Last week, a slick-looking website went live, calling for supporters of Norfolk’s proposed Pamunkey casino resort to make their voices heard to counter those who are trying to stop the development.
“All In for Norfolk Casino” looks and sounds like concerned citizens banding together as petition organizers on the other side gather signatures in an effort to overturn the City Council’s approval of a land deal for the casino.
The website for All In for Norfolk Casino lists eight Norfolk residents as its “leadership,” including a member of the Pamunkey tribe who lives in Larchmont.
But the group didn’t start organically in someone’s living room or backyard. It was convened by lobbyists working for the Pamunkey Indian Tribe.
Yvonne Peele-Wagner, a Norfolk resident and former School Board member, said she was excited about the idea of a casino when she learned some of the money from the land sale would go to her alma mater, Booker T. Washington High School. She said the more she read up on the proposal, the more she liked the idea of a Norfolk casino.
She said that when she talked to her councilwoman, Mamie Johnson, about her enthusiasm, Johnson asked her to speak with Beatrice Gonzalez, a partner with Richmond lobbying and public affairs firm Capital Results, which has represented the Pamunkey tribe since at least last year.
Johnson voted for the land sale and spoke in favor of the project, but her connection to the tribe’s public relations efforts is unclear. She didn’t return a call seeking comment.
After this article was posted online Friday, Peele-Wagner called The Virginian-Pilot to say, “I may have said something incorrectly” and that Johnson had not connected her with Gonzalez. She said she doesn’t know how Gonzalez got her name or number, but that Gonzalez contacted her out of the blue.
Capital Results boasts on its website about its ability to use “grassroots campaigns” in “developing credibility for an issue campaign.”
In politics, this is commonly known as “astroturfing” — when an advocacy group or company hides its involvement to make it look like members of the community organically came together to support a cause.
Edward T. Walker, a sociology professor from the University of California, Los Angeles, has spent more than a decade studying astroturfing. He wrote in 2014 that when the backers of causes aren’t revealed, “people can be unwittingly swayed by their appeals.”
He said astroturfing also goes undetected except when investigative journalists or others “discourage these practices through the soft pressure of shaming.”
In Norfolk, what looks like a grassroots group of casino supporters was actually assembled by the Pamunkey Tribe. But that’s not easy to suss out.
There is no mention on the new group’s website, Facebook page or Twitter page that the Pamunkey Tribe is behind All In for Norfolk Casino.
If you think to check who owns the domain for the group’s website, Allinforcasino.com, you’ll find the owner listed as “Contact Privacy Inc” with an address in Toronto. A little further down the rabbit hole, and you can eventually find that the reseller associated with the domain is the tribe’s lobbying firm, Capital Results.
Jay Smith, a partner at Capital Results, said the tribe “has not tried to hide the fact” it’s behind All In for Norfolk Casino.
“The tribe is supporting this project and believes it’s important to have a voice,” Smith said.
The website, though, reads as if the “voice” is that of residents.
“This project means too much to the City, so we can’t let them take this away from us,” the homepage says. “Don’t let the naysayers block our opportunity to create jobs, generate money for schools and make our city the leading tourist destination in Virginia.”
Smith said it’s standard practice for his firm to purchase web domains for clients and to use a vendor that automatically hides the owner via registration privacy settings. He said his client in this case is the tribe, not the residents.
Smith points out the website registered by the anti-casino petitioners — NoNorfolkCasino.org — points to the same owner via the privacy settings.
Despite the tribe’s crafting of the faux-grassroots group, plenty of real Norfolk citizens are behind the casino project. Several spoke in favor of the effort at the City Council meeting where the land deal was approved, saying it’s a great economic opportunity for the city.
Peele-Wagner, one of those listed as leaders of All In, said she’s very bullish on the idea.
“Let’s get the ball rolling. I’m ready for it,” she said.
Meanwhile, the petition effort to reverse the City Council’s vote to sell land to the tribe has picked up steam.
As of Thursday, petitioners claimed to have 3,500 signatures. To force a city-wide referendum, they will need at least 4,000 valid signatures from registered Norfolk voters by Oct. 25.
Ryan Murphy, 757-446-2299, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com
