Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

This post is more about what’s not on the record regarding an organization behind the website “NRA On The Record” and ones with similar backing, networking, and interlocked purposes than about the NRA. It’s an outsider’s look into the network of the gun control lobby — and lobby it is; a recent Super PAC was discovered in the mix…  Labelled “Giffords PAC” (OpenSecrets.org, courtesy Center for Responsive Politics) as of the 2018 cycle but “Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC for 2016 and previous 2014 cycles. Statement of Organization with the FEC was only in 2013.  “NOTE: This committee is a so-called Carey committee, a hybrid PAC/super PAC.”

• Carey Committee: A Carey committee is a hybrid political action committee that is not affiliated with a candidate and has the ability to operate both as a traditional PAC, contributing funds to a candidate’s committee, and as a super PAC, which makes independent expenditures. To do so, Carey committees must have a separate bank account for each purpose. The committee can collect unlimited contributions from almost any source for its independent expenditure account, but may not use those funds for its traditional PAC contributions. See also: Super PAC, Independent Expenditures,  Political Action Committee

Giffords (or ARS) PAC in FY2016 registrant, Texas lawyer John Steven Mostyn, #16 of top 20 fund-raisers for Hillary Clintons SuperPAC in 2016. Click HERE access website or just the image to enlarge it..

This PAC was registered under John Steven Mostyn, whose name is on many of the tax return images shown below. I see that in 2016 he, with his wife, are listed at #16 of (Forbes’) Top 20 contributors to Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC.  I am shocked to learn that in November, 2017, while this post was still in “pending status,” and before I knew much about Mr. Mostyn, he was reported as having committed suicide, by gunshot wound to the head. ”

Steve Mostyn, Texas Democratic Fund-Raiser, Dies at 46″ 11/18/2017 by David Montgomery in NYT (Obituaries).

---

AUSTIN, Tex. — Steve Mostyn, a Texas trial lawyer and one of the nation’s leading Democratic donors, who spent a fortune in a long effort to turn his reliably red home state blue, died on Wednesday at his home in Houston. He was 46.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a suicide resulting from a gunshot wound to the head. His wife and fellow lawyer, Amber Mostyn, said his death had come after a “sudden onset and battle with a mental health issue.”

The death jolted Texas politicians in both parties and left Democrats grieving the loss of a friend and wealthy patron who had been at the center of the party’s struggle to wrest power from Republicans. Texas Democrats have not won a statewide political office since 1994.

This Post:

NRA (not) On the Record | Modeling Gun Control/Gun Violence Prevention Laws after Domestic Violence Prevention Laws [i.e., Moving It Under the Mental Health Umbrella], Strategized through Unregistered “Consortia” or Misleadingly-labeled Nonprofits East (D.C.) and West (S.F.)? No Thanks!! [Short-link ending “-7Um” started Nov. 4, 2017, published Dec. 3]

[[Dec. 1-2 pre-publication context: I have been working on several posts identified as “in the pipeline” over the past few weeks, some of which work entails exploring new ground, other, reviewing or reformatting/updating references to earlier posts which mentioned some of the same subjects. THIS post is not meant to be complete, but on what it says, it should be as authoritative as the entities’ own tax returns and filing history, subject to IRS and state registrations/filings, and the reliability of any database claiming to get their data from the IRS. It is also a stark reminder NOT to just rely on an organization’s website, or high-profile spokespersons, or a recent dramatic event demanding a swift response, in judging whether to support, ignore, or oppose their various agenda.]]

How are we to identify and recognize, other than when they show up in press releases and mutual self-promotions, the many organizations who manage to get laws passed, including organizations of nearly 100% lawyers, and among these any groups who are engaged in deceptive “naming and framing” practices over time? (Naming themselves and framing the issues, that is).

I have a problem with ANY organizations involved in deceptive naming practices in ANY field effectively getting laws passed, but especially when the topic is gun control.  In addition when modeled after domestic violence laws (something I have direct experience with, as a protected person with minor children, also protected persons initially) and then when, as has happened within the “violence prevention” and “abuse prevention” fields, a push to expand under the mental health umbrella.  [[*This 2nd opening paragraph was re-written after I spent more time on the web pages — and multiple tax returns — of some of the nonprofits referenced for this post, and picking up the topic nearly a month later.]]

Brief summary of organizations and issues in this post and what inspired it:
Read the rest of this entry »