North vs Lapierre: NRA Wars

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  • TapRackBang

    Cheaper Than Diamonds
    Jan 14, 2012
    1,919
    Bel Air
    The question is: Would the "damning letter" be damning in the eyes of NRA members or the MSM?

    I think probably the former as I'm not impressed by the NRA under LaPierre's leadership.
     

    redeye

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Feb 13, 2019
    100
    Meh, it probably makes fun of people who aren’t into Purdy shotguns or H&H double rifles. You know, we knuckledraggers who make up 99% of their membership.

    I wanted to have them rescind my life member status after the bumpstock sellout, but was told there was no process to do so. So I’ll keep getting junk mail forever.
     

    Aamdskeetshooter

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 19, 2013
    1,744
    Moco
    Meh, it probably makes fun of people who aren’t into Purdy shotguns or H&H double rifles. You know, we knuckledraggers who make up 99% of their membership.

    I wanted to have them rescind my life member status after the bumpstock sellout, but was told there was no process to do so. So I’ll keep getting junk mail forever.

    It may have been said in jest but in case it wasn’t you can call them and get the junk mail stopped.
     

    TapRackBang

    Cheaper Than Diamonds
    Jan 14, 2012
    1,919
    Bel Air
    It may have been said in jest but in case it wasn’t you can call them and get the junk mail stopped.

    Yep. I called them a few years ago and asked them to stop snail-mailing things, and they did. I still get emails, but I want those.

    If that doesn't work, Postal form 1500 will stop any snail-mail, junk or otherwise, permanently. :cool:
     

    fidelity

    piled higher and deeper
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 15, 2012
    22,400
    Frederick County
    Boy, this sounds like a mess. I don't trust either, but I trust North less, especially with the self-dealing set up ...

    In N.R.A. Power Struggle, Insurgents Seek to Oust Wayne LaPierre
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/business/nra-wayne-lapierre-oliver-north.html

    Turmoil wracking the National Rifle Association is threatening to turn the group’s annual convention into outright civil war, as insurgents maneuver to oust Wayne LaPierre, the foremost voice of the American gun rights movement.

    The confrontation pits Mr. LaPierre, the organization’s longtime chief executive, against its recently installed president, Oliver L. North, the central figure in the Reagan-era Iran-contra affair, who remains a hero to many on the right.

    Behind it is a widening crisis involving a legal battle between the N.R.A. and its most influential contractor, Ackerman McQueen, amid renewed threats from regulators in New York, where the N.R.A. is chartered, to investigate the group’s tax-exempt status. With contributions lagging, the N.R.A. is also facing an increasingly well-financed gun control movement, motivated by a string of mass shootings.

    Mr. North asked Mr. LaPierre to resign on Wednesday, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. He said he had also created a committee to review allegations of financial improprieties that threaten the N.R.A.’s status as a nonprofit organization.

    But Mr. LaPierre, in a stinging letter sent on Thursday night to the N.R.A.’s board, accused Mr. North of threatening to leak damaging information about him and other N.R.A. executives unless he stepped down.

    “Yesterday evening, I was forced to confront one of those defining choices — styled, in the parlance of extortionists — as an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Mr. LaPierre wrote. “I refused it.”

    ...

    The power struggle within the N.R.A. is an abrupt escalation of a legal battle between the organization and Ackerman McQueen. The Times reported earlier this year that prominent members of the N.R.A. board had grown dismayed at the performance of Ackerman because of its NRATV online media service, which has drifted into right-wing politics far beyond gun rights. Ackerman employs Mr. North, who hosts an NRATV series called “American Heroes.”

    It is not clear whether Mr. North has the board support to oust Mr. LaPierre, who has led the N.R.A. for decades. Previously, the presidency has been a ceremonial position, though Mr. North, in documents reviewed by The Times, has asked for it to be a paid post. A key factor will be Chris Cox, who runs the N.R.A.’s Institute for Legislative Action and is effectively the group’s second-ranking official.

    The dispute represents the N.R.A.’s deepest internal crisis since a struggle for control of the board in the late 1990s, when Mr. LaPierre and Ackerman were on the same side.

    The crisis has led to the splintering of a more than three-decade relationship between the N.R.A. and Ackerman, which crafted such memorable lines as Charlton Heston’s proclaiming that his gun would have to be pried “from my cold, dead hands.” Ackerman’s NRATV has taken on an apocalyptic tone, warning of race wars, calling for a march on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and portraying the talking trains in the children’s show “Thomas & Friends” in Ku Klux Klan hoods.

    A lawsuit recently filed by the N.R.A. against Ackerman raised concerns that the company might have overbilled the N.R.A. and that Mr. North was conflicted in his duties because Ackerman paid him. Mr. North, it said, had refused to provide his contract with Ackerman to the N.R.A.

    In the suit, the N.R.A. claimed that Ackerman had resisted providing financial records as part of a review of contractors it was conducting amid the threats of aggressive regulatory action.

    “As you know, the N.R.A. has over this past year taken steps to strengthen its efforts to document and verify compliance by our vendors with our purchasing practices and their contracts,” Mr. LaPierre wrote in his letter on Thursday to the board. “We’ve met extraordinary resistance from one vendor — Ackerman McQueen.”

    He noted that Ackerman paid Mr. North “millions of dollars annually,” and that Ackerman, via Mr. North, was threatening to release a letter that would be “a devastating account of our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses.”

    He also wrote that Mr. North said “the letter would not be sent — if I were to abruptly resign,” adding, “He stated that he could ‘negotiate’ an ‘excellent retirement’ for me.”

    Later on Thursday evening, close to midnight, in his own letter to the board, Mr. North said he was creating a special committee to investigate allegations of financial impropriety reported by The Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker. “I did this because I am deeply concerned that these allegations of financial improprieties could threaten our nonprofit status.”

    He also said he tasked the special committee with “investigating allegations of financial misconduct related to Mr. LaPierre” that have been made by Ackerman in the wake of the lawsuit.

    In a statement, a lawyer for the N.R.A., William A. Brewer III, said the organization had been reviewing many of the issues raised by Mr. North since last year.

    “In our view,” Mr. Brewer said, “the items involving Mr. LaPierre may reflect a misinformed view of his and the N.R.A.’s commitment to good governance.”

    Ackerman McQueen declined to comment.

    With the N.R.A.’s board due to meet on Monday, the crisis could come to a head soon.

    “All of this is painful for me,” Mr. LaPierre wrote. “I will not judge Col. North, but must report what many of you already know: He has contractual and financial loyalties to AM.”

    Mr. North, for his part, wrote, “We are facing a serious crisis,” adding, “To date, my repeated efforts to inquire about the propriety of management’s financial decisions have consistently been rebuffed.”

    I haven't seen the WSJ article, so don't know if it's substantially different.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited:

    MeatGrinder

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 27, 2013
    2,379
    MoCo, Eastern edge
    My inclination is that there were problems with Ackerman McQueen long before Ollie came over. Haven't they had a sole source exclusive contract for quite some years? This isn't great timing, but it needs sunshine
     

    fidelity

    piled higher and deeper
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 15, 2012
    22,400
    Frederick County
    Both will lose thos fight. WLP should have retired years ago. Ackerman's performance with NRA TV is atrocious. And North is just trying to preserve his golden goose.
    I want Chris Cox to take over the whole damn thing. Fire AM, and get rid of LaPierre and North.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
     

    Bob A

    όυ φροντισ
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Nov 11, 2009
    30,691
    I want Chris Cox to take over the whole damn thing. Fire AM, and get rid of LaPierre and North.

    Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

    Probably the best course of action at this time. Fired, or resigned - let them keep some face. But both need to be gone. The only winner must be the organisation.
     

    Tomcat

    Formerly Known As HITWTOM
    May 7, 2012
    5,568
    St.Mary's County

    fred2207

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Mar 14, 2013
    3,179
    PG
    NRA has been a cash cow for Ackerman McQueen for years. Oliver North and LaPierre should both be gone, if the NRA BOD has any balls.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,599
    Glen Burnie
    I think what Ollie, right or wrong, is trying to address, is an image problem. LaPierre always comes across as a rabid dog any time he's in the media, and if the NRA can address its image problem, it might also address their current money problem.
     

    Kharn

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 9, 2008
    3,578
    Hazzard County
    I think what Ollie, right or wrong, is trying to address, is an image problem. LaPierre always comes across as a rabid dog any time he's in the media, and if the NRA can address its image problem, it might also address their current money problem.

    I thought their "money problem" was Bloomberg etc bullying banks into not doing business with them, and needing a war chest to fight it?
     

    Anotherpyr

    Ultimate Member
    If the banks were a problem they’d be asking for donations in cash or bitcoin.

    I’m of the opinion that the best course is to ask them to both leave for the benefit of the organization. If they refuse, then vote them out.
     

    danb

    dont be a dumbass
    Feb 24, 2013
    22,704
    google is your friend, I am not.

    Alan3413

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 4, 2013
    16,929
    The NRA has turned me off with their incessant panhandling. Dozens of other 2A organizations are doing important work without trying to reach into your pocket every other day.

    It'd be interesting to see just how much the NRA puts into their marketing arm.
     

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