Lonnie Phillips Archives -

Why Do I Suspect A Disinformation Campaign?

Brady Campaign employees Lonnie and Sandy Phillips have been making the rounds of the liberal media proclaiming that they face bankruptcy. This comes as a result of the dismissal of their Brady Center-sponsored lawsuit against LuckyGunner.com, Sportsman’s Guide, and others. US District Court Judge Richard Matsch awarded attorneys’ fees to the defendants when he dismissed the lawsuit.

As I showed back in April, both Lonnie and Sandy are employees of the Brady Campaign. Lonnie still is listed as a Operations Manager for them on LinkedIn. Sandy, as I said, works for them as a Campaign Manager.

While I can feel sympathy for them for the loss of their daughter Jessica Ghawi, I have no sympathy for them over this. Frankly, while I have no proof, I do have a very strong sneaking suspicion that the Brady Center/Brady Campaign will be the ones actually footing the bill.

If the Phillips are actually going to seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court, it is only because they want to screw the defendants out of the money that is legally owed to them. I think the fact that Lucky Gunner is planning to donate their portion of the money to Second Amendment groups has got to stick in the craw of both the Phillips and the Brady Center.

These TV appearances are an overt attempt to win in the court of public opinion because they have lost, and will continue to lose, in the court system. They acknowledge that they now are seeking Federal legislation that would essentially put Lucky Gunner out of business.

That MSNBC and others have provided the Phillips with a sympathetic ear comes as no surprise to me. They hate gun owners and they hate the Second Amendment. The hell with journalistic ethics when it comes to us. The employment status of the Phillips should have been disclosed as it is an important component of the full story.

UPDATE: Thanks to Linoge, we have a poster that puts it into perspective.

Used with permission

Well, This Sheds A New Light On Things

At the end of March, US District Judge Richard Matsch dismissed the lawsuit brought by the Brady Center on behalf of Lonnie and Sandy Phillips who had lost a daughter in the Aurora theater shootings. Judge Matsch also awarded attorneys’ fees to the defendants in the case including Lucky Gunner and Sportsman’s Guide.

A story at Guns.com looking at the court filings by BulkAmmo.com aka Lucky Gunner and Sportsman’s Guide said the fees being requested totaled approximately $224,000. There has been much speculation on just who will have to pay these attorneys’ fees – the grieving family or the Brady Center. Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned said the Brady Center had reached a new low in exploiting victims especially if they left the family holding the bag for the fees.

We discussed this last night on The Polite Society Podcast. I think the consensus was that we felt for the family especially if they were the ones who had to pay the fees on top of the loss of their daughter Jessica Ghawi.

Thanks to an observant reader, my sympathy for the Phillips has ratcheted down several levels. I, of course, will always feel sympathy for them over the loss of their daughter. It is something that no parent should have to go through. That said, take a look at the following screen captures.

The Phillips were not just grieving parents when they brought suit against Lucky Gunner, Sportsman’s Guide, and the other defendants. They were paid employees of the Brady Campaign!

You can find the link to Lonnie’s LinkedIn page here and the link to the Facebook page announcing Sandy’s appearance on Meet The Press here.

While the amended complaint did not seek outright monetary damages, it did ask for “equitable relief”, court costs, and “for such other and further relief that this Court might deem appropriate.” They also sought an injunction that would have put the defendants out of business until they adopted the Brady Center’s business practices. I do wonder if monetary damages had been awarded would they have gone to the Phillips or gone to their employer due to some pre-trial agreement.

H/T Josh