NRA’s Cleans House/downward spiral megathread, Update post 567 NRA Staffer Used $40K in NRA Money to Pay for Family Wedding

Over the last 15 years, he has done hundreds of media interviews, campaign commercials, and attended thousands of events in promotion of the NRA and the Second Amendment. His wardrobe expenditures were directed by Ackerman McQueen. The agency invoiced the NRA for the clothing as a business expense.

Is the wardrobe NRA property? If not, then it is compensation to Wayne and should be accounted for accordingly. Assuming we are talking about suits, the purchase of non-uniform clothing items that are fit to wear outside of work are not tax deductible even if the wearing of these clothing items is required for the performance of your job.
 
Seems like we're getting close to a point where lapierre and at least part of the top level cabal are going to have to resign

Does the membership have a means/mechanism of forcing a no confidence vote or forcing them out?

From what (little) I know of such organizations I would guess no. Membership votes for the BOD members who then would be the body to remove the Executive Director.
 
So I guess the next question would be.....what purpose do these resignations actually serve?

Is the NRA obligated to hold elections to fill empty BOD seats or is this nothing more than a no confidence/I'm going public with issues measure?

As members of the board, those three folks decided that they could not fix the problems and chose not to be part of the NRA leadership. Remaining on the board is tacitly approving Wayne LaPierre. They are doing the right thing, but I don’t think it will be enough to fix the NRA.
 
Resigning from the BOD is a statement of disapproval, which is good.

It's also handing the henhouse keys over to the fox, which is bad.

If I were on the BOD, I'd scream bloody murder and make them kick me off.
 
Resigning from the BOD is a statement of disapproval, which is good.

It's also handing the henhouse keys over to the fox, which is bad.

If I were on the BOD, I'd scream bloody murder and make them kick me off.

That would likely have been more effective...fight the beast from within. Now what? Basically nothing...business as usual and less speed bumps within for the top brass to roll over. I just (reluctantly) signed up for 3 more years because almost every gun range in my new location required membership.

Whatever I can do, if anything, to help out, I will...but the cancer at the top needs to get cut out before we get another Democrat or worse a socialist as president.
 
There are something like 75 board members which make the organization effectively unable to police itself unless those 75 are highly engaged, which most are not. The resignation of 3 is a drop in the bucket.

The only thing I can see being effective is if there is a revolt during the next convention. Having ten thousand attendees chanting for Wayne to go isn't going to work out for him.
 
Wall Street Journal:
NRA Chief Sought Help of Group’s Ad Agency in Trying to Buy $5 Million Mansion
National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre was in discussions to have the group’s then-outside advertising agency help him buy a Dallas mansion last year for more than $5 million, but the deal fell through, according to people familiar with the matter.

The aborted house deal and conflicting explanations for why it fell apart are coming to the fore as the New York attorney general’s office is probing the NRA, including Mr. LaPierre’s dealings with the ad agency. The ad agency, Ackerman McQueen, recently turned over information about the contemplated house purchase to the AG’s office, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The discussions about the house purchase occurred early last year, shortly after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Mr. LaPierre was concerned about his security and was interested in another residence besides his publicly known address in northern Virginia, according to people familiar with the matter.

An NRA spokesman said the idea to buy the house was proposed by the late Angus McQueen, then co-CEO of the ad firm, as an investment that would be owned by senior Ackerman executives. “The deal was vetoed by the NRA after its full terms—including Ackerman’s intent to spend NRA money—became known to Wayne LaPierre,” said William A. Brewer III, an outside NRA attorney. “Not a cent of NRA money was ultimately spent. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue.”

That genesis of the discussions is disputed by others familiar with the transaction, who said the purchase was Mr. LaPierre’s idea and was to be funded by the NRA through a structure involving a limited-liability company. Ackerman was going to help manage the property, according to these people.

(More....)
NRA Chief Sought Help of Group’s Ad Agency in Trying to Buy $5 Million Mansion
 
Suits, a mansion, Lord knows what else...get LaPierre the eff out of there and right this ship. Now.
 
I'm still confused. He wants AM out. AM claims he's scum. Both have sucked the life out of the NRA for years. Is this like when you've got 2 "disabled" parents who steal their minor child's SSI and each claims the other is a bad parent???
 
Class action lawsuit against the NRA

BREAKING: Dell'Aquila Files Multi-Million Dollar Class Action Lawsuit Against Wayne LaPierre, NRA and NRA Foundation - The Truth About Guns

David Dell’Aquila is the National Rifle Association donor who has been leading a grassroots effort to oust EVP and CEO Wayne LaPierre and other senior NRA officers. In a conversation with him last month, he laid out his four-phase strategy for bringing about those management changes with the goal of cleaning up NRA operations and making the Association more transparent and responsive to its members.

When we spoke, Dell’Aquila had put phases one through three of his plan into effect. Now he’s begun the final phase by filing a class action lawsuit against Wayne LaPierre, the NRA and the NRA Foundation accusing them of fraud in the solicitation of donations.

The suit was filed late yesterday in US District Court in Nashville. You can read it here(PDF).

Dell’Aquila is the named plaintiff in the two-part class action against the NRA and the NRA Foundation on behalf of all US citizens who have contributed to either entity from January 1, 2015 to the present.

According to the lawsuit, Dell’Aquila, a longtime supporter of the NRA, has contributed a total of $100,000 to both entities since 2015 and has pledged 75% of his estate to the NRA and its subsidiaries upon his death.

The lawsuit alleges that the NRA represented that the funds he donated would be used for . . .

…gun safety education; to promote shooting sports and hunter safety; to foster wildlife conservation; and to protect gun ownership rights in the United States.

However, the plaintiffs allege that . . .

Defendants’ statements concerning the use of the solicited funds were materially false. In reality, the NRA used the solicited funds for alternative purposes, including without limitation, the following:

a. By spending over $97,000 per day for the legal services of William A. Brewer, III during the first quarter of 2019, without obtaining documentation justifying such expense.

b. By spending approximately $2 million per month for the legal services of the Brewer, over a thirteen-month period, without obtaining documentation justifying such expense.

c. By spending $274,695 for clothing purchases for Defendant LaPierre from a Beverly Hills clothing store, without reporting such expenses as income for LaPierre in the reports filed by the NRA with the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”).

d. By spending $243,644 on luxury travel for Defendant LaPierre to the Bahamas; Palm Beach; Los Angeles; Reno, Nevada; Budapest, Hungary; and Italy, without reporting such compensation as income for LaPierre in the reports filed by the NRA with the IRS.

e. By making inflated payments to the NRA’s advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen, without obtaining documentation justifying such expense.

f. By spending $5,446.16 per month for a luxury apartment for Megan Allen, an intern in Fairfax, Virginia.

g. By spending funds for a board meeting for the NRA, to be held in Alaska, rather than in Fairfax, Virginia.

h. By paying Defendant LaPierre an annual salary of $1.4 million

The plaintiffs also also allege the at the NRA Foundation misused funds it solicited . . .

a. By transferring approximately $80 million from the NRA Foundation (a tax deductible charitable organization) to the NRA (a non-tax-deductible lobbying organization) over a ten-year period. Such funds then became subject to the financial improprieties described in Count I of this Complaint and jeopardized the tax-deductibility of the donations made by Plaintiffs.

b. By paying $425,000 per year for nine years to the Speedway Children’s Charity, a non-profit organization not related to the NRA’s core mission.

c. By paying at least $125,000 to Youth for Tomorrow, a non-profit organization not related to the NRA’s core mission. Defendant LaPierre’s wife, Susan LaPierre, served on the board of Youth for Tomorrow, and was its President from 2013 to 2018.

The lawsuit asks that plaintiffs be awarded . . .

…damages equal to the amounts such persons donated to the NRA Foundation during the period from January I, 2015 to the present, together with costs, punitive damages and attorneys fees.

That amount isn’t yet clear, and won’t be fully known until the discovery process is complete. But along with possible punitive damages and attorneys fees, an award for the plaintiffs could easily be in the nine figure range.

One additional questionable use of NRA funds that wasn’t listed in the lawsuit was revealed in an article by the Washington Post that was published last night.

Documents indicate that the National Rifle Association planned to purchase a luxury mansion in the Dallas area last year fo the use of chief executive Wayne LaPierre, according to people familiar with the records.

The discussions about the roughly $6 million purchase, which was not completed, are now under scrutiny by New York investigators. The transaction was slated to be made through a corporate entity that received a wire of tens of thousands of dollars from the NRA in 2018, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The New York attorney general’s office is now examining the plan for an NRA-financed mansion as part of its ongoing investigation into the gun lobby’s tax-exempt status, in which it has subpoenaed the group’s financial records, the people said.

How many other such revelations that will come to light as a result of the New York and D.C. investigations as well as the Dell’Aquila lawsuit discovery process? Stay tuned.
 
f. By spending $5,446.16 per month for a luxury apartment for Megan Allen, an intern in Fairfax, Virginia.

Guilty?
 
I haven't gotten any solicitations. Back when I was a member, I took the advice to contact member services and ask to not receive any mail or phone calls. That seems to have stuck, even though I've been an on-again/off-again member since then. When I was "on", it was mostly because I belonged to a club that required NRA membership because of their insurance.

Here's my public pledge: as soon as the NRA is purged of WLP and all his enablers, and has no ties to Ack-Mac or any other firm related to WLP no matter how many degrees they're removed, I will purchase a personal life membership. And as I'm able to afford it, I will purchase life memberships for all my family members.
 
I would become a life member, and sign my entire family up as life members, if Wayne got shit canned, and the NRA started to do what the NRA is supposed to do. Tomorrow.

However, I think Rob Boudrie is right, if they offer big lobbyist money, they are going to get big lobbyist a**h***s and not much will change.

The fun thing is though, is that nobody would care if they set cash on fire if they were actually effective, we would turn a blind eye
to it and not care. The problem is they're setting cash on fire and being woefully ineffective. Tiny splinter and state groups have been far more effective in the past decade or so, and it's undeniable.

-Mike
 
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