by The Washington Post ran an article yesterday that discussed the monies that flowed to certain members of the Board of Directors. According to the article, 18 Board members received some sort of compensation over the past three years. Some of this is already well known such as the amount of money paid to Marion Hammer for lobbying in Florida. Some of it was merely the commission NRA recruiters earn for new members.
Without getting into the meat of the article, one quote just stuck out.
After learning about the money his fellow board members received, Malone
said he was concerned.“If these allegations are correct and 18 board members received pay, you’re
damn right I am,” he said. “If it’s correct, the members who pay their dues
should be damn concerned, too.”
Karl Malone has never attended a board meeting and, to the best of my knowledge, has never even been sworn in as a Board member. Nonetheless, the Nominating Committee put him up for reelection and he was reelected in April to another three year term with the 16th highest vote total.
Perhaps it is cynical of me to think that Mr. Malone’s concern is a bit late in the game. If he had bothered to attend meetings, he might have been aware of this and might have had an impact. Then again, he was selected for the Board of Directors due his celebrity status and not expected to have an actual impact on the running of the organization.
Well, at least his heart is in the right place which is more than I can say about certain other members of the board.
Call me suspicious. The WaPo is well known for just making stuff up. Yeah, this stuff needs to be looked into but by someone with credibility.
Much of those numbers have been reported in either the NRA's Form 990 or in reports available at the Annual Meeting. I remember seeing the payments to Marion Hammer, David Keene, Dave Butz, and Bart Skelton for 2018 listed in paperwork available at the Meeting of Members.
If it is in the reports, it is not secret then and not really news. Rather it is a hit piece. Is there not someone credible who could get into this.
So which board members actually do the work of making decisions and running the organization? My frustration is I know nothing outside of name recognition and don't even know how to find out.
The ones who show up for meetings and the non-celebs. Those on the Executive Committee would be the inner circle. Unfortunately, I don't know who is on what committee for the most part. I do know Charles Cotton still heads Audit even though he is now 1st VP and that Graham Hill heads Legislative Affairs. I'm working on updating the BOD attendance spreadsheets that Adam Kraut started.
Most of the "revelations" about money going to the directors, are nonsense. Bart Skelton writes for gun magazines, like his dad did. It's ridiculous to try and make something out of him being paid a few thousand for writing articles for NRA magazines. The deal with Crowe Shooting Supply should probably have gone out to bid now and then.
Don't know if it actually did. Also ridiculous to question Buz Mills because Gun Site got commissions for recruiting NRA members.
Not sure what Olson got paid for. That looks suspicious. Payments to Keene are really questionable. Marion has been getting paid by NRA for decades and we've been objecting to it for most of that time.
Celebrities getting paid for celebrity appearances, chafes a bit, but that's their business.
Julie Golob has hosted shows on NRA TV for years, long before she was elected to the board.