It was only yesterday that the full and final resignation of James O’Keefe from Project Veritas was completed. The true cause of this unfortunate situation will take some time. That is said in spite of the fact that Project Veritas has a small board of directors. Below is a list believed to be accurate.
PURPORTED LIST OF PROJECT VERITAS BOARD OF DIRECTOR MEMBERS
Daniel Strack, Executive Director
Matthew Tyrmand
George Skakel
Barry Hinckley, Chief Strategy Officer
Tom O’Hara – Chief Financial Officer
The versions of events preceding the final conflict cover a range of explanations: Accusations of financial improprieties, power struggles, clashes over strategy, and complaints by employees over how they were treated by Mr. O’Keefe. Whatever the truth, by Feb. 10th the war between the board and James O’Keefe erupted into the public.
In the video from the above link released by James O’Keefe, he listed some of the accusations of financial improprieties. Whatever was done wrong would be in the eye of the beholder. Would using a large rental car rather than a small rental car be wrong? Would not staying at the very cheapest hotel be a violation? These hardly seem to be grounds for dismissal.
James O’Keefe described, without naming the other people, a conflict over a strategy for fund raising and marketing. This would suggest it involved Barry Hinckley, the Chief Strategy Officer, but there is no proof. There is another report that there were possibly personal clashes with some board members. Mr. Hinckley was reportedly the most recent addition. Perhaps later there will be more details on how this particular individual got onto the Project Veritas board. To some observers, he is beginning to look like the bad actor in this drama.
James O’Keefe showed particular candor when he acknowledged that he was not the compassionate type. That he is even handed at all should be remarkable in light of all that he has been through. Again, though, is this grounds for firing? Somehow, it seems like the board is over-reacting. That is, unless there is an unspoken reason hidden still hidden from the public. Speculation is the only tool for analyzing this part of the story. Some have suggested that there are projects still in the works which could promise to be far more controversial than even the Pfizer video. It is worth noting that there was no mention of any kind to current work at Project Veritas. It can be argued that a true understanding of an argument requires acknowledgement of both what is said and unsaid.
As for next moves, it is reported that Mr. O’Keefe, may have already formed a new company – a Delaware LLC called Transparency I. His name has not been associated with it – yet.
Finally, there is a more general point to consider. Getting conservatives to work as a team is often referred to as being like herding cats. These conflicts at Project Veritas exemplify the problems conservatives can have in working together. The take home message is that doing the kind of work that Project Veritas has done requires strong bonds in a tightly organized team. The trust among members must be the glue that holds everyone together in even the most trying situations. Let’s remember that going forward.