The National Rifle Association (NRA) held its annual meeting in Indianapolis this past weekend, and claims of financial mismanagement and self-dealing roiled the nation's oldest civil rights organization.
At the NRA members meeting on Saturday, as the Washington Free Beacon's Stephen Gutowski reported, "there was a heated exchange over a proposed vote of no confidence in (NRA Executive Vice-President) Wayne LaPierre and members of the oversight committee."
Earlier today, the group's 76-member board unanimously re-elected LaPierre and most of the current leadership. Lt. Col. Oliver North, who was the NRA President—largely a ceremonial position—had challenged LaPierre's leadership of the organization. LaPierre has been the organization's chief executive since 1991.
As the drama unfolded amid a closed-door executive session that was occasionally opened up to the NRA rank-and-file, two open letters posted to Facebook from former NRA employees made the rounds on social media.
The first, from former NRA Training Counselor Program Coordinator Andy Lander, recounted some alleged instances of cronyism and called on board members to clean house.
Mr. Lapierre [sic] and his colleagues have demonstrated what appears to be a great deal of impropriety as it pertains to running what is supposed to be the brightest beacon of freedom we have left in this country. The leaders of NRA should not be lining their own pockets, creating never-ending retirements for themselves, and conducting shady under the table dealings with ad agencies that their family members work at or have financial dealings. A perfect example of this is allowing Mr. Josh Powell to pay his father what is suggested of being in the 10’s of thousands of dollars to photograph the 2017 NRA World Shooting Championship for one single day. This is highly unusual and I don’t understand why he would have needed to hire any outside photographer, especially since NRA publications had already sent their own photographers to that event.
The second was from Steve Hoback, a former member of the NRA's Training Department.
[The NRA] has become the swamp that many have lashed out against in our Federal government. The "not for profit" status of the Association, if kept to its charter, bylaws, and mission statement is NOT in jeopardy. The FOR PERSONAL PROFIT actions of the "Old Guard" Board Members, certain of the Executive Staff and Directors and Deputy Directors, and Ackerman-McQueen influence have not only endangered the not for profit status but the INTEGRITY of the Association. In addition, the heedless, unbridled hero worship of many Members and their antipathy toward holding the Old Guard accountable has helped to create the monster that is destroying [t]he Association from within. This PROUD member of the "unwashed masses" that the Old Guard looks down on and feels deserve secrecy from the inner workings has had enough and will no longer tolerate the foxes keeping watch over the hen house.
For more background on some of the charges swirling against the NRA leadership, I encourage you to read this New Yorker article by Mike Spies, albeit with a skeptical eye. Spies is a writer with anti-gun zealot Michael Bloomberg's The Trace, and surely will not give the NRA the benefit of the doubt.
Having said that, it does a good job of explaining the sometimes incestuous relationship between the NRA and marketing firm Ackerman-McQueen which the NRA is suing over alleged failures to justify its billing.
For those of you who are interested, I'll be discussing this tomorrow, Tuesday, April 30, on Dave Congalton's Hometown Radio Show at 6 p.m. PDT. Follow the link and click "Listen Live" to hear the segment.
