“It shocks the conscience to read that certain board members have apparently not kept themselves updated, informed and active on matters on matters that are of interest to our 5 million members.”
That’s a line from a statement that the Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski posted from NRA President Carolyn Meadows, First Vice President Charles Cotton and Second Vice President LTC Willes Lee.
The NRA officers’ statement is in response to accusations from NRA Board member Allen West’s characterization of their comments in the media as “outright lies.”
Here’s Gutowski’s tweet with the full statement. Read the whole thing.
NEW: The NRA responds to board member @AllenWest‘s call for Wayne LaPierre to resign.
“It is unfortunate that certain board members have resorted to making false and misleading public statements about proceedings of the NRA board of directors.” pic.twitter.com/dgR8NPUGfp
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) May 14, 2019
The best defense is a good offense.
I’m just curious why it looks like Wayne LaPierre tried to launder the NRA paying for a sorority girl intern’s $4500 a month apartment near NRA HQ by running the billing through Ack Mack. I’ve been half-tempted to email her and ask her directly.
And now she’s risen in the ranks at NRA HQ into the “gifts” department. I got a $20 bill that says her compensation is quite generous.
LaPierre needs to resign. Along the cabal of LaPierre bootlickers. There I said it publicly.
Gotta keep the side chick close to work man. That way when you “work late” if the wife gets suspicious and drives to work to check, your car is in the parkin lot at work while you are in a young intern. Besides it’s only logical she be in the *ahem* gifts department as she gives plenty of gifts to the board and she deserves to be generously compensated for swallowing such a large tasks daily.
Uh, hmm, how do you know how large Wayne and the board members are?;-)
I said large tasks not large board members. She gulps down large task loads with ease no matter how big or small the task she milks every task dry and asks for more.
When you look at the university system it’s not uncommon for someone in the “gifts coordinator” or “alumni donations coordinator” position to be better paid than most other people at the school.
On the one hand that’s screwed up but in a certain way it kind of makes sense, they generally bring in a LOT more money than some professor or administrator.
There’s a professor at the local 2nd tier state university that got a $200k/yr tenured position teaching just one class per semester! He got this for knowing the right person.
Meanwhile, said university overuses adjunct professors who literally haven’t seen raise in decades. It’s the way of the world.
Yeah, sometimes they buy a name.
If that’s good or bad for the school depends. There are some folks out there who get that kind of pay because their name, in and of itself, wins grants because of the prior work they’ve done. Meaning that if the school picks them up they can basically write grant-proposals for anything in that person’s field and the grants are likely to be approved.
Then there’s the way certain professors attract those who want to work with a name. The Prof brings in five post-docs who all have a number of grad students who all have a number of undergrads that are being supervised. So paying him $200K may bring in the school twice that a year in tuition from those that came specifically to work under that professor because having that name on their resume is what advances careers to the next stage.
As for tenure vs. other tracks, well, they’re different. Tenure has benefits but it’s only for certain people. If you’re not really dedicated to research AND teaching AND “service” (like administrating undergraduate studies for your department, setting up/running a learning lab, running enrichment programs etc) then tenure isn’t for you. If you’re not interested in being basically reliant on that specific school then tenure isn’t for you.
Generally speaking tenured professors are expected to engage in research, teaching and “service” and excel in at least two of those while non-tenured professors are expected to engage in teaching and “service” and excel in one of them. Research-track folks are expected to research.
There’s a lot of complaining that non-tenured professors don’t get paid enough but really they get paid about the same as most tenured professors when you add in the time that a tenured professor spends on things that an adjunct professor doesn’t do. That extra money, in most cases (but not all, abuse exists in every system) that a tenured professor gets also reflects that they put in an extra 20-30 hours a week.
I’m familiar with this situation. The professor in question isn’t anyone special. All he does is teach one simple class. He had a connection to set him up with the job. The university has spent 100s of millions in the past few years expanding like crazy. It had to jack up tuition, so naturally enrollment is now down. Oh and the adjunct professors haven’t had a raise in literally 20 years. It’s just a tiny little example in my neck of the woods of what’s happening all across the country.
If Megan is Wayne’s side chick that would really suck for Mrs. LaPierre seeing she is trying to empower women and have them stand united, yet Wayne might have been #MeTooing an “intern.”
Thanks for the rumor mongoring. I’m sure your buds in the demanding mommies suck it right up.
Notice how I said “if” and “might” instead of saying that is in fact what happened? People have been throwing absolute statements out there, I try not to do that, but I won’t ignore or hide the possibilities.
Did you see the letters where NRA insiders claim there was sexual harassment/misconduct being covered up or ignored by Wayne? The media have reported it on their websites and TV shows. In other words, they already put those things out there for the public to consume and use against the 2A supporters.
Maybe you haven’t read all the NRA documents that have been published on the corporate media sites?
Mrs. LaPierre, if you’re reading this, please take his pre ’86 machine gun collection in the divorce.
@John Boch:
“LaPierre needs to resign. Along the cabal of LaPierre bootlickers.”
That goes for me too. It’s a long time overdue.
Ahhh, maybe THIS is what they mean by inequality. All this time my wife and my side chick have been the same person. My white privilege check won’t cover any more than that, not at current ammo prices, anyway.
Lucky you. My wife left with my side chick, the ran off together. Even with the additional savings with both gone, I still cannot afford my ammo bill.
Where did the “edit” or whatever it is now called button redisappear to now?
So, was that picture the other day someone posted of the girl in a pool the ‘intern’ (intern as in internal for WLP, I’m sure…) in question?
..and West had better not back down and bow out on this…
Sorry — but I trust West!
I do not understand West’s position. Is he against a full accounting from AM? If so, then why?
Perhaps the wife is more then happy the hubbies not around. It’s all fun and games until someone gets a cross bolt in the eye
That ‘arrangement’ certainly works quite well for Senator Cankles and President Slick Willie…
This is really getting old, yes the foxes are in charge of the chicken coups. They sound like all the liberal democraps screaming impeach Trump. The time is now for all NRA board members to resign or take the whole organization down with them. They NO longer have my support or money period.
You accidentally coined a phrase that had never occurred to me before: “chicken coup.”
It’s an apt description here, I think: An attempt to take out the boss but with too many in the attempt lacking the courage to succeed. LtCol. North was no doubt vastly disappointed by board members who simply voted to keep the schemes going because to do otherwise would take courage.
No one can doubt Allen West’s courage, but he probably still has too little support to succeed, sadly.
===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle (@DeHavelle)
In a chicken coup, only the cowards survive.
NRA President Carolyn Meadows, First Vice President Charles Cotton and Second Vice President LTC Willes Lee should be the first to go along with their miscreant leader Wayne La Pee, then sort out other miscreants and rid them as they are identified.
It sounds like LaPierre and others were perfectly justified and reasonable in their request for a detailed accounting from AM. But AM is fighting this request tooth and nail. And North helped lead the fight against this request.
It’s odd that West is apparently taking the side of Ackerman McQueen. Has he explained why he thinks AM expenditures need to remain hidden?
Show me where he said that there shouldn’t be a detailed accounting from AM. I must have missed that.
The AM accounting should continue, but so should the NRA’s.
LaPierre went after AM.
Then North and now West went after LaPierre.
Basic question: their actions de facto serve to protect AM. Is this their intent? And do they believe that keeping AM’s books closed helps the NRA with their NY ordeals?
People may or may not have beefs with LaPierre. The larger issue is that the NRA has to be well prepared before NY audits them and seeks to remove their nonprofit status. AM is not helping in this financial preparation. North and now West are helping AM not turn over information. Was this outcome their goal?
The way I understand it, North was being paid by AM through the NRA. So it’s possible he had ulterior motives, but that doesn’t change what has been brought to light. Show me where West has an interest with AM, and then maybe we can be suspicious of his motives.
None of the above changes what we now know as Wayne LaPierre sucking off the NRA teat for god knows how long. Non-profits and government run institutions are not the same as private companies. LaPierre thinks he’s a successful CEO of a for profit company. Let’s not pretend that the AM deal is anything new. Who’s been approving the checks to them all of this time? Did the NRA wake up one morning and say “whoops, where did that $100 million in donations go?”
Honestly, it actually looks like a cover up to distract from the shitty leadership and management of the NRA.
Here’s a wild ass idea! Just sit back, quit speculating, and wait for the FACTS to come out!!
I don’t see that we have the luxury of the time needed to let this simply run its course. Every day this selfish, self serving arrogant posturing of NRA’s inner circle goes on, we the members lose. Anti’s, the Left, MSM are gloating in this nonsense.
Maybe more importantly is the 2020 elections. We are waist deep in the election cycle already and this fight stands to fuel the lefts arguments and further discredit NRA…that hurts POTUS, which further hurts us.
I happen to trust and believe LTC West. I also belief that after all the years that he has been there at the helm, if Wayne loved the organization and its mission he would step aside and allow NRA to get back to basics, it’s core mission. Which, IMO does NOT include supporting the obscene compensation and expense perks he has been able to secure for himself.
NRA is supposed to be about us, the Membership. LTC West is the first Board Member or Executive to utter the word. Every other statement I’ve read has been leadership preservation centric with no mention of the folks who pay all of these bills…us.
The facts are available, but the NRA executives (CEO/Pres/VP) are clearly trying to hide them behind a cloud of Spin. How much longer are you willing to wait for the Facts? Isn’t the constant denial, deflection and spin enough to cause you to lose faith the the current leadership? Even if the accusations aren’t entirely true, the arrogant and condescending response by Wayne and others shows that they have no regard for the membership for whom they are supposed to serve.
Mr. Hodges, if we sit back and wait, as you suggest, nothing will happen. The facts will never come out that way.
The NRA can sit back and wait for my donation. I hope they brought a comfy chair.
Great minds think alike.
All I can say is go goa
“matters on matters that are of interest to our 5 million members.”
Like LaPierre’s explicit admission in 2017 that he lied to the membership to pass gun control in 86? His testimony before congress in favor of more gun control? His speech at the 1999 convention?
The NRA’s point out the relect was “unanimous”, which is a good thing to point out. Acclamation or not, the word “unanimous” still means “unanimous”. Why did nobody say “No” till after it mattered? Well West? Brownell? Colandro? We know why Hammer didn’t say anything.
What if all they knew was that WLP was pursuing a full accounting from Ackerman McQueen and getting a lot of pushback?
It doesn’t say anything good about the board’s functioning if most of them knew nothing, but that’s the kind of secret cronyism that’s been going on, it seems. If they had known what we all know now, weeks later, maybe they’d have done it differently.
As I’ve said before, I’m not defending any of the board. All I care about is that the NRA is run ethically so that it can actually BE the defender of the 2A it claims to be.
One thing about a vote by acclamation: no individual votes are on record. The insiders could’ve had any number of “preliminary discussions” to eliminate dissent and manufacture a false unanimity. Or just said it was unanimous when it really wasn’t. I wouldn’t put anything past them.
I’d say that’s a an option, but West doesn’t actually contest its unanimity.
I just renewed my membership before the annual meeting. I only wish that all the information about the financials had been released sooner. As a non-profit I would expect only reasonable spending. Now I know why I am asked and “reminded” to renew multiple times in a year. My dues are not being spent to support all gun owners just the gang at headquarters. Bring back Ollie North. This group is as bad as the politicians in Washington.
How many of you commenters are members in Cuomo’s “organized community?” Or perhaps a community organizer yourself? Lived a long time in NY and can sniff out community organizing a mile away! Think I’ll send some extra money to the NRA to help offset lack of donations from those that bought into ( hopefully temporarily) some of this crap.
You know, if you keep smelling something everywhere you go, there’s a good chance it’s coming from yourself…
Ackerman McQueen has a hell of a large outreach presence (all that junk mail & all those robocalls come from them), and they have a much greater interest in their gravy train running uninterrupted, than Bloomberg does in embarrassing the NRA & driving them to a more hardline stance.
I wouldn’t put it past Ackerman McQueen to pay online posters to frequent influential forums and attempt to maintain NRA fealty by defaming all critics (such as those they already sponsor NRA articles in, lol). The fact this scenario is even possible illustrates just how bad the NRA situation has been allowed to become.
I smell a technique known as projection now….
I smell a technique known as FUD now.
Not that you’re spreading it on purpose, but it sure is present in all of the talking that’s going on.
Although maybe you are. Or I am. Who’s to know?
Really, though, who’s to know what’s true and who is lying or just indulging in baseless speculation that sounds good? We don’t have a whole lot to go on right now, and influential people on all sides of this mess are playing the game for their own personal benefit.
A lot, if not most of the commenters here have been on this site for years and consistent supporters of the Second Amendment. You, not so much.
It would seem that the leadership has lost the confidence of it’s members (and board, which represent it’s members).
If it were a publicly traded company, we would ask for leadership to step down so as not to remain a distraction for the organization’s mission. Happens quite often, and is not in and of itself an admission of guilt.
The left is winning the NRA’s internal war, as things stand now.
As an endowment member, I stand firm with saying NRA has abused my monetary contributions and the contributions of all other members working long hours to fund contributions believing our money was spent wisely in defending the Second Amendment. I am disgusted learning of the excesses taken by the officers and stupid statement by the NRA president. Alan West is right. Its disappointing he’s the only one to speak out. The NRA has to come clean to its members and publish a full audit of all expenses. And then is needs to clean house. Not until such actions are taken will I work another overtime hour to donate to the NRA.
As an endowment member, I stand firm with saying NRA has abused my monetary contributions and the contributions of all other members working long hours to fund contributions believing our money was spent wisely in defending the Second Amendment. I am disgusted learning of the excesses taken by the officers and stupid statement by the NRA president. Alan West is right. Its disappointing he’s the only one to speak out. The NRA has to come clean to its members and publish a full audit of all expenses. And then it needs to clean house. Not until such actions are taken will I work another overtime hour to donate to the NRA.
Peace of electorate, purity of expenses.
If the Board won’t fire those at the top, then the Board needs to be fired by the Membership. Fix it or burn it down.
As Seth Rollins would say. Burn it Down! Burn the whole board down and start over. Start wuth an all new board, no celebrities on the board from here on out (let them be ambassadors or something), set the board up so that they actually have to listen to the will of the membership and act accordingly, and put controls in place to ensure this never happens again.
“NRA President Carolyn Meadows, First Vice President Charles Cotton and Second Vice President LTC Willes Lee.”
The above “leaders” can provide proof for their statements by releasing ALL formal communications between board members. Or at least the communications that are in questions that were raised in the above story.
That’s not allowed because they signed non disclosures.
When they go into executive session no information is allowed out, not even to NRA members. That’s why there was an argument at the members meetings to not go into executive session where the corrupt will hide. The “leaders” made sure to get the meeting sent into executive session, then they released their PR saying Wayne wins again.
That is why I trust West. He has a history of honorable actions. The others have no such history. Including some ex military board members.
Gee Whiz Wally …… It’s almost as if the N.R.A. is compromised from within by Dems. , Anti-Gunners and socialist moles , in addition to the just plain greedy con artists.
It is OUR DUTY as people of the gun to put down this Rabid Dog that no longer heeds its Master >>> US.
NRA is too big , too bloated, too broken to ” fix “.
G.O.A. is already there , on mission and without ” compromise “
Charles Cotton has GOT TO GO! This is the same guy that runs the TexasCHL forum and heaven help you if you bad mouth (or even question) the NRA. He’s part of that old guard that needs to be removed.