What We Need To Do and Where We Need To Go, From Here… (Part 1 of 2)
“This Will Remain The Land Of The Free Only So Long As It Is The Home Of The Brave.”
--Elmer Davis
Opinion, Analysis and Observation by ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell
I’m surprised (and alternately proud, yet sad) with the number and regularity with which the calls have come –
“Hi Jim… I hate to bother you… but I think you’re the only guy who cares enough to listen and might actually be able to help me…”
Lately, they’ve come more and more, with increasing urgency… and from some of the most recognizable (and laudable) names in the business. Each time, we dig deep, do what we can… even if it means that to do the right thing might have nothing to do with a story (and no public element to it), but simply require us to work behind the scenes for the greater good of aviation -- where it is unlikely that anyone in the general community of aviation will even know what transpired.
And that’s just fine by us, because if we can make something right, it’s not a matter as to who gets the credit or who knows what we do, but simply that the aviation community, folks we care for so very greatly, winds up as the beneficiary of our efforts.
That’s been our mission since we started this program…
But… it almost all came to a halt.
Many of you, from previous writings, know that we took a strong and aggressive stand against the many wrongs we have seen committed in the aviation world -- often at great cost and risk – but an attack by a once-well-known/respected GA manufacturer created one of the most significant threats we’ve faced so far.
Worse... it was a company that I'd watched, even loved, from its beginning... staffed by people who had become friends that I'd respected and admired... and building products that I came to enjoy so very greatly... until it all changed from something bright and powerful and amazing to something that was dark and disappointing and shameful (IMO).
When that manufacturer, Cirrus Aircraft, lost its soul by booting out one of the most honest and principled men in GA, the company took on a totally different and somewhat abhorent character… one in which we grew increasingly concerned as we watched this company often treat suppliers, jet depositors, vendors, investors, customers, staffers, and the rest of the GA world with contempt, dishonesty, subterfuge, and conduct that we considered to be totally out of character with what its principle founder wanted… and what the GA world deserved. Hundreds of people were affected, millions of dollars was involved, and when we started noting the problems that were reported to us, time and time again, we soon found ourselves under the worst attack we’ve experienced yet – and, sadly, that’s saying a great deal.
Over the course of the few years that we endured the threats, intimidation, interference and other unsavory acts, we learned a great deal and were put to the ultimate test of our character and our principles. In one of the most costly tests of my conscience, I am proud to report that we did not back down, we did not give in, and we did not break our faith with the aviation community – even though it cost us nearly everything we had, to do so. We will have much more to say about this in the future, both in terms of a book I’ll do next year with the aid of some of those victimized by what became of Cirrus Aircraft, and via our plans for an interesting little documentary incorporating some amazing audio, video and other testimony that will clearly indicate what this industry, and we, were up against.
But all that will come later, because we have more important concerns on our minds, and now that the legal fight with Cirrus is over, all I want to do is get on with our mission… and to take it on in a new, aggressive and much-improved way -- but with you all knowing what it took to get here.
MUCH IMPROVED. RADICALLY IMPROVED. AND REALLY DIFFERENT.
Still; I need you to know this… based on an initiative I started over a year ago, following an extensive deposition with Alan Klapmeier that verified our issues with Cirrus, our issues with that company should have been settled and while we were owed a huge amount of money by Cirrus as part of an agreement they broke (and admitted doing so publicly at a bizarre COPA event some months earlier), we (then) reached a compromise that (frankly) made neither of us happy (which seems to be the definition of a good compromise, I’m told), but did seem to suggest a middling set of terms that split the matter close to down the middle.
When done with the details, one of Cirrus’ VPs, Bill King, even shook my hand over it, all smiles, telling me how much he liked ANN and how he was glad to have this behind them… and we thought the worst was over.
Damn it, I should have known better (and yeah, part of me did).
I mean, we had a deal and that should have been that.
It wasn’t.
It never is, it seems, with Cirrus.
Cirrus came back – ignoring much of what we agreed to -- with more demands, additional costs, greater restrictions… and worst of all, a wholly Un-American and seemingly extortionate demand for restrictions and control over what I/ANN wrote about them and those associated with them.
In other words, they broke their word…and it would be one more example in a growing number of incidents that proved to me, time and time again, that any effort I made to trust Cirrus to meet their obligations was destined to result in disappointment.
We went through several cycles of this… each more costly than the last (especially with the lawyer meter running all the way at a frenetic pace)… and each time, at least one of the stumbling blocks involved included sickening demands for retraction of previously published stories, and/or restrictions on my journalistic efforts and/or other means by which they sought to control my reporting on them (for instance… at one point, they wanted to forbid any mention of our previous Cirrus history/stories in any future stories we did… as if history could simply be wiped aside and ignored – especially in the age of the Internet – have they never heard of Google?).
We went round and round… and Cirrus demonstrated its intent to strangle ANN by spending an incredible amount of money to use the legal system to silence me… I was threatened with the release of embarrassing information (my arrest for an interesting little skydiving stunt at the World Trade Center OVER 35 years ago… some medical issues that also occurred over 30 years ago… ad infinitum). I was yelled at, insulted, sneered at and it was clear that Cirrus felt it could spend more money than I… and “win” the case simply by running my assets down to nothing and literally make it impossible to defend myself, my mission, my staff and my companies.
It would have NOTHING to do with right or wrong… only with the size of their pocket book and their willingness to use their Chinese coffers in a way that would make the Founding Fathers roll over in their graves.
Cirrus spent an obscene amount of money, used the services of an attorney that was about as ‘dramatic’ as any I’d thus far encountered. He tried to convince our own legal counsel(s) to abandon our defense/drop our case, he used the ‘F’ word in legal negotiation, he attempted to intimidate my legal counsel with embarrassing disclosures, and he ‘flipped the bird’ at our lawyer when he became angry (a condition we observed quite a few times) that we would not accede to new demands that were NEVER specified in any of the documented/recorded/sworn agreements we had reached at that time.
At one point, our legal counsel told us that he had come to the opinion that not only did Cirrus want to silence us, but (at that time) now seemed to be looking for ways to destroy or wrest the company from my ownership – using the legal system to strip of me of the resources needed to keep them at bay until I was literally incapable of mounting a defense due to lack of funds to pay lawyers.
Yes, we spent a stunning amount of money (and the last of the expenditures are not fully over), but Cirrus apparently spent far more (and indeed, Cirrus’ counsel reportedly bragged about the hours he was billing), but in the end, we emerged with our integrity intact, but our faith in the fundamental goodness of the GA world more than a mite shaken… It appeared that Cirrus was intent on spending us into extinction… and only proper counsel and an apparent fear of a number of impending depositions averted that – just hours before Dale Klapmeier, John Strohl (who lied to KSGJ airport officials to gain access to our aircraft without our permission), Todd Simmons – and eventually a number of others, were to be deposed by our lawyer… AND RIGHT AFTER some pretty intriguing and troubling disclosures about critical Cirrus problems were made by Bill King (wild stuff, too) and after another Cirrus official made some statements, under oath, that we found to be simply
untrue… and provably so.
But do understand this, that I could have come out nearly a half-million dollars ahead in this, IF I had given into Cirrus’ demands and sold my soul, my integrity, and my promise to you to tell you the truth.
That is not hyperbole… we have the documents, expenses, emails, video and other data to prove this in no uncertain terms… and we will… but first we have a mission to rebuild and an industry that needs our support… and we believe that comes first… with your help and support, as well.
In an industry so in need of integrity and hope… where will you find anyone willing to part with nearly $500K in order to save their soul from being sold to the devil? I’m ashamed to say that this is the only such case we know of (and believe you me when I say that it's no fun bearing the distinction)… and while I’m satisfied with my decision (while wincing, painfully, at the cost and at the extraordinary stress of it all), there are those who will say (and have said) that I should have taken the money and run.
But the reason I did not do so was simple… I’d never have been able to face any one of you again and been able to confirm to you that I was telling you the truth, if I had allowed myself to be so compromised. And as quaint as it may sound, that really mattered to me.
And so we see, in gruesome detail, one of the reasons that GA is swirling the drain… the continuing practice of eating our young and creating an atmosphere of “no confidence” in our leadership and processes.
It’s not a matter of protecting what we stand for…
It’s simply a matter of no one else standing up at all…
The next time you get a chance, ask the leaders of your favorite aviation associations and some of the more pivotal players in this industry that, if faced with a restriction on their ability to speak out on the issues that concerned them, whether they’d take the costly solution that preserved those liberties… OR…taken the money and run.
NOW, you know what I did
Mind you, I did not try to do this all by myself… and did seek support and aid from a number of sources… including the alphabet associations -- who supposedly are in place to see this industry survive. EAA did nothing (under Hightower), GAMA thought it a conflict of interest (even though they were admitted victims of Cirrus as well, themselves – a story in itself), and AOPA couldn’t be bothered (though at least one staffer reportedly seemed to enjoy the fact that Cirrus was likely to solve “The Campbell Problem” for them).
When I went to the alphabets, it was not for me or for ANN (and, indeed, most of our requests pre-dated much of the most serious Cirrus attacks on ANN). We went because we saw suppliers, stockholders, investors, customers, staffers and others victimized again and again by what we saw to be Cirrus deceit. I watched fine companies and really great people driven to near-destruction by what they described as Cirrus’s broken promises, contract breaches and other damages. For instance, Cirrus’s screwing-over of L-3 not only cost a lot of people their jobs, but their CEO, one of the few women in a position of power in such an important industry player/company, lost her job… and it was this incident that also (reportedly) contributed to her NOT being selected to succeed Tom Poberezny as the new head of EAA – where she was one of a few that were (at one point) under final consideration.
Can you imagine where EAA might be right now if they had not gone through the Hightower scenario?
Other companies like BRS, Cirrus Village, Tornado Alley, Avidyne (this, while Cirrus publicly denied/lied that there were any problems between them and these companies) and even Airshow Pilot Patty Wagstaff were forced to resort to legal means and/or the threat of same to seek even partial compensation for what Cirrus owed them -- which often left them with much less than had originally been promised – not to mention the waste of time, resources and energy that is associated with such debacles.
Investors told me in no uncertain terms that the treatment they received from Cirrus made it highly unlikely that they would invest in aviation businesses in the future. And I’ve heard people talk of the “Cirrus Factor” when they have ultimately decided to not invest in aviation.
Enough…
To Be Continued
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