Neanderthal, and other skeptics:
I won't try to answer for Jim Bain. He's doing well on his own, and has given the most thought to where WAA is and should go. But I know he honestly appreciates your thoughtful questions, knowing we'll need to play "devil's advocate" in order to develop WAA into a viable force for ALL sportfishermen.
Keep in mind WAA is really still in the concept stage, and seeking our collective suggestions on overall policy. Assuming you see any merit in the concept of uniting sportfishermen, what would you want WAA to be doing?
For now, I see great, even critical, gain in just banding together to demand more science (and common sense) and less politics in fish management. Sorry if that sounds vague, but we'll have to start somewhere. If we can't yet compete with the money doled out by other user groups, we can at least show that we outnumber them -- by far!
I dislike the term "special interest group" to describe anglers, but it may be necessarily appropriate. As I hear Jim, he's not out to be anti-commercial or anti-tribal, but rather to be pro-sport, and I like that approach.
Now, if the warmwater guys can quit calling salmonid anglers "slimers" and coldwater folks can stop referring to w/w types as "Bubbas," and if we can all just relax about whose gamefish is more macho than the others...