As you may have seen, the National Rifle Association’s Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly yesterday to retain embattled CEO Wayne LaPierre in the association’s top spot. Reportedly only 49 of the directors attended the meeting and 44 of them voted to retain LaPierre despite all of the scandals and investigations surrounding the long-time NRA leader.
The NY Post has the report . . .
The National Rifle Association on Saturday said its board of directors reelected controversial CEO Wayne LaPierre.
The gun-rights group tweeted that Charles Cotton was elected president, Ret. Lt. Col. Willes K. Lee was elected first vice president, and David Coy second vice president.
The votes took place at a board meeting in Charlotte, N.C., that followed the annual members meeting.
“The proceedings in Charlotte were an amazing celebration of NRA fellowship and freedom,” Cotton said in a statement that accompanied the tweet. “Under the direction of Wayne LaPierre, the NRA is strong and secure – well positioned to chart its course for the future.”
Cotton is best known for blaming the 2015 massacre at a Charleston, S.C., church on the anti-gun pastor killed in the attack.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement on LaPierre’s re-election. As one might imagine, she wasn’t cheered by the news (or maybe she was). From the NYAG’s office . . .
“The NRA’s decision to re-elect Wayne LaPierre and other top leaders yesterday despite the detailed evidence of repeated fraud and self-dealing we have laid out in our lawsuit and during the bankruptcy trial underscores that board governance is broken and that the rot runs deep at the NRA. For years, Mr. LaPierre and his lieutenants used the NRA and its donors as a breeding ground for personal gain and to live a lavish lifestyle, which is why they must be removed. Our fight for transparency and accountability will continue because no one is above the law.”
Here’s how Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitprop generator, The Trace, reported the news…
NRA directors reelect CEO Wayne LaPierre. At a sparsely attended annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, a small crew of NRA members and directors seeking reform drew little support. Frank Tait, an NRA life member and critic of current leadership, put forward a resolution calling for the resignation of LaPierre and other officers. The resolution was blocked and did not get a vote. Board gadfly Phil Journey, who led an effort to investigate the New York attorney general’s allegations against the NRA during the group’s failed Texas bankruptcy, nominated fellow director Rocky Marshall for LaPierre’s post. Marshall is attempting to intervene in the New York suit, arguing that NRA leadership is not acting in the group’s best interests. His nomination went nowhere. According to an account that Tait posted online, 49 out of 76 board members attended. Tait reported that 44 directors voted to reelect LaPierre, two voted against him, and three did not vote.
Over at NRA in Danger, their people wrote of the experience first hand . . .
I counted about 120 members attending, just barely a quorum (100). It was probably the smallest members’ meeting in the last century. There was easily space for 300-400, so we have to wonder why the sign-up webpage was turning people away with the claim all seats had been taken. Did the webpage operator just set it to turn everyone else away, or did chosen directors have their friends reserve seats, knowing they would not attend?
Frank Tait moved a resolution calling for resignations of LaPierre, Frazer, Meadows, Cotton, and Willes Lee., which was opposed by director Joel Friedman, who sold out to LaPierre two years ago. The members present (directors and friends, mostly) voted overwhelmingly to duck the issue and not vote on it. The meeting quickly adjourned.
The directors’ meeting was brief. Only 49 were present. Predictably, it re-elected LaPierre and Frazier. Director Phil Journey nominated Rocky Marshall for EVP, but LaPierre was elected 44-2. Board officers now are Charles Cotton, president, Willis Lee, 1st VP, David Coy, 2nd VP. It is remarkable that two of the three (Cotton and Coy) are members of the board’s Audit Committee, which spent the last two years covering up and not auditing anything.
The non-attendance isn’t surprising. Under the past bylaws, NRA had to advertise the members’ meeting in two consecutive issues of the official publications, and the meetings were heavily promoted. The fact that 2,000 to 5,000 members would attend was a boasting point.
Last year the bylaws were changed to require only notice in accord with the law of New York. New York law is written for tiny nonprofits, which most are, and just requires three publications in a newspaper where the nonprofit is headquartered. We could find no such publication, but then received a tip to look in the Fairfax Connection, a tiny (12 page) weekly newspaper. On page 10 of the Sept 16-22 issue, you find….
It’s clear that there isn’t any level of (alleged) mismanagement or corruption that will prevent LaPierre’s hand-picked cronies on the board from reelecting him.