NRA Sues Ackerman-McQueen, Ackerman-McQueen Tries to Oust LaPierre at Meeting

FWIW there is this perspective (spin?) on the situation, which places the blame on the PR firm. Needless to say, we'll have to wait to see how this all shakes out.
 
LeverGunFan said:
FWIW there is this perspective (spin?) on the situation, which places the blame on the PR firm. Needless to say, we'll have to wait to see how this all shakes out.
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IMHO, this article or message or whatever it is basically parrots the one from Carolyn Meadows. It's a defense of LaPierre, and to me it comes across like an admission of nonfeasance on the part of the director who wrote it. Each member of the board of directors has a fiduciary duty to the rank-and-file members of the organization to ensure that their money is being spent wisely, honestly, and legally. This PR firm has been the NRA's PR firm for twenty-something years. How is it that it's only now that anyone has questioned their billings? If LaPierre called for a closer look this year ... where was he for the past nineteen years? Where were the members of the board of directors for the past twenty years?

Why hasn't ANY member of the board of directors or the executive committee raised the issue of a potential conflict of interest over the fact that the NRA's counsel is suing his father-in-law's company? Why hasn't ANY member of the board of directors or the executive committee questioned the unbelievable amounts being billed by the law firm?

IMHO, this guy is one of the in crowd, and this message is just another attempt at damage control.
 
First of all, having a board that big is ridiculous. They can't possible accomplish anything.

Clearly, the NRA is run by Wayne LaPierre and the board is just window dressing. We're all just supposed to give him our money and let him use it to buy clothes and pay his "interns" rent.
 
FWIW there is this perspective (spin?) on the situation, which places the blame on the PR firm. Needless to say, we'll have to wait to see how this all shakes out.
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That article is kind of hard to swallow. According to it, WL had the foresight (or a crystal ball) to know that the organization needed more transparency because of upcoming legal battles, tried to force transparency, and one P.R. firm refused. That P.R. form in turn has bought out numerous board members and Ollie North who all tried to rebuke WL, along with basically trying to blackmail WL into stepping down. Deep down, WL is the greatest, initiated an awesome “good governance” program, oh and by the way he dresses quite modestly to boot. Oh wait, and apparently gets to pick the president. I almost forgot this...
LaPierre is credited with making the key difference in electing US presidents
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All of us gun owners and the dissenting board members who question the great WL are simply mislead by the anti-gun media and are insulant and incompetent for believing this pack of lies (that could be easily rebuked and answered if there actually was transparency at the NRA). How dare we question WL or some of his trusted lackeys... er I mean board members.

Yup, sorry if reading that tribute to the awesomeness of Wayne LaPierre hasn’t swayed me much. It reads more like propaganda akin to something North Korea would put out than it does like an actual informative article.


Oh and don’t forget folks, 2020 is coming and this will be the greatest fight for the 2nd amendment ever... again (I swear that Tallahassee Fl could have a special election for town counsel and the NRA would hype it like it’s the biggest 2A fight ever). Don’t forget to give money and pledge allegiance to Wayne.
 
Key words by the three disgruntled board members that resigned...."stripped of committee assignments and denied effective counsel to discharge their responsibilities".

Effective Council sounds like they want to "Lawyer Up" to do their job? Ammoland article indicates some board members feel they are in legal jeopardy by decisions made while on the board.
 
Time has come

It's time for him to fade away.

The bigger issue is the 2020 presidential/congressional elections.

The opposition is well armed with funding, media control and a PLAN. They are clever in their deceit of the frightened public (which they created), they have been successful in keeping true gun stats from the news media, successful at having teachers indoctrinate students that guns are antisocial, etc.

We should be as tenacious as they are…we need the old NRA back.
 
The NRA is under constant attack. A quick search of NRA Executive Compensation pulled up several articles including this one from thetrace.org, (by its own admission, an anti-gun organization) and Mother Jones, a well known left-wing publication. Transparency is key and the NRA is failing miserably at that. If this infighting continues, I am sure it will greatly impact membership and fund raising. This can certainly affect the NRA’s effectiveness and the liberal left know it.
 
Rembrandt said:
Effective Council sounds like they want to "Lawyer Up" to do their job? Ammoland article indicates some board members feel they are in legal jeopardy by decisions made while on the board.
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And they could be right. If they didn't vote against actions that turn out to have been improper, they probably are legally liable. And they should be.

When I became chair of my town's planning and zoning commission many years ago, I immediately objected that the minutes didn't record which members voted which way (or abstained). The town employee who was assigned to take and write up the minutes objected that I wanted to increase her workload. I looked up the statute, which clearly stated that if we were sued over a decision, any commissioner who had voted for the action or who abstained could be personally liable. Any commissioner who voted against the action was absolved. I assume it works the same way for a civil/commercial board of directors. If the organization does something illegal, any director who rubber stamped the action should be personally liable. The purpose of a board of directors is to direct, not to act as a rubber stamp.
 
FWIW there is this perspective (spin?) on the situation, which places the blame on the PR firm.
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I'm not buying it. This seems to be the company line from the LaPierre loyalists:

The future of freedom itself is at stake in the 2020 elections, and gun owners need LaPierre’s proven experience and leadership if we are to prevail once again
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This just seems farfetched, considering the number and diversity of resignations:

Some seek personal advancement at LaPierre’s expense. Others fear personal liability and think, wrongly, that calling for LaPierre’s head will insulate them. Some have succumbed to media spin. And others either can’t take the heat
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Tiffany Johnson, Allen West, Richard Childress, Pete Brownell, and Chris Cox all seem to disagree. What we're seeing seems to be a closing of ranks around LaPierre for personal advancement. Even if he's on the right side of things, traditional corporate procedure would be to remove him simply on the basis of media fallout.
 
I think some things are pretty clear. I have been following this and it seems very clear to me that the PR firm is the real dirty snake. The problems flow outward from that organization. Demanding more detail as to expenditures is common place. And, refusing to provide that detail is highly suspect, which is exactly what the PR firm did! I really don't have to look too far beyond their refusal to provide information to know who the bad guys are in this.

Oliver North, unfortunately, seems to have been bought and paid for by the PR firm. That slime-bag needs to go.

WL should have been watching this more carefully, but he didn't. Still, he's the one who demanded more detail from the PR firm, and that's when it and some board members decided to retaliate. That's a load of crap! Seriously, EVERYONE should have been on board with WL demanding more detailed invoices from the PR firm. I have no doubt that firm had been ripping off the NRA for years.

Let's also not forget that it was the leftist media and their operatives with their intent on taking down the NRA that got WL off his butt to actually try to clean up some problems the NRA had been doing business. He must have known or suspected that the PR firm was crooked.

Still, the PR firm could have also been doing a good job for the NRA, just overcharging them for it. So, I can see WL not really wanting a stupid public battle over this, just transparency and to correct any overcharging going on. I doubt he knew that the PR firm was ready to throw down and go to war against him - I don't think he was prepared for that; but they were!
 
There are a few things that concern me, Dell’Aquila’s grades of NRA board members gives A grades to every single board member receiving big money from Ackerman-McQueen. After witnessing what David Boren did to OU, I have a difficult time trusting him with the 2A and having board members receiving MILLIONS from an NRA vendor is just a blindingly obvious conflict of interest. The only thing even slowing the NY AG from gutting them on that is the widespread occurrence of that problem on a range of non-profits.

At the same time, what Brewer is billing the NRA is unprecedented and extremely difficult to swallow. And NRA staff are claiming Brewer is essentially blackmailing them (see: https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/n...-nra-staff-while-draining-its-cash-allegedly/)

I’m loosely familiar with Timothy Knight from AR15.com and he’s always struck me as a straight shooter. The fact that they’d yank his board assignments (and it isn’t like they were giving him any important ones long before this) over this strikes me as petty and tyrannical.

I’m afraid there may be no clear “good guys” here; but I think it is clear WLP is no longer able to lead NRA. If he had any real passion to defend the 2A, he’d recognize it and step down. The fact that he’s forted up and surrounded himself with people like Marion Hammer and Charles Cotton says a lot I think.
 
what we are seeing is a prime example of somebody selfishly staying where they are for their own greed at the expense of the organization and loss of membership.
 
I quit paying NRA dues in 1993 or 94 because I believed that 'lil Wayne LaPierre was a narcissistic self-aggrandizing grifter. Nothing that he has said or done over the ensuing years has changed my opinion, and I think that if the NRA gig hadn't come along he'd have been a mega-church preacher performing "miracles" for donations.

There's no feeling of satisfaction or "I-told-you-so", I just wish I hadn't been peeing into a hurricane for 20+ years about the self-serving nature of this guy. Mostly I'm just sad and disappointed.
 
Ammoland article indicates some board members feel they are in legal jeopardy by decisions made while on the board.
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They are.

1. The New York attorney general is investigating the NRA's tax exempt status.
Not one peep from the prosecutor or staff.

2. The District of Columbian is investigating the NRA.

3. The US congress is investigating the NRA.

IMO: There's a very good chance members of the NRA board will be prosecuted.

The unhappy major donors say stage four will be implemented soon. A lawsuit against the BOD may be in the cards.
 
I think some things are pretty clear. I have been following this and it seems very clear to me that the PR firm is the real dirty snake.
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There are two dirty snakes, the PR firm and the WLP run NRA. Ack Mac and the NRA were so closely entwined that it was impossible to determine where the PR firm ended and the NRA began. Employees floated into and out of both organizations at will.
 
I'm still of the opinion, that those of that have paid dues going years into the future may have a "claw back" case to reclaim said dues.
 
Let's also not forget that it was the leftist media and their operatives with their intent on taking down the NRA that got WL off his butt to actually try to clean up some problems the NRA had been doing business. He must have known or suspected that the PR firm was crooked.
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No, it was and is WL's desire to stay the guy in the big chair..wasn't the 'leftist wing media and their operatives'', that's silly.
Ignorance is no excuse..it's HIS JOB to know these things....
 
No, it was and is WL's desire to stay the guy in the big chair..wasn't the 'leftist wing media and their operatives'', that's silly.
Ignorance is no excuse..it's HIS JOB to know these things....
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It is no secret to anyone that far left media and politicians would love to stick it to the NRA. Otherwise, you are spot on with the rest of it. Even if WLP is entirely selfless in his work at the NRA in actuality, he should still step down now if he truly loved the organization and it’s cause. Sometimes an air of no confidence comes over leaders even if they don’t deserve that sentiment. It’s life, it happens. Good leaders step down at that point. Hopefully soon enough, before enough distrust builds against them, that they can influence who the next leader will be. WLP should step down now, even if he hasn’t really done anything wrong, because the trust is broken. He won’t, because as you said he wants the big chair. And I don’t believe he is fully innocent in this matter like some board members insist.
 
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