quote:

You’re making the erroneous and frankly insulting assumption it’s that he is highly paid and we’re jealous.

Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about.

quote:

It’s corruption that myself and others have complained about.

I am concerned about that too.

Personally, I’m sick of hearing the false dichotomy “if it weren’t for the NRA, we wouldn’t have any gun rights”.

If the NRA closed up shop today, & the Democrats passed obnoxious federal gun control laws tomorrow, millions of gun owners are not gonna go along with it. Entire states will defy it.

Honestly, we might as well have the right now & get it over with. Ain’t nobody talkin me out of my guns, & if I’m declared an outlaw, I’ll start doing outlaw things the next day, along with millions of others.

We're hearing another false dichotomy as well - take the NRA as it is, or do without any NRA at all. Cincinnati '78 wasn't all that far back in time. True, that's when the membership pressed a more aggressive advocacy role on the NRA, but, far more importantly, that's when the membership insisted on accountability and their right to press change on the organization.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
So what's the answer?

Accepting that LaPierre has fully captured the NRA organization and governance (meaning he has full control of the board), and that he's basically using it as his own personal piggy bank/fiefdom, how does this get fixed by the membership and/or gun rights community as a whole?

How do we throw out the bathwater without the baby?

Excellent question!

In summary:
* Many are jealous of LaPierre's compensation.
This is not unlike most companies - both the jealousy and the fact that the top dog gets paid well.
* Even if Wayne is not at fault for anything - the buck stops there.
* If he is out (right or wrong) then everyone can stop complaining.
* If they learn anything - they will hire in it's place a Black, Muslim, Gay (or Tranny) Midget for a spokesman - NOW they have the optics, right? and pay him peanuts.
* Life goes on and they will still call you and everyone and their brother for money (I have no problem with that - it is what they need to do).

You’re making the erroneous and frankly insulting assumption it’s that he is highly paid and we’re jealous. It’s corruption that myself and others have complained about. Buy your own damn clothes, pay for your own Christmas time trip to Europe, keep your financial transactions above board (eg sure looks like money laundering thru ackerman), don’t prevent audits of contractors making $97k per day, etc.

Also, we want the NRA:

as powerful and effective as our opponents accuse us of being.

with a CEO steering the ship toward having a membership larger than 5% of target audience

with a CEO steering the ship toward benefitting the target audience not entertaining them with lavish parties and conventions
How is that so hard for you to comprehend?

^^^ Exactly.

NRA shuts down production at NRA-TV

I've used up my free articles at the NY Time, so if someone would quote the article.

Some quotes from Danny Hakim NY Times reporter on Twitter:

quote:

Wayne LaPierre: "...after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing ‘live TV’ programming.”

quote:

NRA days it "regrets that a longstanding, formerly productive relationship comes to an end in this fashion.”

Apparently none of the personalities were notified prior to the announcement.

Chris Cox, who pretty much ran the Institute for Legislative Action, resigned today. According to this article from ABC-- which of course could be fake news-- Cox tried an internal coup against Wayne LaPierre. If so, the coup failed, and Cox is out. And Wayne is still standing.

LaPierre will be the slow death of the NRA if he is not pushed out.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/top-...us/story?id=63962673

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:
...Cox tried an internal coup against Wayne LaPierre. If so, the coup failed, and Cox is out. And Wayne is still standing.

LaPierre will be the slow death of the NRA if he is not pushed out.

What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. If all these coup attempts fail Pepe la Pue will become even more embolden

quote:

In summary:
* Many are jealous of LaPierre's compensation.
This is not unlike most companies - both the jealousy and the fact that the top dog gets paid well.
* Even if Wayne is not at fault for anything - the buck stops there.

The NRA is not a commercial enterprise despite the size of their budget.
It’s a 501(c)(4). Big difference
Pepe le Pue still answers to a board. Whether or not that board does the right thing is another issue.

Just got an email from old Wayne. Live NRA TV is gone.

As many of you may know, we have been evaluating if our investment in NRATV is generating the benefits needed. This consideration included the return on investment and the cost and the direction of the content. Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment.


So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing “live TV” programming. Whether and when we return to “live” programming is a subject of ongoing analysis.


The NRA will continue and improve our service on social media channels and our flagship website, www.nra.org – your trusted resource of information. Our many web sites will continue to showcase new and archived videos, as we reorganize much of this information in a way that better serves our key audiences.


What necessitated the change now is our conclusion that our longtime advertising firm and website vendor failed to deliver upon many contractual obligations it made to our Association. The NRA will always hold our vendors to high standards and ask that they maximize their value to the Association. No exceptions.


Looking ahead, you can expect great things from your NRA. We will energize our messaging strategy, become more cost efficient, and promote the NRA’s singular focus like never before. Simply put, our messaging strategy will advance the NRA’s core mission: to serve our members and fight for our Second Amendment.


– Wayne

As requested:

If you delete all the NY Times cookies, it resets the free article counter.

----------------------------------

N.R.A. Shuts Down Production of NRATV, and Its No. 2 Official Resigns

By Danny Hakim
June 25, 2019

Moving to clean house amid an organizational crisis, the National Rifle Association cut ties with its second-in-command, Christopher W. Cox; severed its relationship with Ackerman McQueen, its estranged advertising firm; and shut down live production at its online media arm, NRATV.

The steps took place within a brief span on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The resignation of Mr. Cox, the gun group’s top lobbyist and the architect of its legislative strategy, was communicated to the N.R.A.’s board and employees on Wednesday. The news comes days after a court filing by the N.R.A. implicated him in a failed plot to oust Wayne LaPierre, the organization’s chief executive, an allegation Mr. Cox has disputed. Last week, The New York Times reported that the N.R.A. had suspended Mr. Cox.

Mr. LaPierre, in a message sent Wednesday to employees and board members, said he had accepted Mr. Cox’s resignation and wanted “to thank Chris for his service to the N.R.A. and for his efforts to advocate for the Second Amendment.” He noted that Mr. Cox had been “placed on administrative leave” pending an investigation into the claims against him, and said, “Naturally, that pursuit will continue in the interest of the N.R.A. and our members.”

The development is the latest in an already tumultuous year for the N.R.A. The gun group has struggled to right its finances; faced investigations in Congress and by the New York attorney general; and witnessed a leadership struggle that pitted Oliver North, until recently the N.R.A.’s president, against Mr. LaPierre.

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Mr. Cox could not be immediately reached for comment. In a statement last week, he said that “the allegations against me are offensive and patently false. For over 24 years I have been a loyal and effective leader in this organization. My efforts have always been focused on serving the members of the National Rifle Association, and I will continue to focus all of my energy on carrying out our core mission of defending the Second Amendment.”

The series of moves leaves the N.R.A., a crucial ally of President Trump, in flux, particularly in the leadership of its legislative agenda. On Twitter in April, Mr. Trump urged the N.R.A. to “stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS — FAST!” Mr. LaPierre told the board and employees he would soon name an interim leader for the organization’s lobbying arm.

By ending production at NRATV, the N.R.A. is also ceasing its relationship with a number of high-profile representatives of the organization, since its on-air personalities — Ackerman employees including Dana Loesch — will no longer be the public faces of the N.R.A. It remained unclear whether the N.R.A. would try to hire some of those employees, but there was no indication it was negotiating to do so.

The move comes amid a flurry of lawsuits between the N.R.A. and Ackerman, and increasing acrimony that surfaced after two prominent N.R.A. board members first criticized NRATV in an article in The Times in March. The separation had become inevitable: The two sides said last month that they were ending their partnership of more than three decades.

“Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment,” Mr. LaPierre wrote in a message to members on Wednesday. “So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing ‘live TV’ programming.”

In a notice to Ackerman’s chief executive, Revan McQueen, sent Tuesday night, the N.R.A. said it “regrets that a longstanding, formerly productive relationship comes to an end in this fashion.”

Ackerman, in its own statement, said it was “not surprised that the N.R.A. is unwilling to honor its agreement to end our contract and our longstanding relationship in an orderly and amicable manner.”

“When given the opportunity to do the right thing, the N.R.A. once again has taken action that we believe is intended to harm our company even at the expense of the N.R.A. itself,” Ackerman added. It said it would “continue to fight against the N.R.A.’s repeated violations of its agreement with our company with every legal remedy available to us.”

A legal filing last week by Ackerman, which is based in Oklahoma City, underscored the dire risk to its business, which derived 41 percent of its gross revenue from the N.R.A. last year. The company accused the N.R.A. of failing to pay $1.6 million in invoices and to post a $3 million letter of credit that it said it was due, moves that Ackerman said would force it to “terminate or put on unpaid leave” roughly 40 percent of its work force within days, and shutter Mercury Group, its Northern Virginia subsidiary.

N.R.A. officials had grown leery of the cost of creating so much live content for NRATV, which was started in 2016, and wondered whether the return on its investment was worth the effort. The site’s web traffic was minuscule, with 49,000 unique visitors in January, according to a report provided by Comscore.

Some N.R.A. board members and officials were also unnerved by the breadth of the channel’s content, which strayed far beyond gun rights and encompassed several right-wing talking points, including criticism of immigration and broadsides against the F.B.I. A show hosted by Ms. Loesch that put Ku Klux Klan hoods on talking trains from the popular children’s program “Thomas & Friends” drew outrage from some within the organization.

But the dispute between the N.R.A. and Ackerman goes deeper than NRATV. It has its origins in threats last summer by Letitia James, now the New York attorney general, to investigate the N.R.A.’s tax-exempt status. The N.R.A. began an audit of its contractors, and has said that Ackerman, which it paid roughly $40 million a year, refused to comply. Ackerman has disputed that allegation.

The advertising firm has assailed the role of the N.R.A.’s outside lawyer, William A. Brewer III, over the size of his legal fees, and has seen him as its chief antagonist. The contention has a bitter family twist because Mr. Brewer is the brother-in-law of Mr. McQueen, Ackerman’s chief executive.

The schism between the organizations has been shocking. They had a closely intertwined partnership going back to the “I’m the N.R.A.” campaign in the 1980s, and Ackerman came to be known as the voice of the N.R.A.

But by Tuesday night, splitting up was seen as inevitable.

“This is just an affirmation of what we’ve known is going to happen,” Joel Friedman, an N.R.A. board member, said in an interview.

quote:

Originally posted by 95flhr:
Just got an email from old Wayne. Live NRA TV is gone.

And now you have twats like this Shannon Watts crowing that she "took down NRATV and the leaders of the NRA"



https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts

I know it's cliche and I'm sorry, but Shannon who?

That's a rhetorical questions as I've never heard of this person and could not care less who she is.

If you actually click the link, it’ll tell you that she’s the founder of Moms Demand Action.

Hey Shannon, buzzards don’t take credit for downing their meal, they just feast. Even crows don’t make noise when there’s carrion to get after. Hyenas are a different story, though. They yap and howl and laugh while they nip at the hindquarters of whatever they could grab. Since you didn’t take down NRATV, what does that make you?

WRT Chris Cox's resignation, there may be more.

From "NO LAWYERS - ONLY GUNS AND MONEY" blog
Link

quote:

An email went out this morning to all NRA employees informing them that Chris Cox has tendered his resignation. This is a sad day in the fight for gun rights on Capitol Hill. Chris Cox and the NRA-ILA have been, more or less, effective in keeping the Republicans and some Democrats on the side of gun rights.

Wayne LaPierre's email is below:

quote:

From: "LaPierre, Wayne"
Date: June 26, 2019 at 8:50:14 AM MDT
To: #All NRA Employees <#AllNRAEmployees@nrahq.org>
Subject: Important Announcement

Dear Board Members and NRA Staff,

I wanted to inform you that Chris Cox tendered his resignation as executive director of NRA-ILA. I have accepted it and want to thank Chris for his service to the NRA and for his efforts to advocate for the Second Amendment.

Chris’s action follows our filing of a lawsuit in New York on June 19. Thereafter, I announced that, pending our pursuit of the facts relating to certain allegations contained in that lawsuit, Chris was placed on administrative leave. Naturally, that pursuit will continue in the interest of the NRA and our members.

In the meantime, NRA-ILA continues to benefit from a strong team with deep political experience, valued relationships, and a passion for the Second Amendment. We will make an announcement soon about an interim director of ILA and, in the meantime, continue to position the NRA for great success in the 2020 election season and beyond.

Please join me in wishing Chris and his family the best.

Wayne

That's nice. Wish Chris and his family the best after he has been stabbed in the back.

One thing that has been mentioned to me is that there is more than a supposed "coup" attempt behind this. The NRA-ILA gave the NRA proper a substantial loan that has not yet been repaid so that they could cover their bills. The loan was made in the 2017 time frame. Now it is rumored that Wayne came back to ILA asking for a loan in the $15 million range and Chris Cox said no. The other person who had the authority to say "no" on behalf of the NRA-ILA was Scott Christman and he is on administrative leave as well.

The interim head of the NRA-ILA is expected to be the former ILA head of state affairs who has been working for the NRA proper for the last few years. The likelihood of him saying "no" to Wayne when asked for a loan is not likely.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
If you actually click the link, it’ll tell you that she’s the founder of Moms Demand Action.

Thanks for the tip. I actually had clicked on the link. Never heard of Moms Demand Action either and again, could not care less who they are. Most people claiming to be special, are, but not in the way they think they are. I don't pay them much attention.

Know your enemy, trapper. You don’t have to fear them, but for all the high and mighty that’s been flung about in this thread by a number of members, boots on the ground make things happen and MDA is determined to erode our rights. Make no mistake. They are the enemy in this fight. Them, and Everytown USA and a number of others. Ignore them and pretend they’re inconsequential if you like, but they are organized and pushing hard to make things happen in ways that I don’t see the 2A community doing.

if this is indeed true, just maybe the inner turmoil could have been engendered by the NRA's own legal counsel? I put nothing above it being an inside job to wreck the organization. I mistakenly started a new thread with this and was admonished for doing so. I meant no trashing of the NRA. It needs defending.
https://theresurgent.com/2019/...e-a-really-big-deal/

As you probably know, the NRA is in a legal fight with is outside marketing firm, Ackerman-McQueen. The fight has escalated and gotten really nasty. There are lots of accusations flying, document leaks, etc.

I thought I had recognized the name of the NRA’s outside counsel on this, which is where the friend comes in. Should we be concerned that the NRA’s lawyer has donated to a slate of anti-gun Democrats?

William Brewer, the attorney for the NRA, donated to Beto O’Rourke, Ted Strickland, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, and other Democrats. See here and here.

On top of that, check out this reporting by Stephen Gutowski. It is a pretty comprehensive story about what’s going on behind the scenes and includes this amazing nugget about Brewer.

Ackerman was reportedly responsible for not only creating and running NRATV but also developing its most iconic commercials and messaging. Top executives Angus and Revan McQueen are Brewer’s father-in-law and brother-in-law, respectively.

So, just so we are clear, the NRA’s top outside lawyer is the son-in-law and brother-in-law of the top executives of the company the NRA is fighting and the guy is also a huge donor to anti-gun Democrats. What the hell is going on? This just sounds so incestuously corrupt.

The NRA has squandered its reputation and abdicated its responsibilities to gun owners and now this. Unreal.

the link will take you to the site, but you will have to search 'NRA' to find the article.

quote:

Now it is rumored that Wayne came back to ILA asking for a loan in the $15 million range

He must need to have all his suits dry-cleaned.

This is turning into a donkey show....

Hickok45 has dropped the NRA as supporters and will no longer display the NRA Logo.

Hickok45 announcement