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April 03, 2013 08:32 AM UTC

Dudley Brown Slouches Toward Bethlehem

  • 36 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
He'll put a jihad on you, too.
He’ll put a jihad on you, too.

UPDATE: As if that wasn't enough, FOX 31's Eli Stokols:

Dudley Brown, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, has been added as a co-defendant in a lawsuit filed by a gay couple whose engagement photo was used without their consent in a political mailer last year.

Brown, who’s known for targeting GOP lawmakers who don’t adhere to strict conservative principles, allegedly planned and helped pay for the mailers distributed by Public Advocate of the United States, the group sued last fall by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of the gay couple in the photo and the photographer who took it.

—–

One of the more important stories of the recent epic battle over gun safety legislation in Colorado, which ended in Democratic victory on their most important priorities, has been the role played by the organization Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, and that group's leader Dudley Brown. RMGO's political influence up to now has generally been wielded on the far right of the Republican primary process in Colorado, where they have factored heavily in recent red-on-red controversies like the choice of hard-right Sen. Tim Neville over Jim Kerr in the Colorado Senate (Neville's son is now RMGO's lobbyist).

After the passage of gun safety legislation by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, Brown has vowed to take the fight outside his group's comfort zone in GOP intraparty politics, and "destroy" Colorado Democrats in 2014. It's noteworthy that apart from some initial outreach, the much larger National Rifle Association has largely taken a back seat to RMGO in Colorado's fight over gun safety bills this year.

As Think Progress reports, the growing profile of Dudley Brown and RMGO could become a major political liability.

As the Senate prepares to take up a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan later this month, gun advocates have amped up their already inflammatory rhetoric against any additional gun regulations. Ahead of President Obama’s visit to Colorado on Wednesday to promote the measure, one local gun organization promised to give him and other Democrats a hostile welcome…

“I liken it to the proverbial hunting season,” Brown says. “We tell gun owners, there’s a time to hunt deer. And the next election is the time to hunt Democrats.” [Pols emphasis]

The analogy between elections and hunting is a favorite among conservatives; former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was widely condemned for her website’s map placing crosshairs over vulnerable Democratic districts in 2010.

Brown left the NRA in the 1990s because he felt the NRA was “kissing up to politicians.” The NRA, at the time, blasted Rocky Mountain Gun Owners as an “extreme right gun group” and called Brown the “Al Sharpton of the gun movement” for his inflammatory approach…

TP asserts that since that time the NRA has lurched right, and is arguably more aligned with the radical positions of the RMGO than ever before. It may be true, but we're not aware, for example, of the NRA having called for scrapping all background checks or screening for gun purchases at all as Brown has. Brown's interpretation of the Second Amendment, and the equivalent language in the Colorado constitution, is more or less that everyone, regardless of their record, has the right to any gun they want. To compare Brown's position to that of the general public on this issue, which supports universal background checks consistently above 80% in polling, is one good example of how far from the mainstream this man really is.

Nonetheless, as Politico reported yesterday afternoon, Dudley Brown's red-on-red warfare is going prime time. 

Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party favorite and possible 2016 presidential candidate, is raising money for a conservative gun rights group that’s targeting fellow Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

And when one congressman complained, the message from Paul’s camp was: too bad…

The group has blitzed the districts of Virginia Republicans Cantor and Rep. Scott Rigell with $50,000 worth of TV and radio ads accusing them of helping President Barack Obama pass gun control legislation.

[Rep. Scott] Rigell said he reached out to NAGR Executive Director Dudley Brown several times with no success. [Pols emphasis] In addition to the advertising, Brown has held two news conferences in Rigell’s district and one in Cantor’s.

Brown and the NAGR did not respond for a request for comment for this story.

The NAGR ads accuse Cantor, who has an NRA “A” rating, of “wanting to pass Obama’s gun control schemes.”

As you can see, Dudley Brown's threats to go after Colorado Democrats who voted for gun safety bills is arguably small potatoes compared to his already-underway campaign against such prominent national Republican leaders as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. In doing so, Brown appears to have the backing of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, in turn one of the national Republican establishment's most worrisome problem children. But be assured, he doesn't have enough backing in Republican circles to take on Eric Cantor. In fact, we would hazard that many Republicans who have donated to RMGO during the Colorado legislative battle would be shocked to know how much time Brown spends attacking fellow Republicans.

It makes you wonder where this is all going to end, doesn't it?

The beginning of that end may be in a brief blog post from the Denver Post's Lynn Bartels yesterday evening, revealing that Dudley Brown's biography on the RMGO website has been edited–Brown had claimed to have graduated from Colorado State University, but a la 2012 CU Regent candidate Matt Arnold, he did not in fact graduate despite five years in attendance. We are aware of several other significantly damaging items in Brown's past that may shortly be disclosed, and it's critical to understand that much of this counterattack on Brown will come from national Republican interests, with their own motivations for squashing Dudley Brown like a bug.

It's possible Colorado Democrats will find in 2014 a (metaphorical) smoking crater instead of threats made good.

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36 thoughts on “Dudley Brown Slouches Toward Bethlehem”

  1. ..

    What good does it do to elect Republicans?  R’s want to incarcerate everyone, last time I checked; you can’t have a gun in the clink. I digress; you can have a gun when you are drafted…

    Go Republicans…

     

     

  3. If you are a worthless turd-burger with a dubious history you might not want to attract too much attention to your rent-seeking organization that you have used to avoid participating in the open market because you know that you are low-skilled mouth breather who has a single talent:  oratory flatulence.

    Glass houses and stones, Dudley.  Glass houses and stones.

     

  4. Wonder when ArapG will be informed as to to what he's supposed to think about this. Is he supposed to agree that Eric Cantor and the NRA are aren't conservative enough?  Will he stand up for Rand Paul and Brown or for NRA A rated Eric Cantor?  Or will the Borg message to trolls be… don't touch this for now, we'll tell you what to think after we sort it out? Stay tuned.

      1. Rand Paul in a landslide–DEFUND THE MILITARY AND EVERYTHING! We should not allow black folks to sit at lunch counters–I mean if they don't want them in there…  That will help that $10 mil Reince is spending go far.  I hope the Toupee keeps flappin' his jaws… 

      2. How can love Rand Paul and have a picture of Reagan for your avatar?  Paul is a libertarian and an Austrian.  Reagan was a compassionate conservative and closet Kensyian.  There's virtually no idealogical overlap.

        Unless the Reagan avatar is meant to be ironic.
         

        1. The 'Reagan icon' is not representative of any actual historical figure.  Rather it is a depiction of St. Ronnie–a ficticious invention of the reality-imparied unskewed-truth contingent that has come to dominate the Republican Party. 

        2. LOL…irony?…AGOP??….LMAO…That's one of the things I love about our lil' goopster. It takes an understanding of reality to appreciate irony. Not happenin' there.       

  5. Very odd. When we inserted the photo of Brown, the first sentence of this post mysteriously disappeared. We've retyped an approximation.

    Just so you know, you're not the only ones confused by the new site in all its wonderment. Please know that we're continuing to respond to feedback and seek out improvements.

  6. The Paper That Shall Not Be Named is reporting that Neville stormed out of the ethics hearing this morning, stating he would not be the "model penitent for your unconstitutional tribunal." Good luck getting lobbyist credentials in the future.

    RMGO and Brown also have been added as defendants in a lawsuit over an anti-civil unions mailer, according to Eli Stokols at Fox31.

  9. Just saw a crawler with some new stats on the various gun control measures being discussed, including 87% for background checks and majorities as high as 59, 60% for several others.  Doesn't look like the NRA/NAGR blitz is making much of a dent. 

    Also, here in Colorado, so far no adverse affect on hunting license sales due to the proposed hunter boycott. They've received some e-mails from angry hunters canceling and saying they're going elsewhere this year but it hasn' t shown up in sales yet. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more hunters in that 87% than among the angry e-mailers.

  10. It is pretty clear that hunters are not represented by the NRA. Reactionaries, yes…sportsmen, cowboys, and such… not so much. I have been hanging out in Rand Paul country, lately.  crying

  11. Speaking of stupid (Duley-esque stupid), did anyone catch what DeGette said on her rational for limiting the size of magazines in that certain local paper?

    DeGette has always been a body that's kept the seat warm w/o doing a whole lot and making ill-informed statements like this don't do a lot to dissuade that impression.  She could definetly use a strong primary challenge.

     

    1. I disagree. DeGette has continued the Pat Schroeder tradition of working hard for her district and has a particularly strong record on reproductive rights and other women's issues.  As a diabedtic, I particularly applaud her support of stem cell research.

      1. That's quite fine and commendable, but she also represents the one major urban district in Colorado and has not done a lot in areas such as transportation, infrastructure, urban waterways, etc.  That's a glaring letdown.

        Perhaps my characterization is a bit harsh, but I still think she can do more for her decidely urban district.

    3. I saw her on a live feed yesterday at the "Paper that shall not be named"….PTSNBN…of a gund debate with Lamborn, a pliceman, Perlmutter and others. She spoke forcefully and eloquently on the gun control issue and did not back down from any direct challenges. Indeed, she was a very strong and fearless voice on the panel

    4. Who could primary her and win?  She'd crush them like a bug for all the money she'd raise.  If you're minority whip and have passed along millions in campaign contributions you never needed to spend in your safe district to people in all parts of congress, you can call in some chits if you need to.

      1. Spot on, Daft one.   A few years ago, city councilwoman Ramona Martinez did mount a challenge.   Once DeGette woke up to it, she crushed it.

         

  12. From a story at "Nation of Change"…an exchange worth noting.

     

    Q: You talk about response time. As we saw in Newtown, the shooter was able to get off dozens of rounds before anyone was able to get there. Did you think about recommending to the NRA and lawmakers that they look at limiting magazines?

    HUTCHINSON: In reference to Newtown, what was the first thing the school did after the incident? They got armed officers there to protect the children. It was very importance for the confidence of the parents. And there they did not have response capability. You had teachers giving up their lives. And so we want to teachers to have to do that. We want a better response …

     

    http://www.nationofchange.org/nra-concedes-background-checks-are-necessary-1364999277#comments

    1. Lawrence O'Donnell had him on MSNBC last night for the first appearance ever of any NRA mouthpiece there or CNN.  I'm thinking it'll be a while before another goes back.

      O'donnell insisted on pinning Hutcinson down when he tried to deny his role, admitting only to chairing their committee on school defense.  He wouldn't admit to how much we was paid by the gun lobby for his work.

      Lawrence wouldn't let him pretend that the NRA's training would make school guards better shots than the NYPD,who injured 9 innocent bystanders shooting one crazed gum as in 16 total shots.  He wouldn't repond to the Tuscon argument against mass murder magazinesafter they payed the disarming granny' interview, and was prickly when O'Donell cut him off when he was lying.

      The Coup de Grace came at the end when O'Doneell cited LaPierre's fundraising appeal, claiming that a Noveember 6 loss to Obama would be a greater loss than any the US had ever suffered in battle.

      Hutchinson refused the offer to repudiate this despicable slur against our war dead, or offer any opinion of his feelings about taking the money of the a man who would make such a slur.  O'Donnell thanked him sincerely for coming on, and be the first affiliated with the NRA to do so.  Asa smirked, lips pursed and said nothing to the Outro.

       

    1. He's probably still stuck in the throng of "Sleeping Giant/Silent Majority" protesters…..I heard there were dozens. Dozens, I tell you!!

        1. Stop. One of these days ArapG is going to be so surprised his eyes will fall right out of his head. We must all hate all conservatives at all times and never give any of them credit for being even semi-human and defend all libruls at all times, even if they are roasting boy scouts on the Capitol steps, to help ArapG catch his breath.

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