David Dell’Aquila, the dissident NRA donor who has now filed a class action lawsuit against Wayne LaPierre, the NRA and the NRA Foundation, has sent letters to the members of the NRA’s board of directors, New York attorney general Lucinda James and District of Columbia attorney general Karl Racine.
In the letter to board members (PDF) Dell’Aquila counters claims by some — including some NRA officers and board members — that he and his grassroots group are actually tools of anti-gunners such as Michael Bloomberg. He also provides a little more detail as to what Phase IV of his effort will entail.
After raising a number of questions that board members have probably been asking themselves about the Association’s operations and spiraling controversies, he ends this way:
This will be my final letter to you, the honored members of our Board of Directors. I encourage you — do not turn your back on the $162 million of monies currently being withheld.
Together, we can move the NRA to the next level, and restore the credibility demanded by those present and future donors.
The mention of $162 million of withheld funds refers to written pledges of donations, planned giving and advertising revenue that Dell’Aquila’s group has obtained from dozens of individuals and companies.
Reading between the lines, and given Dell’Aquila’s now demonstrated willingness to use the courts to further his effort to dislodge the Association’s current leadership, it’s not impossible to imagine further legal action.
Dell’Aquila has already criticized board members’ reluctance or outright failure to exercise their fiduciary duty by demanding independent investigations of allegations of overspending and insider deals as well as the tens of millions of dollars paid to outside counsel William Brewer.(See his ratings of individual board members here.)
By warning board members not to turn their backs on that significant pile of cash, it isn’t difficult to imagine another possible move…namely, an additional lawsuit — this time directed at board members — for the alleged breach of their fiduciary responsibilities.
Finally, in his letters to the New York and D.C. attorneys general (here and here, both PDF), Dell’Aquila expresses his hopes that neither will 1) drag out their investigations unnecessarily into the election year, or 2) politicize their findings.
Given the animosity that both public officials have openly expressed toward the NRA and the scorpion-like nature of all politicians, those hopes seem overly-optimistic at best.