by The quote in the title is attributed to King Henry II of England with reference to his dispute with Thomas a’Becket who was the Archbishop of Canterbury. In response, four Norman knights traveled from Normandy to Canterbury, confronted Thomas, and ultimately killed him. The murder in 1170 was later made into plays by T. S. Eliot and Jean Anouilh as well as a movie with Richard Burton.
This is not meant to be a history or literature lesson. Rather a lawsuit by the NRA against Oliver North in NY Supreme Court, County of Albany made me think of that quote.
I could almost hear Wayne LaPierre saying, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome president.” To which, William Brewer III replied, “I will, my liege!”
The complaint, much of which is redacted, seeks to have Oliver North removed from the NRA Board of Directors. According to a footnote, they redacted much of the complaint because it might contain information that Col. North might argue should be kept under seal.
The complaint alleges that Col. North has an “irreconcilable conflict” due to his employment with Ackerman McQueen and his membership on the Board of Directors. The Audit Committee, which had approved the arrangement, later rescinded their approval in May 2019 after the conflict between Wayne LaPierre and Col. North had come to a head.
The NRA is seeking a declaration that Col. North’s refusal to terminate his employment with Ackerman McQueen “was an election by him to terminate his NRA Board membership.” Here is where I might note that Col. North was the leading vote-getter in the 2019 NRA Board of Director election.
The attorneys bringing he lawsuit on behalf are Svetlana Eisenberg and William Brewer III of Brewer, Attorneys and Counselors.
When Pete Brownell resigned as President of the NRA in 2018, a great effort was made to get Col. North to be President. At the time, he was under contract to Fox News and would have to resign that in order to become NRA President. I have been told by multiple insiders as well as have seen in court filings that Wayne LaPierre actually negotiated Col. North’s contract with Ackerman McQueen. The whole “they won’t give us the contract” so we can know what conflicts Ollie has is a charade as is the declaration by the Audit Committee.
In reality, the conflict is between Wayne LaPierre, his cronies on the Board, and his attorney who is sucking the NRA dry and those who wanted to return the NRA to effectiveness and to see Brewer gone.
I can’t say I have ever been a North fan. If there are good guys here, it is not one of the principal players-WLP, North, Ackerman et al and Brewer I think there are good guys on the board but they are powerless it seems. North and Ackerman are gone but somehow WLP and Brewer need to be removed if the NRA is to continue. If the NRA goes down, it will be disastrous to the cause. Been a while since I looked at the financials but they looked on the road to bankruptcy last time I looked. I assume there will be new stuff at the rescheduled national meeting which I assume you will link too. Hopefully, I am being too pessimistic. I don’t see anyone else out there that can fill the niche. GoA is useless. SAF is good but is in a different niche. Perhaps breakaway board members can incorporate as a new organization (Reformed NRA) and try to take as many members and non-member supporters with them as they can. Initially, membership should be limited to former NRA members or it will be infiltrated and destroyed by leftists. I would certainly give it a look. NRA life member but I have suspended contributions until this sorts out so I have some money for dues should there be someone to send them too.