Who watches the watchmen? Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it the Pfizer empire striking back against James O’Keefe? Why the sudden news last week of board belligerence and staff strife within Project Veritas, coming hot on the heels of the most explosive reporting about Big Pharma malfeasance we have ever seen?!?
Let me be clear and upfront that GraniteGrok and myself consider that James O’Keefe is a friend, and that his investigative work is second to none. Ourselves, friends, and family members, have been involved in some of his work. But there’s always a back story, and our readers deserve to know what is going on.
Facts:
- Project Veritas has exposed some big fish and serious malfeasance in government, schools, media, social media, and now the biggest of the big – Pfizer effectively front-running its vaccines by forcing new Covid variants.
- YouTube and other outlets have taken down these videos as misinformation – money DOES buy power.
- The Board has NOT voted to remove O’Keefe, but to suspend him during the investigation.
- As the chief ideas man and spokesman for Veritas, O’Keefe does not handle constraints well and chafes at attempts by company officers to run a tighter ship. When he has an idea, everything is about action NOW and damn the cost.
- James is a tough and demanding boss to work for, but 200% staff turnover in two years suggests more is going on.
- James O’Keefe, his personality, ideas and techniques ARE Project Veritas, and it is nothing without him.
Much speculation about the goings on at Veritas is splattered all across the Web, so your staff made some calls and did a bit of reading between the lines to try to discern the truth. Sites on the left can barely contain their glee that somebody they dislike may be having a hard time – they misunderestimate the man, and overplay the current situation. Sites on the right are convinced that leftists, Pfizer stooges, DeSantis supporters(!), or other factions have infiltrated the board as Project Veritas (PV) has grown. Sites on the center right have published both a credible description of the problems at PV and of the comments suggesting donations will dry up or follow O’Keefe if he is ousted.
So what’s really going on? We (Grok staff and myself personally) have watched James O’Keefe grow and mature into a smooth and polished presenter and spokesman for the cause. We constantly admire the audacity of his work, and have never been given cause to doubt the veracity of his results.
But that’s not the whole story. It has reached my ears by several paths that James is more than just demanding, and that staff turnover is a good gauge of the morale of the troops, regardless of how good the cause may be. A turnover of 140 out of 65 staff (more than 200%) in two years is worse than anything I have seen with mercurial bosses in places like Silicon Valley. This sounds like a hostile work environment, and I don’t mean in the snowflake/PC manner of describing such.
Letting urgency override common sense in business expenses gives company officers severe heartburn, especially when merely being involved with PV can put a target on your back.
One former staffer who departed a few years ago told me that the employee grievance list could have been written by themself a few years earlier, and it caused flashbacks.
I’m not trying to be sensational here, in fact, I heard far more than I can report with good conscience. In the end, it comes down to this: James IS Project Veritas – it is nothing without him. There is nobody better at picking plump, bloated, juicy, complacent targets and exposing them – all emperors are naked before his gaze.
BUT, there is a big difference between being the front man and chief investigator, and being a people manager. The one thread which ran through all my conversations is that James is not well suited to managing people, especially a lot of people.
Conversely, no matter how good the board is at running PV as a 501c3, they cannot run the kind of stings and investigations for which James is famous. There needs to be compromise, not conflict because America, heck, the World, NEEDS PV and James O’Keefe as a going concern, picking off those bloated, complacent, and yes, evil targets for We The People.
To summarize, there is no sign that Pfizer, RINOs, Commies, or any other miscreants are trying to bring down James O’Keefe. A conflict of operating style has come to a head, with a most unfortunate proximity in time to something which could be his greatest achievement so far. The board needs to facilitate O’Keefe doing what he does best, and O’keefe needs to take a deep breath and separate leadership and mentoring of the investigative teams from direct personnel management. Anything else, IE complete separation, will lead to disaster.
References:
TownHall: Project Veritas Issues Statement Amid Reports of James O’Keefe Being Ousted.
Old Row Swig on Twitter points out that the money will follow O’Keefe, not the PV corporation.
Rolling Stone: James O’Keefe Put Project Veritas Staff Through ‘Public Crucifixions,’ Leaked Memo Says.
PJ Media: James O’Keefe Put on Leave at Project Veritas. Has There Been a Coup?
Conservative Treehouse says hostile coup; blames RINOs and DeSantis (huh?).
TimCast article includes employee memo to PV board
