Group’s longtime leader says Oliver North, president of the NRA, wants him out.
Longtime National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre has told the group’s board he is being extorted and pressured to resign by the organization’s president, Oliver North, over allegations of financial improprieties, in a battle stirring up one of the nation’s most powerful nonprofit political groups.
In a letter sent to NRA board members late Thursday afternoon, Mr. LaPierre, the group’s CEO and executive vice president, said he refused the demand. Instead he called on board members to “see this for what it is: a threat…”
“Wayne has the confidence of a strong majority of the board,” said Todd Rathner, a board member from Arizona who began his tenure shortly after one of the last upheavals within the organization in the 1990s. “They trust him. They know that he’s the face of the NRA. And quite frankly I think that anybody that wants to remove him, they’re going to have to get through this board first.”
The NRA is holding its 148th annual meetings in Indianapolis and the gathering began with a considerable buzz after the NRA filed a lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen, the public relations firm that has earned tens of millions of dollars in the decades since it began shaping the gun lobby’s fierce talking points.
North is aligned with the public relations firm — and at odds with LaPierre and some board members who believe the group’s media operation and messaging have strayed too far from the NRA’s original mission of gun safety and the outdoors. Of particular concern to some board members and rank-and-file is the fiery tone of NRATV, the media arm of the NRA that was created and is operated by Ackerman McQueen.
North, best known for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, has a $1 million contract with Ackerman McQueen. That has raised alarm bells within the NRA about conflicts of interest. A spokesman for North did not return a message requesting comment.
The face of the NRA?
I’m confused… but I’m the cat who thinks a gallon of petrol is worth 89 cents.
I still think of The National Review as being a Buckley venture. I still look for The Misanthrope on the last page of The Review.
I guess I’m the fuck-up. Wayne LaPierre? No clue.
I know who he is, but I don’t care about him.
The NRA has resources that could be wielded more effectively.
“Common sense” gun restrictions are not the answer.
Gun-grabbers hate and fear the NRA.
Crush the opposition!
MY DAD (GOD REST HIS SOUL) WAS BIG IN THE NRA AND PLAYED A ROLE WITH CHARLTON HESTON’S INVOLVEMENT BECAUSE HE KNEW THE HESTONS. I DON’T KNOW THE POLITICS AND WAS TOO YOUNG TO TUNE IN TO ANY WAYNE ISSUES, BUT I ALWAYS FELT HE WAS TAKING THE FIGHT TO THE ENEMY SO APPRECIATED HIS ROLE.
My membership expires in June/July. I won’t be renewing it. I’m tired of the “poor me”/fear mongering/hands out begging, when they could have used their vast war chest to do real good (example: fighting the bump stock ban).
Oliver North? Amazing he was ever elected.
I know they do a lot of good, but supporting Harry Reid all those years really burnt my toast.
I’m the NRA, and I’ve wanted him out for years.
Maybe it’s time for a top of the head to the tip of the toes outside audit of the organization with the members each getting access to a copy of the audit results and the response of the principals. Then a vote.
If the NRA goes, so do your guns.
Lapierre takes nearly a million of your dollars every year, as well as receiving nearly a 4 million dollar bump in 2015 for his employee deferred compensation plan.
Spend your money elsewhere.
Join the GOA and also join a state group, in my case that’s ISRA.
The NRA is like Ben Stein.
I never did get my Heston signed bullet.
Shapiro not Stein, still working on coffee.
My last experience with the NRA was their telemarketers calling every other day with some sort of an update about my guns being taken away followed by a request for a donation above and beyond my dues.
We are at war with the left. They want an Australian-style gun confiscation, and no longer hide the fact. The NRA isn’t perfect, but it is by far the most effective organization fighting for our 2nd Amendment rights. GOA is not nearly so effective. I think the NRAs more aggressive stance recently is a good thing. I don’t have a strong opinion about LaPierre, but membership keeps re-electing him (paper ballot- no Russian interference.
old-oaks: The TSA took away my Heston signed bullet years ago at Newark Airport. They said it was a “missile.” They took it off my key ring. Dumbphucks!
We need all the Waynes we can get.
And exactly why I have counseled members to donate directly to training and competition aspects of NRA and not one thin dime to ILA or unconstrained General donations. Give to support Second Amendment to GOA or Second Amendment Foundation. They are the real deal when it comes to Second Amendment issues.
Hate to say: I told ya’ so, but I told ya’ so to a hell of a lot of people who said I didn’t know what I was talking about. And I have been saying the same thing for two decades now. The only good the NRA-ILA has done has been as a result of the huge number of NRA members and that’s a fact Jack. The bastards have dry shaved us as often as not.
FWIW, I am a Benefactor member and all three kids are Life members
I am also Life GOA and have said for a decade now that the NRA needs a general housecleaning at the top. They move back and forth betw the NRA and govt and are invested in personal relationships that are not in the interest of members. As for training, education and competition aspects, I support them uneqiuvocally
I have been a member of NRA for years and i’ll be 90 next year. Wayne must go if he violated the trust of the group. I am a USAF vet of Korean War but a USMC wannabe. Oliver North has the cajones to lead our group. We can get another PR firm easy. We have the committed members and we can weather this storm. Drain the Swamp. Go Trump. Warren in Montana