Even though legalizing pot in Breckenridge and Denver’s Driver’s License law grabbed the big headlines from Tuesday’s election, it was an article about the failed tax and bond increases that caught my eye Thursday. 

Jessica Fender’s piece in Thursday’s Denver Post talked about how several large money requests failed on Tuesday, including money for libraries, schools and open space in Boulder.

The article described that many leaders who are thinking about putting tax increases or other similar measures on the ballot in 2010 and 2011 are fearful that the results in 2009 are a bad sign. 

The 2009 results may indeed be a bad sign for future financial requests, but I think it may also be a sign of what kind of strategy we will see in the 2010 campaigns that do come to fruition.

2009 showed that appealing to the heart strings is not effective in a recession. However, there is a strategy that is likely to be more effective.

Fear.

It’ll be hard to convince elected leaders that they shouldn’t ask for money at all in 2010. So since they have to find a way to ask for the money, I think 2009 will make many campaigns to be based more in fear than in the benefits to society. 

I get this idea from some of the successful financial asks in 2009. The few successful tax or bond initiatives were local, located in smaller towns. And many of them talked a lot about how if this particular measure wasn’t passed, firefighters and police officers would lose their jobs.

And there it is.  All government leaders have to do in 2010 is find the equivalent of “firefighters and police officers losing their jobs” in their own proposals. 

Let me state here that I have nothing against fire fighters and police officers. Many of my cousins and best friends are some of these local heroes and their jobs should be protected.

And while not every proposal that threatens their jobs succeeds, my point is that usually when their jobs are threatened; it often feels that our own safety is threatened, so it’s an effective campaign strategy.

So while some major financial campaigns may indeed be put on the back burner in 2010, don’t be surprised to see some fairly aggressive campaigns for the ones that do make the ballot.  It’ll be hard to make that case for Fastracks, but I learned a long time ago to not underestimate the creativity of campaign organizers. 

Prudence may rule the day in 2010 and we might see less requests for more money.  But don’t be shocked to see campaign ads that warn that if “these funds aren’t approved, we’re all going to die!!!”  It might be a little less dramatic, but not by much.