Obviously this is a hit piece, but it still may damage his ability to testify in the future, mainly because he apparently didn't tell people on the Hill about this.
Do I believe that Kopel changed his views for $100,000 a year? No, of course not, but again the problem is that Kopel apparently didn't tell Republican staff whether he had any conflicts of interest.
UPDATE: It turns out that Kopel may have gotten even more money. It looks like he received an average of about $173,750 per year from 2004 to 2011.
One witness, David Kopel, who testified on January 30, identified at the hearing as a law school adjunct professor, received more than $108,000 in grants from the NRA’s Civil Rights Defense Fund in 2011. Another witness, David T. Hardy, testifying Wednesday as a private attorney in Tucson, Arizona, received $67,500 in grants from the same NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund in 2011. . . .I wonder whether this will also effect his ability to write op-ed pieces on gun issues. Remember the problems that Jonathan Gruber got in for not acknowledging the money that he was getting from the Obama administration. The WSJ would have required Gruber to note in his op-ed pieces that he was getting $400,000 total from the Obama administration. Kopel getting $100,000 a year for many years seems like it should have also been listed.
Do I believe that Kopel changed his views for $100,000 a year? No, of course not, but again the problem is that Kopel apparently didn't tell Republican staff whether he had any conflicts of interest.
UPDATE: It turns out that Kopel may have gotten even more money. It looks like he received an average of about $173,750 per year from 2004 to 2011.
And FOX31 Denver has found that Kopel has received $1.39 million in grant money from the N.R.A. Civil Rights Defense Fund between 2004 and 2011. The group continues to fund Kopel, although tax information from 2012 and 2013 isn’t yet available. . . .
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