Between coronavirus concerns around the world (including here in the United States), the business world is being put into a spin. Until you realize that virtually everything from custom wedding dresses to fishing tackle is potentially being impacted by the shutdowns in China as they unsuccessfully try to contain the virus, the jumps in fuel prices, drops in stock prices, and other crazy news doesn’t seem to make much sense.
As of this writing, more than 2,700 people worldwide have died after contracting the coronavirus. There are now around 60 confirmed cases in the United States, and CDC officials now admit it’s not if the virus will spread here, it’s when.
Consequently, you can expect to see more reports of everything from drones to disinfectant-spraying robots pitching in to try and quell the virus that seems more like a lab-grown biological weapon than a simple viral infection. No, we’re not saying it’s lab-grown, only that it’s certainly showing the qualities that would be associated with a biological weapon.
It’s not a minor thing when U.S. officials start warning that the virus could cause “severe disruptions to everyday activities” across the country.
This next item doesn’t deal with pestilence or disease unless you have very strong feelings about lawyers, judges, PR agencies and advocacy organizations warring with each other, but it is about as close to open warfare as you can get in the courts.
We’re told the National Rifle Association’s lawyers are considering appealing a New York ruling that the NRA can not prevent its former longtime marketing and PR firm from providing documents to the New York Attorney General as she investigates “possible financial misconduct” by the NRA’s management.
The NRA had argued that some subpoenaed documents were subject to “shared interest” and should be privileged communications excepted from Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Melissa A. Crane, in turn, agreed to review any such documents in her chambers to ensure nothing privileged was provided to the AG’s investigation.
At that point, Judge Crane ruled that the NRA’s concerns over Ackerman-McQueen turning over documents regarding the NRA’s donors might be privileged, but that privilege would be trumped by the attorney general’s “authority to conduct a confidential law enforcement investigation without interference and monitoring.” In other words, A-M should begin delivering the documents to the NYAG.
As you can imagine, this latest round in the ongoing battle between the NRA and governmental entities in areas where the organization is, shall we say, less than popular, means the fights are far from over. With the NRA’s Annual Meetings one weeks away, it’s probably to be expected that things will be heating up between the battling factions.
And he’s far from the National Rifle Association today, but Chris Cox, the former head of the NRA-ILA and longtime “face” of the organization’s lobbying efforts, is back in the news. After leaving the NRA following accusations that he was part of a “coup” to topple the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre, Cox virtually disappeared, choosing to keep completely quiet about the whole affair.
But he didn’t disappear from Washington. Yesterday, Politico Influence announced Cox’s new business, Capitol 6 Advisors, had signed its first client. At the time Cox left, he said the new firm would handle “long-range strategic public affairs, crisis management, brand-positioning services, helping campaigns, causes, nonprofits, corporations deal with major problems.”
Cox/Capitol 6 are now registered to lobby for Skydweller Aero Inc., a solar-powered drone startup. With the longstanding relationships he formed with elected officials in Washington, he probably still has a few names in his address book.
We’ll keep you posted.
--Jim Shepherd
