The folks at Tricitybroadband.com have a page that refutes failures: Many of the anti-municipal networking foes have released misinformation about what they describe as financially flawed or failed networks around the U.S. Unfortunately, although there are certainly municipal services that haven't worked out--there have to be some failures--the ones that are bandied about are typically misrepresented. Tricitybroadband.com has a regularly updated page that provides the official response and financial details refuting this misinformation.
The point here would be to work with facts: if the facts that the utilities, cities, or Tricitybroadband is presenting are incorrect, then other facts could refute them. We could have, say, a real debate going in which real information was presented, examined, and conclusions reached.
But the problem is simply one of information. When Comcast is running two 30 second ads per hour for WEEKS before the referendum, and both SBC and Comcast do nice glossy mailers weekly for a month before the referendum, it's hard for a little citizens group to get much traction. Tragic, as the facts and reality are on our side.