"Or else" isn't very specific. At the very least include a photo of the politician's children at their school or something. That's what makes a threat at least somewhat credible.
I'm also running a somewhat political game, but it's not that deep. I'm mostly following the SRM4 adventures, fleshing them out a bit more here and there. I want to do a bit more with the corruption around the Backhaven administration, but I'm not sure how. It's mentioned a lot in various sources, but never very fleshed out.