Editor's Note: Over the weekend, we heard rumblings that the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance (COHA) was in trouble. Yesterday, our contact on the left coast, Bill Karr of Western Outdoor News sent word that it was even worse than "in trouble" -it was "no more". Today, Karr has the back story on how, barring some unforeseen windfall, California sportsmen may be without a unified voice.
THE SPORTSMAN'S VOICE IS GONE
California Outdoor Heritage Alliance ( COHA), the one united voice for sportsmen in California that worked the Capitol and the Fish and Game Commission as our lobbiest organization, has been silenced, with no prior notification and no advance warning.
New COHA Board Members, just recently appointed in January because of a promise of "big funding" for the organization, took control, quickly forced some dedicated long-standing Board members off the Board, then walked away from the organization in a blaze of-what only could be considered--stupidity. Left little choice, the remaining Board resigned on April 16.
A Board of Directors (BOD) is supposed to facilitate success. Guide and help develop the organization. Not step into a new position, and then, without taking the time to fully understand the workings of the organization, destroy it. And especially publically, with a grandstand display of resignation! The BOD could have restructured it, re-named it, or changed it in any way they wanted to. But publicly resign? Just plain stupid.
COHA has been in existence since 2006, when President of COHA, Bill Gaines, and his department staff moved over from California Waterfowl Association (CWA) to begin that organization for all hunters and outdoorsmen statewide. They were largely supported initially by CWA, and at a lower level by most of the other state and national sportsmen's groups. But funding was always a problem.
COHA sponsored and passed more than seven (7) positive, pro-hunting bills in the last 7 years, a record unequaled by anyone in the industry in California, and they fought back many anti-hunting, anti-outdoor bills pushed by the anti's. Unfortunately, the $83 million budget of Humane Society of United States (HSUS) and their bribes to politicians, among other things, led to passage of SB 1221, and some sportsmen blamed COHA. That may have led to its demise, we'll never know.
But the fact is, hunters and sportsmen in California are not doing what it takes to help their own sports. If the quarter million or so hunters had all donated $10 apiece per year to COHA, it would have not had to worry about funding, and could have devoted far more time to fighting political battles. But they didn't.
COHA President Bill Gaines was in the vanguard for what he was doing, and for over 20 years he made tremendous personal sacrifices for California sportsmen and women. This plan to end COHA was apparently formed while he was in the hospital earlier this year battling cancer. He has a wife and two lovely daughters, one with special needs....and now ---- after over 20 years of dedication to CWA, COHA and the entire outdoor community, he and his family have been left empty with no retirement or even health coverage.
But even worse, is that this highly public action by the new COHA Board of Directors has heavily damaged the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance. COHA was not just another hunting organization. They were specifically designed under a separate section of the IRS code (as a 501C4 nonprofit) that allows for the full-blown lobbying that it takes to defeat the anti's here in California. Other organizations or somebody else cannot just step up and fill the void. Effective lobbying is built upon strong relationships that are made over the long-term and a full understanding of the subject matter. COHA staff had that.
There is a chance for COHA returning as a functional entity, but it will require a new Board, restructuring of COHA and immediate funding from new sources.
--Bill Karr, Western Outdoor News
