by As weird as it may seem I find myself somewhat in agreement with Marion Hammer. I was forwarded an email from her to the NRA-EVP Search Committee.
She made the point that the committee needs to look outside the current NRA operations for the person that can be a success as the next CEO and EVP of the NRA.
Here is her email and the members of the committee:
TO: The Members of the NRA-EVP Search Committee:
Congressman Bob Barr – Chairman
Professor David Coy
Carol Frampton, Esq.
Curtis Jenkins, Esq.
Sheriff Jay Printz
Barbara Rumpel
Chief Blaine WadeFriends,
At the risk of being redundant, I must say that these are tough times for the NRA. The right leader or leaders is essential for NRA’s future. I say leaders because I’m not sure that you can find one person who can do the job.
You might need someone to be the public face of NRA. To do the TV and all media coverage and essentially be the person out front representing NRA and the work we do.
You also might need to find someone to be the workhorse. Someone to make the tough decisions about running the day to day operations who won’t be afraid to “break some eggs to make an omelet” and who isn’t afraid to terminate people who are only interested in themselves and not the NRA and our cause.
I seriously doubt that anyone currently involved with NRA operations meets either need. Don’t be afraid to look outside of NRA for fresh new leaders who care about NRA. Our members are depending on you to find the right person or persons.
When I look at you, I see 2 current NRA Officers, 2 lawyers, 2 law enforcement representatives and one average person. None of you is what I would consider a high end business person, yet we must look at the business perspective.
Whatever you decide, Is up to you. I wouldn’t want to be in your position with the world watching me and expecting perfection. Nonetheless, you must live in a “fishbowl” until the job is done, and then you must live with your decisions.
Please take your time and be thorough. Please be transparent with the NRA Board and don’t be afraid to reach out to Board members for information and advice. Always remember that there are good business people with incredible business knowledge on the Board who are there to serve. Use them.
I wish you all the very best of luck as you embark on a mission that is essential for the future of NRA and our members.
Marion Hammer
Now as to what bothers me in all of this.
The committee is composed of the same old Board members who allowed Wayne to get away with his grifting, who didn’t object to Brewer’s billing, and who allowed a whole host of things that has led the NRA to be reduced to a shadow of its former self. Unless I am greatly mistaken and we the members get really lucky, anyone chosen by this bunch will not renovate nor reinvigorate the NRA. The organization will continue to muddle along with same old mindset appealing to an ever aging membership.
Interesting that Buz Mills was left off the list. Likewise, it is interesting Charles Cotton is off the list. Could this be so that Cotton could be their pick for the next EVP? God forbid!
The NRA already has those positions. The public face is the president; the daily grind is managed by the EVP.
In theory, at least. That’s the organization chart, even if it’s not the current reality.
Otherwise, that’s the death knell for the NRA, IMHO.
This is, as others have said, a burlesque. It will fool no one, least of all the judge.
M
A truly powerful national group, organized in depth in every state down to the local level, does not need a “public face” or a celebrity “spokesman”. Such a group, as NRA once was, and could still be, speaks through its membership, at the ballot box. Its lobbyists are largely anonymous, well known only within the legislatures, where they are respected, and feared. THAT is power.
It was the naive notion that political muscle is generated by “personalities” on TV shows or “brand recognition” of NRA that led, unfortunately, to a Cult of the Personality– featuring Wayne as indispensable– that produced NRA’s current predicament. He was “indispensable” all right– but only to those who groomed him and pandered to his ego so they could rake off millions of dollars from NRA. That mythical “indispensibilty” partly explains (along with herd-mentality cowardice) why the NRA Board of Directors didn’t get rid of him.
M
You are absolutely correct about the Cult of Personality. One need only look at the gun control group formerly known as Americans for Responsible Solutions. It morphed into the Cult of Personality Known as Giffords.
The power of the NRA has always been the membership. If one of their lobbyists could say to a campaign director of a Congressman, our endorsement will gain you an extra 2-3% margin in a close race, that was the real power.
> and one average person
XD