some states have system wide university boards which can usually overrule the decision of a board which governs a single campus. State legislatures can usually overrule local governments. In many states, voters can repeal government policy with referendums and initiatives. There is no way to eliminate the possibility that any of these things might happen. There are a few things you can do to improve the odds.
This is most important with boards' whose actions can be overridden by either a referendum or an initiative. In referendums and initiatives, voters decide at an election if they want to keep a board policy. In most places, issues are put on the ballot either by petition (voters sign a petition demanding the question be voted on) or by the board. With a referendum, the policy is usually suspended (that is, it doesn't take effect) until after the vote. Petition signatures have to be gathered quickly after the policy is passed and the question goes on the next ballot.
Initiatives can be used to pass new policies or to get rid of existing ones. They can be done at any time, but a policy remains in effect until the voters decide to reject it. As a practical matter, the risk of a repeal by initiative is greatest soon after the policy is passed. The longer a policy is on the books after passage, the less threatening it is likely to seem. Opposition usually dissipates over time.
Some elections are much more likely to be better for policy proponents than others. In general, civil rights and domestic partnership policies do much better at Presidential elections or at elections where a state governor is elected. They tend to do much less well at elections which are purely local. They do worst at elections which only involve issues or candidates for unexciting offices.
Voters who tend to be more liberal, and thus will be more likely to support the policy, tend to vote in greater numbers in presidential and gubernatorial elections. More conservative voters tend to vote in every election, so they are a higher proportion of the voters in less exciting elections. Trends could be different in your area, so check with local political pros.
If your policy could be subject to an initiative or referendum, talk to someone who knows your election laws. If your lawyer can't help you, try to find a lawyer who does political law, or check with the local Registrar of voters or the Secretary of State. Find out when a referendum would go on the ballot or when the first chance for an initiative after passage would be. Then, time passage of your policy so that a referendum or the first chance for an initiative would come at an election likely to be favorable to you. Delaying passage to get a better election could just save the policy.
Even if your policy is not subject to referendum or initiative, you should think about timing if your board is elected. An election campaign can provide opportunities to begin a policy campaign. On the other hand, the risk that a civil rights or domestic partnership policy will become an issue in a board election goes up if it is adopted close to an election. Ask local political pros about how long before an election campaigns typically begin. Time passage to reduce the likelihood that a candidate will decide to use it as an issue.
Although your campaign should focus on the Board, you may be able to reduce the possibility of a repeal if you keep the Board's constituency and any superior authority in mind during your campaign.
Some organizers think that stealth campaigns run the greatest risk of repeal. A policy is most vulnerable to a demand for repeal by the public (either by pressure on the board or by referendum), they reason, if you've done nothing to sell the public on the policy during your campaign. They also think the public tends to view stealth campaigns as attempts to "sneak" something through. As persuasive as those arguments are, the truth is that policies resulting from both grassroots and stealth campaigns have been repealed in the past.
Whatever you decide about visibility, fighting a repeal will be easier if you use the messages you would use in an initiative campaign, or to defend the policy in an election campaign, in your campaign for the policy. If you get the endorsements you'd want for an initiative during your policy campaign, it will be easier to shift from a policy campaign to an anti-repeal campaign. The short of it is this: when you decide on messages, endorsements, media, etc., while your main focus should be a passage, think about what would be helpful in fighting a repeal as well.
Once your policy is passed, opponents may try to launch a campaign to get the board to repeal it, or to get a superior authority to override it. This is more likely if they were caught napping and didn't mount strenuous opposition during your campaign.
Be ready to campaign to keep the policy. Try to keep your lobbying, mass action, media and endorsement groups from completely disbanding. Get people who worked together on those aspects of the campaign to stay in touch, and make sure people get each other's address changes, phone/email changes, etc. If you can, keep whatever system you came up with for maintaining communications with the LGBT community going.
If you lose people at the end to burnout or exhaustion, try to find replacements to have ready if the campaign needs to be restarted.
Try to have your lobbyists stay in occasional contact with the board members with whom they worked. Make an occasional "social" call just to keep in touch. Don't let your lobbying, communications, mass action, etc. systems get lost. Make notes about how they worked, put the notes together with all your written materials, and keep them with a campaign historian. It will be much easier to crank the campaign up again if you do.
If the policy becomes an issue in a board election campaign, be ready to defend the members who voted for you. Individuals from your campaign should get as involved as they possibly can in the members' campaigns. Moreover, there is no reason for the campaign organization itself to stay neutral anymore. On the contrary, it is important for the campaign to help those who proved to be friends. If it is legal, endorse candidates and use whatever resources you've got to support the people who supported you.
In some places, it is seems virtually impossible to keep determined opponents from gathering the signatures they need for a referendum or initiative. This is most likely to be true if the required number of signatures is low (for example, 5% of those who voted in the last election), and if your opponents can circulate petitions at places or events where large numbers of likely signers will be present. Outside churches and rural county fairs are prime locations.
On the other hand, sometimes anti-petition campaigns work. Anti-petition campaigns are most likely to work if you have endorsements from moderate and more conservative groups and individuals likely signers may respect. You've a much better chance of having them ready if you get them during your campaign.
Grassroots "don't sign" campaigns have also been effective sometimes. Direct contact with potential signers seems crucial. If this means a precinct walking campaign, you are likely to need a large number of volunteers. You may be able to reduce this if you can find a creative way to target potential signers more exactly.
If you try a tactic like Durham's that brings your supporters near to the circulators, you must take steps to avoid confrontation, especially the possibility of confrontation which escalates to violence. The potential for harm to your supporters is real. And any incident could reflect badly on your campaign. Be careful about who you send out, and try to get people trained in how to minimize confrontation.
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