Is Gibson even a "conservative" institution anyway?
Heck, I don't know. But it does make a convenient opportunity for someone who sees conspiracy to advance an empty accusation.
Henry and the company donated small amounts to both Republican and Democratic candidates prior to the raid. Afterwards, Henry used partisan anti-administration sources to push his agenda. Of course, they were happy to help, and I have no problem with partisans being partisan. The problem is that they just accepted his version at face value because they didn't understand anything about the wood situation. Henry played them for suckers, and articles like this show that he still is.
Martin is not a liberal institution either, and AFAIK no major guitar maker is really involved in party politics. These donations are strictly small potatoes.
Martin and others made it clear after the raid that they had already heeded advisories and had stopped importing the woods from India. Henry didn't, took a big risk, then cried foul when he got caught. Let's also not forget that Luthiers Mercantile, a German-owned company not connected to American politics, acted as the middleman here. They were raided too.
