Month: September 2024

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NRA Petition Candidate – Charles Brown

September 13, 2024 by

Charles “Charlie” Brown is the President and owner of MKS Supply out of Dayton, Ohio. You may not recognize MKS Supply but you certainly will recognize some of their brands including Inland Manufacturing and Hi-Point. Originally hired as a sales representative with the predecessor company when he graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a business degree, he worked his way up and purchased the company in 1994. He would bring a level of business and management experience to the Board of Directors that is sorely lacking. His “official bio” is below:

Charles Brown BIODownload

You can return Charlie’s petition either to him directly at 2446 Glen Arbor Ct, Dayton, OH 45414. Alternatively, you can return it along with other petitions to Rocky Marshall. That address is Frontier Truck Gear, Attn Rocky Marshall, PO Box 277, Center Point, TX 78010. Regardless of which address you send it, the petition should be sent so that it arrives by September 30th. Both the Complementary Spouse and I have signed his petition.

Charles Brown PetitionDownload

I understand that Charlie has promised a Yeet Cannon 9 to everyone who signs his petition. Sorry – just kidding!

As with all of these petition candidates, if you can get more voting members to sign it, so much the better. A voting member is a) a Life Member of whatever level or b) an Annual Member with five years of continuous membership without a break.

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NRA Petition Candidate – Paul Babaz

September 13, 2024 by

Paul Babaz was another sitting director who was not re-nominated by the Nominating Committee. As he noted to me in an email, he didn’t get re-nominated “as I haven’t been falling in line with the cabal.” As NRA In Danger opined, he was purged.

Prior to serving on the NRA Board of Directors, Paul was president of Safari Club International. While a much smaller organization, it, too, has a large board of directors but they seem to be more frugal with their members’ dues. For example, last year they instituted a policy change whereby if you were coming to a committee meeting at the same time as the annual convention you paid your own expenses. Would that the NRA was that frugal with members’ dues.

Paul is currently a Managing Director-Investments and a Financial Advisor with Oppenheimer & Co. in Atlanta. His NRA biography is below:

Paul Babaz BIODownload

You can return Paul’s petition either to him directly at PO Box 81795, Atlanta, GA 30341. Alternatively, you can return it along with other petitions to Rocky Marshall. That address is Frontier Truck Gear, Attn Rocky Marshall, PO Box 277, Center Point, TX 78010. Regardless of which address you send it, the petition should be sent so that it arrives by September 30th. Both the Complementary Spouse and I have signed his petition.

Paul Babaz PetitionDownload

As with all of these petition candidates, if you can get more voting members to sign it, so much the better. A voting member is a) a Life Member of whatever level or b) an Annual Member with five years of continuous membership without a break.

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NRA Petition Candidate – Jim Porter

September 13, 2024 by

Former NRA President Jim Porter has been a thorn in the side of Bill Brewer. From what I understand, he has challenged both his competence and his billings.

It was Mr. Porter who moved that the May 2024 board meeting remain open and not in Executive Session. This was the meeting that saw three of the four reform candidates win officer or executive positions.

While not privy to the discussions within the Nominating Committee, I have to assume opposition from the cabal was one of the reasons he was not re-nominated for the 2025 ballot. It is virtually unheard of that a former NRA president is not nominated for re-election. Yet both he and Marion Hammer were not nominated for re-election. NRA In Danger has referred to this as the second director’s purge.

Since the Nominating Committee didn’t put Mr. Porter on the ballot, it falls to you and me to do it by petition.

James W. Porter IIDownload

You can return Mr. Porter’s petition either to him directly at 880 Montclair Rd, Suite 175, Birmingham, AL 35213. Alternatively, you can return it along with other petitions to Rocky Marshall. That address is Frontier Truck Gear, Attn Rocky Marshall, PO Box 277, Center Point, TX 78010. Regardless of which address you send it, the petition should be sent so that it arrives by September 30th.

According to his firm biography, Mr. Porter, an attorney, concentrates on defense work for public utilities and product liability claims for the firearms industry. His biography related to his work with the NRA is below.

Jim Porter BIODownload

Both the Complementary Spouse and I have signed Mr. Porter’s petition and returned it. I would urge you to do so as well. His experience is necessary if the reform of the NRA is to be successful.

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An Example Of A Board Of Directors Doing The Right Thing

September 12, 2024 by 2 Comments

Norfolk Southern Corporation is the fifth largest railroad in the United States. It has 20,200 employees, 21,300 miles of track, and generated $12.2 billion in revenues in 2023. Its board of directors has 13 members including the CEO. When it needs to act in a hurry, it acts.

On September 8th, the company announced the Board of Directors had opened an investigation into potential conduct by its CEO Alan Shaw that contravened the company’s policys and its Code of Ethics. The release noted that the company takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and the Board’s Audit Committee had hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation.

Picture courtesy of Norfolk Southern corporate website.

Alan Shaw joined Norfolk Southern in 1994 and became CEO in 2022. Prior to that he was an Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer for six years and the VP in charge of Intermodal Operations prior to that.

Today, in an unanimous vote, the Board of Directors fired Shaw for having a consensual relationship with a subordinate. The subordinate, Nabanita Nag, was the Executive Vice President Corporate Affairs, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary. She was also terminated today.

Shaw was paid $13.4 million in 2023. However, since he was fired for cause, it is unlikely he will receive any severance or other deferred compensation.

I want to emphasize that Mr. Shaw was in a consensual relationship with Ms. Nag. He morever had not diverted any corporate funds for his personal use nor was it found that he had violated his fiduciary duties to Norfolk Southern or its shareholders.

This is an example of a Board of Directors acting as it should. They had credible allegations of misconduct in violation of company policy, they investigated it, and they acted expeditiously.

I bring up this example of board action to provide a contrast with the Board of Directors of the NRA. Many on that Board either knew or should have known that Wayne LaPierre was abusing his role as EVP and CEO for improper gains. The Audit Committee had heard from whistleblowers allegations of financial improprieties and did nothing. They had the Frenkel Report as early as 2003 showing financial abuses of credit cards by Wayne’s gatekeeper Millie Hallow. All of this was on top of the issues raised by Ollie North and Richard Childress in 2019. Instead of taking a positive stance and terminating Wayne, they defended him up until he resigned earlier this year.

There are two morals to this story. The first is that when presented with credible evidence of violations of company policy, a good board acted as they should have done. The NRA’s board did not. The second is that an effective board cannot have 76 directors if it is to be a viable board and do its fiduciary duty. The Norfolk Southern board had 12 independent members and they not only did their duty but did it quickly.

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Whistleblower Lawsuit Filed Against NRA In Virginia Court

September 10, 2024 by 2 Comments

Apryl Marie Fogel, former Director of the Women’s Leadership Forum, filed suit this past Friday afternoon against the NRA in Fairfax County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges the NRA violated the Virginia Whistleblower Protection Law, Va. Code § 40.1-27.3, by terminating her after she had made numerous reports about the misuse of monies in violation of the NRA’s own policies. She reported these violations to, among others, former Executive Director of Advancement Tyler Schropp and current NRA Director Janet Nyce. Nyce also serves as the co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum.

Representing Ms. Fogel is attorney Jane Lemley of the firm Harrison and Johnston, PLC of Winchester, Virginia. Lemley is an expert in employment and labor law who has been listed in multiple issues of The Best Lawyers in America.

The suit alleges:

  • Fogel reported to both Tyler Schropp as Executive Director of the Office of Advancement and to the co-chairs of the Women’s Leadership Forum Janet Nyce and Jane Brown.
  • Fogel had worked with other tax-exempt charitable organizations and understood that accurate records of both donations and donors must be kept under Federal and applicable state law.
  • Fogel understood that donor funds given to the NRA and WLF could not be used for “expensive services, lavish gifts, and personal gain.”
  • Fogel erroneously assumed that both Schropp and Nyce were as equally committed as she to “to ensuring that the NRA complied with applicable federal and state law with respect to financial management and use of donated funds.”
  • That contractor MC500 provided “black car services” to Janet Nyce in violation of NRA policy for which the NRA was charged $150 per hour.
  • That contractor MC500 often charged for work that could be done in-house at the NRA and that often was never completed. This included flying Jennifer Bridgeman, the Chief Marketing Officer of MC500, to take minutes at a meeting of the WLF Executive Council at Janet Nyce’s request notwithstanding that NRA staff could complete the same task.
  • Fogel reassigned much of this work to NRA staff as a cost saving and efficiency measure cutting out MC500. This led to Janet Nyce calling and shouting at Fogel as Nyce said it was “her prerogative to incur whatever cost she saw fit for the WLF program.”
  • Fogel reported this to Schropp along with her cost saving measures and was angrily told “to stay in her lane.”
  • After this and other incidents, Schropp and Nyce treated Fogel in such a manner as to create a toxic work environment. Nyce went so far as to convene “a meeting of the WLF staff and leadership at the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, but excluded Ms. Fogel, the Director of the WLF, from this meeting.
  • Fogel was ordered by Susan LaPierre to purchase a “$240 Baccarat crystal butterfly” as a gift to Indiana First Lady Janet Holcombe using her personal credit card. Upon investigation, Fogel determined making such a gift would violate Indiana law regarding the value of gifts. LaPierre was not pleased to be told this. Following this, she was retaliated against by Mrs. LaPierre, Jane Brown, Nyce, and the infamous former intern Megan Allen who had her apartment expenses paid by the NRA.
  • Fogel became concerned about a potential security breach involving donors due to a Dropbox maintained by MC500 entitled “WLF Shared Folder” that would allow former NRA employees access. Schropp dismissed her concerns but they were validated by NRA Security Manager Bob Jenkins.
  • There was improper and haphazard record keeping when it came to WLF member donations. Often donations would be credited to the wrong person including Janet Nyce.
  • Fogel had her probationary period extended another 90 days in retaliation for reporting these issues.
  • Finally, two days after she reported the security breach and soon after she had delivered a report on NRA-WLF financial mismanagement to Schropp, Nyce, Brown, and director Barbara Rumpel, she was terminated with no explanation.

Fogel is asking that she be reinstated to her former position or a comparable one, that she be paid $150,000 in compensation for lost wages and benefits, that she be awarded attorney costs, and that applicable interest should be paid on the lost wages. She is also asking for a jury trial.

Fogel has communicated to me that she did not want to bring this lawsuit but was facing the statute of limitations on time to bring the suit. Her hope is that a settlement can be reached.

I have had many conversations with her over the past year regarding the NRA and its issues. I believe what she has alleged in this lawsuit. One need only look at those mentioned in the lawsuit to come to that conclusion. You have Tyler Schropp who used the NRA as his personal piggy bank. You have cabal members Janet Nyce and Barbara Rumpel. You have contractors upset that someone interrupted their gravy train. Finally, you have Susan LaPierre herself. What more needs to be said about the veracity of Fogel’s allegations.

I have tried to summarize the case but read all 40 pages of it. It will both sadden and anger you.

Apryl Marie Fogel v. NRA Complaint Filed 9-6-24Download
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While I Was Gone…

September 5, 2024 by 2 Comments

I left for South Africa on the afternoon of Friday, August 23rd and only got back home to North Carolina around noon yesterday. As the Complementary Spouse was home alone (though well armed), I was reluctant to go public that I was out of the country. I had won an auction at the SCI Convention in February for a 7-day hunt at a ridiculously low price to go with a Delta “buddy pass” which had to be used by early September. Thus, my brother-in-law Larry and his son Alex joined me for a trip to Thabazimbi in Limpopo Province. I will have more on that trip in subsequent post but suffice to say it was pretty successful.

However, while I was gone, a lot of stuff happened and it is hard to blog about things when using just an iPad. Lets go over some of the things that have happened while I was gone.

Number 1: I was put on the ballot for the 2025 NRA Board of Directors election by the Nominating Committee. I did quickly post about this on August 28th. As I have said, this was not expected. Some have suggested with some justification that this may have been an attempt to shut down my news and criticism of the cabal and the NRA. I promise that if elected I will not stop exposing issues within the NRA while still being observant of my fiduciary duties. I should also note that I am NOT stopping my campaign to be on the ballot by petition. While it may seem redundant now that I am officially on the ballot, being placed on the ballot by petition to me is the Holy Grail as it comes from the members and not the insiders. My goal in running for the Board is to serve the members, the grass roots, and the cause of advancing our Second Amendment rights.

Number 2: NRA In Danger blog was taken down temporarily. I literally had 3-4 emails within an hour of it going down telling me about it. I had multiple back and forth emails with “NRALifer” over the issue after I was alerted to it. While the conspiracy theorist in me and many others pointed towards that lawyer we all love to hate, in the end it was some WordPress.com anti-spam algorithm that targeted the blog for supposed spamming. I hate to say it but in the old days of bulletin boards, listservs, and Usenet groups it was harder to suppress news and opinion. As social media has grown up, censorship has grown with it. I am an advocate for having and using private hosting services that are less likely to be censored than the corporate ones. For the record, I do not know who runs and writes the NRA In Danger blog.

Number 3: A blistering 8-page “Dear Board Member” letter went out on August 30th from NRA VPs Bill Bachenberg and Mark Vaughan. It took aim at the Special Litigation Committee, the original committee assignments, Brewer, and the cabal. More on this letter in another post.

Number 4: The cabal waited a few days and then issued their response officially (supposedly?) written by cabal member Don Saba. It accused Bachenberg and Vaughan of being “divisive” and “harmful” to the NRA as well as trying to coerce and browbeat the cabal. . The letter was full of innuendo about the reform elements cooperating with the NYAG’s office and how they had help from a “competing second amendment organization” to promote “discord, distrust, and confusion” on the Board and with gunowners. Of course, it is nonsense. I do remember well that Dr. Saba was one of the Directors who vehemently disagreed with my 2020 resolution on succession planning at the Annual Meeting in Tucson.

Number 5: I met and became friends with a member of the 2016 South African Olympic Team. Lindsay Hanekom is a field and track athlete who runs the 400m hurdles and was going to Atlanta for training. He, like Larry and I, got bumped from our flight to Atlanta on Monday night. Thanks to Lindsay, we were able to get a ride to a hotel near the airport with his friend Driaan.

Number 6: Our hunt with Tsala Safaris was mostly a success. While I didn’t get my cull zebra, I did get my trophy impala and blue wildebeest. I also saw giraffes, roan, zebra, golden wildebeest, sable, mongoose, nyala, kudu, waterbuck, eland, red hartebeest, warthogs, springbuck, gemsbuck, Cape buffalo, and probably others than I have forgotten to name. I still marvel at the ability of our trackers Sharma and Filomon to see animals amidst the tangle of the bushveld as they saw animals that even with binoculars I couldn’t see.

The backstrap from my impala was made into lunch a few days later when we had impala stroganoff. It was exceptionally good. For those that are into these things, that ram was taken with one shot at about 175 yards and his horns measure right at 24 inches.

Now it is time for me to try and shake off the jet lag and get to work helping the other petition candidates for the NRA Board. There are a total of 26 reform candidates running for the Board of Directors and only 11 are on the ballot courtesy of the Nominating Committee. Despite Judge Cohen’s suggestion that we have an open election with anyone who wished to run on the ballot, we are not there yet.

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McFadden caves on gun permit delays

September 3, 2024 by 2 Comments

Sheriff Garry McFadden of Mecklenburg County, NC had a disingenuous way of delaying the issuance of NC Concealed Handgun Permits. Under the guise of investigating an applicant’s mental health status, he would have all applicants’ names sent to the Veterans Administration for a copy of their records. Notice I said all. The VA would be getting requests for mental health records for applicants who had never, ever served in any branch of the US military. This created both a paperwork headache for the VA and a prolonged delay for the applicant.

Based on this, Grass Roots NC, Gun Owners of America, and individual sued in US District Court for the Western District of NC. It appears a settlement is in the works which still requires the approval of Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr.

GRNC released the following last night.

In recent days, a press release from the Mecklenburg County Sheriffs’ Office (MCSO) has caused Charlotte news media to prematurely report a settlement in the lawsuit filed by Grass Roots North Carolina, Gun Owners of America, and individual plaintiffs against Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden. 

Per advice from GRNC’s legal team, we have so far refrained from giving details of the settlement. Given MCSO’s public statement adding “spin” to McFadden’s defeat, however, GRNC is compelled to tell the truth about what has been tentatively agreed to by the parties.

At issue are what appear to be intentional delays in issuing concealed handgun permits (CHPs) by McFadden, who previously sent mental health record requests to the Veteran’s Administration for all permit applicants, regardless of whether they served in the military, flooding the VA with paperwork in order to create delays in permits.

This is the second lawsuit GRNC and GOA have filed against McFadden over permit delays. Between the two suits, GRNC and GOA have ended McFadden’s gun permit delays in the following ways:

  • Repealing NC’s Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit law, used by urban sheriffs to delay handgun purchases;
  • Ending the MCSO practice of requiring CHP applicants to schedule appointments, often months ahead, to apply;
  • Ending the practice of sending mental health records requests to the VA for all applicants;
  • Requiring the sheriff to make mental health record requests only for applicants who have previously sought mental health treatment (tentative); and
  • Paying $5,000 toward damages and legal fees suffered by the plaintiffs (tentative).

Most amusing was McFadden’s statement that he will continue to “inquire of each applicant whether the applicant has sought mental health treatment.” In truth, he is required to do so. In fact, it is a part of the CHP application form stipulated by the NC Administrative Office of the Courts.

While we are disappointed that McFadden refuses to pay the full legal fees incurred by those denied their rights due to his malfeasance as a public servant, as a public policy organization, GRNC is happy that McFadden has capitulated on permit delays.