Maryland Governor O’Malley Scammed by Bogus Grassroots Group
Maryland Governor O’Malley with Paid Marketers from Fake Grassroots Group
At the end of June, a group calling itself The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance Grassroots Marketing Team, posed with Governor Martin O’Malley, handing over sacks of postcards claiming to represent support for train tracks down the middle of Boston Street.
What the Governor must not have known is that the people posing with him were paid marketers, not Canton Citizens, and they were misrepresenting just what the signatures they had collected in fact favored.
It is a common tactic known as “astroturfing,” fake grass roots movements named for the artificial grass used on playing fields.
Here’s how this astroturfing worked.
A team of young people hired by a marketing firm canvassed Canton for two weeks, asking people to sign cards supporting the Red Line. The cards were vague, stating only support of “the proposed Red Line project” and “alternative modes of transportation.” They never mentioned the $1.6 billion cost, or that Red Line trains would increase traffic tie ups and remove parking and green space from the residential streets where it is proposed to run.
People who questioned the project were told by the canvassers that taxes would go up if they didn’t back the Red Line, which is untrue. The marketers, apparently from a public relations group Illume Communications specializing in “gorilla marketing,” claimed to have collected 700 signatures through this subterfuge.
A press release was then sent out falsely claiming that the signatures specifically supported “the state’s preferred alternative,” surface rail, known as “Alternative 4C.”
The question this raises is why does The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance feel the need to resort to such nefarious tactics?
Simple. They must know that Alternative 4C is vastly is not the best choice. They know it will be vastly unpopular with the actual people in the West and East who would be affected by the rail line. The only choice left to force “the state’s preferred alternative” is to fabricate support.
The proof is that in only one week, Canton residents have collected 2500 signatures from real neighborhood residents who support mass transit, but are specifically against Alternative 4C.
We hope the Governor has the good sense to know the difference between the voice of the public and a phony public relations campaign.