Earlier today, NRA President Bob Barr sent an email out to the Board of Directors with “a litigation update.” It details what the Special Litigation Committee agrees with in the NYAG’s proposed judgment and what it disagrees with. Towards the end of the email Barr accuses Director Rocky Marshall of submitting an affidavit ” in support of the NYAG’s demands for additional relief against the NRA.” You can read the whole email here where it has been reposted on Facebook.
Rocky did not take this lying down and has responded at length. He has requested that his response be published in its entirety along with his affidavit and a joint letter submitted by Rocky and Buz Mills to the New York court in August. I am happy to provide Rocky a public forum to set the record straight. As Tom Gresham of Gun Talk Radio has often said, “A lie left unchallenged becomes the truth.”
Here is Rocky’s letter in its entirety:
October 6, 2024
To: Bob Barr
From: Rocky Marshall
CC: NRA Board of Directors and all NRA Members
Not Privileged and Not Confidential – Share with as many NRA members as possible
NRA President Bob Barr:
In your email addressed to the NRA Board of Directors (dated October 6, 2024), includes a retaliation statement towards me directly. Because of this attack, I am compelled to respond to the NRA Board of Directors and also to all NRA members in a public forum.
In your email, you comment that I provided an affidavit “in support of the NYAG’s request for additional relief”. This is untrue, blatantly false, and is a feeble small minded political attack. The affidavit that I signed was not a statement of support but instead was a true account of the resolution to dissolve the Special Litigation Committee (SLC) and the subsequent outcome of the vote (See attached affidavit).
For the record, the NRA Directors who supported Wayne LaPierre and now support maintaining the Brewer law firm into perpetuity, misused the parliamentarian rules and recorded the vote as having not passed with a super majority. As it turns out, according to the New York AG’s charitable division, NY law says a majority of the board governs unless the bylaws says otherwise, NRA’s bylaws adopt Robert’s Rules, but only as to deliberations, not voting, so for voting the NY statute applies and a simple majority is enough. In other words, the majority of the Board voted to end the SLC and by default terminate the employment of the Bill Brewer law firm. I join with the majority of the Board and echo this simple but monumental refrain: “Bill Brewer You’re Fired!”
NRA Members:
President Barr (unfortunately) is a central member of the NRA Directors identified in the NYAG’s statement as: “Many of the same NRA directors who failed in their duty to oversee the NRA during an era of “ill-considered,” “wasteful,” and “disastrous” efforts to “avoid accountability” continue to serve on the Board today. Id. at 2253:9-13.” President Barr and the members of the SLC continue to take action that is adverse and detrimental to the stability and future of the NRA. The SLC is operating beyond its authority and every member of the SLC should immediately resign for the good of the order.
President Barr also identifies issues that are described as “areas of disagreement” with the NYAG’s proposal. I completely disagree with President Barr and the Brewer Law firm position that is being promoted which does not represent the majority of the NRA Directors.
Forms of Relief:
Board Size Referendum – This idea is the result of the court being informed by NRA members and other expert witnesses that the NRA Board size is too large. This is an arbitrary solution to a perceived problem. I believe that an optimal Board size can be determined after reviewing the work that is currently being performed at the Board level. In total, there are 44 committees that perform a wide variety of oversight and also managerial tasks. This is worth reviewing, but is not a quick fix to a suggested solution.
In a letter to Judge Cohen on August 14, 2024, Buz Mills and I drafted a similar idea (attachment)
Item# 10 We propose that the appropriate size of the NRA Board of Directors be determined in reviewing best practices of similar boards with significant numbers of committees. We suggest that this item be delegated to the new leadership of NRA 2.0 to investigate and propose a solution to the NYAG’s charitable division that can be mutually agreed upon.
Director Nomination: This idea is a good attempt at removing the punitive bias and retaliation that has existed with the NRA nominating Committee historically and thru the current election cycle. Enlarging
the number of candidates for the Board would provide NRA members more options to choose among qualified candidates as opposed to hand selected candidates by the old guard. I fully support this idea and will work to implement with the NRA Directors during this election cycle.
In a letter to Judge Cohen on August 14, 2024, Buzz Mills and I drafted a similar idea: Item #2 The NRA 2.0 Leadership has recruited candidates to be considered in the next election cycle and we request that all eligible candidates be automatically included on the next election ballot which will be voted on by members in January 2025. The Nominating Committee should be directed to approve every candidate who meets the basic qualifications: Life Member or above for at least five years. Any current Directors running for reelection should be excluded from the ballot if the Director has poor attendance in the previous year of service.
Committee Membership: Removing directors that served on key committees during the critical years whereby fiduciary oversight was absent is a just and appropriate result due to negligence. I fully support this idea and confident that the NRA will have excellent committees in place in the coming weeks.
In a letter to Judge Cohen on August 14, 2024, Buzz Mills and I drafted a similar idea: Item #6 All individuals identified in phase 1 trial as in support of, enabling, facilitating the misuse of funds of the NRA, and all identified “cabal” members be banned from holding any office, chair or vice chair or tier 1 committee member for 3 years.
Committees of the Board: This is an idea proposed by the NYAG and I do not believe will improve the functioning of the committees. The downside to this idea is that potentially a committee (such as the SLC) could operate independently of the Board. As long as good Directors are in place, the committees should be able to operate in accordance with the goals and the direction provided by the entire Board. However, if the committee is operating adverse to the Board then the consequences can be significant.
Compliance Consultant: This idea identified by the NYAG is to provide additional external oversight. I disagree with the NYAG’s position because we have abundant oversight in place. I testified during the trial that we do not have a process problem but instead have a people problem. All of the corruption that occurred was due to the individuals managing the NRA and the NRA Directors that were complicit. We have proper controls in place thanks to Doug Hamlin, Sonya Rawlings, and Bob Mensinger and all transactions are being audited and verified.
Internal Control Audit : This is also an idea proposed by the NYAG to assure that all processes, transactions are being managed correctly. This is not a big issue and the NRA can easily adopt.
NRA members, we are making great strides with all of the changes that been implemented and today the NRA Board of Directors has a majority of good Directors that will shape the future of the NRA for decades to come. As you can sense by this letter, we have issues to resolve and will correct the problems of the past in order to return the NRA back to you – the members. NRA 2.0 is here and we need your support.
Sincerely,
Rocky Marshall
NRA Board Director 2021, 2024-present
The first attachment referred to by Rocky is his affidavit. I have read it multiple times and it is, in my opinion, a straightforward recital of the vote regarding the attempted dissolution of the Special Litigation Committee. I reported on that almost two weeks ago in an annotated post. The annotations indicated who is up for re-election and how they were nominated.
The other document that Rocky refers to in his letter is the joint letter that he and Buz Mills sent to Judge Cohen.
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