Wag the Dog By Neal Knox
In the satirical movie "Wag the Dog," the political operative
for a President with zipper troubles induces a movie producer
to fake a diversionary foreign war. (The movie came out just
as the Monica Lewinsky story broke and Bill Clinton bombed
the only pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.)
After the scheme worked and the movie President was
reelected, the movie producer boasted publicly about what he
had done, explaining to the President's political operative that
movie producers *must* get a credit line.
It's therefore understandable why NRA Director and
Hollywood movie producer, John Milius, couldn't resist
publicly bragging about how he and extremely well-paid NRA
political consultant Tony Makris saved Executive Vice
President Wayne LaPierre's job in 1997 -- and,
coincidentally, saved Makris' multi-million dollar NRA public
relations/advertising/fundraising contracts.
The story appears in a surprisingly even-handed, but not-
quite-accurate article about NRA in the August 6 Washington
Post Magazine, the newspaper's Saturday and Sunday
supplement.
"We were facing a genuine and extremely well-organized
coup d'etat," Milius told writer Michael Powell. "So we used
our best techniques: lying, cheating and disinformation. I
didn't tell the truth for weeks."
What John called a "coup d'etat" was the intention of a
majority of the 1996-97 NRA Board to do its legal and NRA
Bylaws-imposed duty to "formulate the policies and govern
and have general oversight of the affairs and property of the
Association."
A majority of the Directors, the two NRA vice presidents
(Albert Ross and me) and the Finance Chairman were
extremely unhappy about the demonstrably poor public
relations performance of Makris's company, Ackerman
McQueen, plus the fact that LaPierre had spent millions of
dollars for public relations and advertising (and for Makris'
own television hunting program) without complying with long-
established Board policy.
We were determined to either get rid of Ackerman-McQueen
(as Wayne had told the officers, finance committee and
Board he had done, but hadn't) or LaPierre was going to lose
the job of E.V.P.
"Makris and Milius invited a Knox loyalist to dinner in Los
Angeles and seemingly conspired to bribe LaPierre into
leaving," Powell wrote.
What actually happened, I learned long afterwards (some of
it in the past few days), was that Makris and Milius were
ostensibly negotiating with some of my friends on behalf of
Wayne. Under the deal they "offered," Wayne would bow out
of the E.V.P. job in exchange for a contract to write
fundraising letters for a healthy commission.
Makris and Milius insisted I not be informed of the
"negotiations" -- well aware I wouldn't consider such a thing.
They asked one of my friends, a lawyer, to draft the
agreement that "Wayne wanted." They even had the lawyer
make several revisions during the course of the
"negotiations" for Wayne's "golden parachute."
As Powell wrote it: "Milius leaked the plot to LaPierre, who
rose publicly and proclaimed himself shocked! -- * shocked! *
-- that a Knox ally would try buy him off.
"LaPierre, in fact, gamed the moment perfectly."
Indeed he did, and I've never doubted that Wayne knew
about the scheme from the beginning -- particularly since I'm
told he had initially suggested the fundraising commission
deal.
Earlier this month, Powell sent me an email to check some
routine personal facts. He told me he had spoken with Milius
and several board members at the Charlotte meeting.
"They were surprisingly open in talking about the plot to save
LaPierre's job, install Heston and beat you. Milius claims that
Makris was behind much of it, that he and Makris met in
Hollywood several times to plot strategy. And, Milius further
claimed, they accomplished much of their victory by lying for
weeks and weeks."
I was astounded that they had told him what they had done --
though I well knew that Makris had organized the coup to
save his contract -- openly running his long-time friend and
ally Charlton Heston's campaign to elect him to the board,
and defeat me as NRA 1st V.P.
That's when I violated my rule of not talking to the press
about NRA internal matters. (When Powell asked for an
interview last spring, I told him I would tell him as much as he
wanted to know about the gun issue, but wouldn't talk about
NRA – my standard answer that has run off reporters for the
New York Times, Nightline and many others.)
I emailed Powell back: "Milius was correct about Makris
being mainly behind it. Of course he was. He was the one
who would have been out of a job. We had too much
invested in Wayne to throw him away.
"It wasn't a corporate takeover or coup d'etat; it was a mutiny
of the staff, assisted by NRA vendors determined to keep
some very lucrative contracts. The same vendors for the
same reason ran the expensive and successful advertising
and mail campaigns that have succeeded in removing all
those who voted against Wayne in '97."
That's one reason I'm sponsoring an NRA Bylaw to prohibit
NRA vendors, and others whose livelihood depends on NRA
largesse, from funding or participating in NRA internal
elections.
---
To look at or print those two bylaws, go to http://www.nealknox.com/nra2001/petitions
If you can't download, contact Bill Davis at
bdavis123@mindspring.com and send your snailmail
address.
The legal size prints correctly but, until it's fixed, the letter
size prints portrait instead of landscape, so the signature
lines come out stacked.
For those who wish to read the article in the Washington Post
the address is http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/00/powell0807.htm.
************************************************************
For those of you in South Carolina who wish to receive
specific alerts please e-mail request to lcoble@netside.com
and/or visit www.scfirearms.org.
************************************************************
What To Do If The Police Come To Confiscate Your Militia
Weapons see www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
To begin receiving Neal Knox's bi-monthly newsletter, send a
contribution of $25 or more to The Firearms Coalition, 7771
Sudley Rd. No. 44, Manassas, VA 20109. For current news,
call 1-900-225-3006 (89 cents per minute) or visit http://www.NealKnox.com (free)
***************************************************
The Georgia Sport Shooting Association wants you! A free
shooting events list is published every two weeks. Go to www.gssa.com and sign up today.
*************************************************
From The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
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We have had a computer error. If you want to be removed
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If you know anyone who would appreciate these alerts,
please let us know and we'll enroll them on a trial basis.
Also, feel free to forward our alerts.
In the satirical movie "Wag the Dog," the political operative
for a President with zipper troubles induces a movie producer
to fake a diversionary foreign war. (The movie came out just
as the Monica Lewinsky story broke and Bill Clinton bombed
the only pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.)
After the scheme worked and the movie President was
reelected, the movie producer boasted publicly about what he
had done, explaining to the President's political operative that
movie producers *must* get a credit line.
It's therefore understandable why NRA Director and
Hollywood movie producer, John Milius, couldn't resist
publicly bragging about how he and extremely well-paid NRA
political consultant Tony Makris saved Executive Vice
President Wayne LaPierre's job in 1997 -- and,
coincidentally, saved Makris' multi-million dollar NRA public
relations/advertising/fundraising contracts.
The story appears in a surprisingly even-handed, but not-
quite-accurate article about NRA in the August 6 Washington
Post Magazine, the newspaper's Saturday and Sunday
supplement.
"We were facing a genuine and extremely well-organized
coup d'etat," Milius told writer Michael Powell. "So we used
our best techniques: lying, cheating and disinformation. I
didn't tell the truth for weeks."
What John called a "coup d'etat" was the intention of a
majority of the 1996-97 NRA Board to do its legal and NRA
Bylaws-imposed duty to "formulate the policies and govern
and have general oversight of the affairs and property of the
Association."
A majority of the Directors, the two NRA vice presidents
(Albert Ross and me) and the Finance Chairman were
extremely unhappy about the demonstrably poor public
relations performance of Makris's company, Ackerman
McQueen, plus the fact that LaPierre had spent millions of
dollars for public relations and advertising (and for Makris'
own television hunting program) without complying with long-
established Board policy.
We were determined to either get rid of Ackerman-McQueen
(as Wayne had told the officers, finance committee and
Board he had done, but hadn't) or LaPierre was going to lose
the job of E.V.P.
"Makris and Milius invited a Knox loyalist to dinner in Los
Angeles and seemingly conspired to bribe LaPierre into
leaving," Powell wrote.
What actually happened, I learned long afterwards (some of
it in the past few days), was that Makris and Milius were
ostensibly negotiating with some of my friends on behalf of
Wayne. Under the deal they "offered," Wayne would bow out
of the E.V.P. job in exchange for a contract to write
fundraising letters for a healthy commission.
Makris and Milius insisted I not be informed of the
"negotiations" -- well aware I wouldn't consider such a thing.
They asked one of my friends, a lawyer, to draft the
agreement that "Wayne wanted." They even had the lawyer
make several revisions during the course of the
"negotiations" for Wayne's "golden parachute."
As Powell wrote it: "Milius leaked the plot to LaPierre, who
rose publicly and proclaimed himself shocked! -- * shocked! *
-- that a Knox ally would try buy him off.
"LaPierre, in fact, gamed the moment perfectly."
Indeed he did, and I've never doubted that Wayne knew
about the scheme from the beginning -- particularly since I'm
told he had initially suggested the fundraising commission
deal.
Earlier this month, Powell sent me an email to check some
routine personal facts. He told me he had spoken with Milius
and several board members at the Charlotte meeting.
"They were surprisingly open in talking about the plot to save
LaPierre's job, install Heston and beat you. Milius claims that
Makris was behind much of it, that he and Makris met in
Hollywood several times to plot strategy. And, Milius further
claimed, they accomplished much of their victory by lying for
weeks and weeks."
I was astounded that they had told him what they had done --
though I well knew that Makris had organized the coup to
save his contract -- openly running his long-time friend and
ally Charlton Heston's campaign to elect him to the board,
and defeat me as NRA 1st V.P.
That's when I violated my rule of not talking to the press
about NRA internal matters. (When Powell asked for an
interview last spring, I told him I would tell him as much as he
wanted to know about the gun issue, but wouldn't talk about
NRA – my standard answer that has run off reporters for the
New York Times, Nightline and many others.)
I emailed Powell back: "Milius was correct about Makris
being mainly behind it. Of course he was. He was the one
who would have been out of a job. We had too much
invested in Wayne to throw him away.
"It wasn't a corporate takeover or coup d'etat; it was a mutiny
of the staff, assisted by NRA vendors determined to keep
some very lucrative contracts. The same vendors for the
same reason ran the expensive and successful advertising
and mail campaigns that have succeeded in removing all
those who voted against Wayne in '97."
That's one reason I'm sponsoring an NRA Bylaw to prohibit
NRA vendors, and others whose livelihood depends on NRA
largesse, from funding or participating in NRA internal
elections.
---
To look at or print those two bylaws, go to http://www.nealknox.com/nra2001/petitions
If you can't download, contact Bill Davis at
bdavis123@mindspring.com and send your snailmail
address.
The legal size prints correctly but, until it's fixed, the letter
size prints portrait instead of landscape, so the signature
lines come out stacked.
For those who wish to read the article in the Washington Post
the address is http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/00/powell0807.htm.
************************************************************
For those of you in South Carolina who wish to receive
specific alerts please e-mail request to lcoble@netside.com
and/or visit www.scfirearms.org.
************************************************************
What To Do If The Police Come To Confiscate Your Militia
Weapons see www.2ndamendment.net
For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to
"Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line"
To begin receiving Neal Knox's bi-monthly newsletter, send a
contribution of $25 or more to The Firearms Coalition, 7771
Sudley Rd. No. 44, Manassas, VA 20109. For current news,
call 1-900-225-3006 (89 cents per minute) or visit http://www.NealKnox.com (free)
***************************************************
The Georgia Sport Shooting Association wants you! A free
shooting events list is published every two weeks. Go to www.gssa.com and sign up today.
*************************************************
From The 2ndAmendmentNews Team
If you received this as a forward and wish to join please send:
E-Mail to listserver@frostbit.com with the following text in the
message body: SUBSCRIBE 2nd-Amendment-News
We have had a computer error. If you want to be removed
send a message to the list administrator, send E-mail to
whclark@bellsouth.net
If you know anyone who would appreciate these alerts,
please let us know and we'll enroll them on a trial basis.
Also, feel free to forward our alerts.