NRA

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Vote Four For Reform

February 21, 2024 by 8 Comments

The official NRA magazines with the ballots for the 2024 Board of Directors election have started to arrive. The Complementary Spouse and I both received ours today.

I would urge you in the strongest possible terms to bullet vote, i.e, only vote for these candidates and no others, for the Four for Reform. While there are a couple of others deserving of your vote, it is essential that these four get elected.

All four are on the ballot as a result of your efforts in signing their petition. We need people like them on the Board as they won’t put up and shut up. Indeed, both Judge Phil Journey and Rocky Marshall were retaliated against for standing up for what is right. That retaliation has led to the NRA being charged with violating the State of New York ‘s whistleblower law. This is one of the charges that the jurors in the New York trial are in the process of deciding guilt or innocence.

So few of the eligible voters actually vote that every vote for these four is critical.

We don’t know the outcome of the trial in New York and we don’t know what remedies Judge Cohen will impose if the NRA is found guilty. He could dissolve the current board and reduce it in size. He could appoint a special overseer. He could appoint a temporary board of people who are not tainted such as these four. He could do all of these things and that is why support for clean, untainted candidates is so important.

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I Actually Agree With Marion On This

February 10, 2024 by 7 Comments

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 Wade

Friends,

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!

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NRA Board Member Herb Lanford Passes Away

February 6, 2024 by 1 Comment

I received news yesterday that Herbert Lanford, Jr., a longtime member of the NRA Board of Directors, died on February 1st. He was 75 years old. He died in hospice care from Spartanburg (SC) Regional Hospice Home.

The notice from NRA Secretary John Frazer reads in part:

It is with great sadness that I share with you that NRA Board member Herbert A. “Herb” Lanford, Jr. passed away on February 1, 2024. He was 75 years old.  Herb served on and off the Board beginning in 1986.  He is survived by his brother, Tom; his sister, Joanne Hensley; and many nieces and nephews.

Graveside services with military honors will be held at 4:00 p.m., Thursday, February 8, at Greenlawn Memorial Garden located at 1300 Fernwood Glendale Road, Spartanburg, SC  29307.  Visitation will be at the graveside prior to the service.

Lanford’s death will leave the Board with only 75 Directors as all three of the non-elected candidates from 2023 have filled positions on the Board. Article IV, Section 2 of the NRA Bylaws makes no provision for filling a vacancy other than from those who had been on the ballot and not elected.

CORRECTION: I had assumed that James Chapman was already on the Board of Directors as he had received more votes than Rick Ector who is on the Board. I had forgotten Rick was elected as the 76th Director. Thus, James Chapman will fill the seat left empty by Herb Lanford’s death and the Board will still have 76 members. That is, for now. Things could change after the NY trial but who knows.

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I Endorse Four For Reform

February 3, 2024 by 1 Comment

The NRA’s trial in New York has provided more than enough evidence that many members of the Board of Directors ignored their fiduciary duties. Many thought loyalty to Wayne was the same as loyalty to the organization. It was not.

The ballots for the 2024 Board election go out to eligible voters in the March issue of the NRA official magazines. Not only has the Nominations Committee stacked the ballot with retreads, they are the same people that allowed the rot and corruption to grow. They include people like former NRA President Carolyn Meadows who currently is considered too ill to testify either in person or virtually in the NY trial. It also includes 2nd VP David Coy who served on the Audit Committee for many years who voted to approve questionable expenditures after the fact.

There are four people on the ballot who were not put there by the Nominations Committee. Dennis Fusaro, Judge Phil Journey, Jeff Knox, and Rocky Marshall are on the ballot by petition. In other words, enough of you who are voting members said you wanted them on the ballot. They are untainted by the corruption of the past and are running on a platform of reform. I wholeheartedly endorse all four and would urge you to give them your votes.

The only two current Board members I might consider voting for are Buz Mills and Rick Ector. As evidenced by his letter to the Board exposing the backdoor shenanigans to make Charles Cotton the next EVP, Buz is not a go-along to get-along sort of guy. Rick Ector had done phenomenal grassroots work in the Detroit area introducing thousands of women to self-defense through firearms training. He also bucked the trend with his endorsement of Wade Callender for the EVP.

If it were me, I would not consider anyone else on the list of candidates. The four petition candidates plus the two that have bucked the system are the only candidates that I think will work day in and day out to restore and reform the NRA. We need an effective and untainted NRA. Now is the time to do it.

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Quote Of The Day

February 2, 2024 by

While I have been following the NRA’s trial in New York, I have been holding off writing about it until the New York Attorney General’s Office has rested their case. Based upon what I have read, that appears to be this coming Monday, February 5th. There is a lot there and I want to make sense of it all before tendering my complete opinion.

That said, the quote of the day comes from Stephen Gutowski of The Reload. It involves the testimony of NRA Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer.

Stephen wrote:

In it, the NRA’s top lawyer defended his integrity. When asked if LaPierre had breached his trust when he failed to disclose his now-admitted use of NRA funds for personal expenses, Frazer said he wouldn’t characterize it that way.

“I think Mr. LaPierre has always been very open and honest with me in terms of communications that we would have and then trying to rectify the issues,” he said.

But, when asked if LaPierre breached the trust of NRA members, he took an agonized pause before responding.

“I’d have to say probably yes,” Frazer testified.

LaPierre walked slowly out of the courtroom–and the NRA–on that note.

While I am glad that Mr. Frazer is finally recognizing that Wayne LaPierre breached the trust of the NRA members, it is sad that Frazer is only now coming out and saying it. His fiduciary duty which included a duty of loyalty was to the organization which means the members and not to Wayne LaPierre. He is not alone in that breach of fiduciary duty. There are many members of the Board of Directors who likewise breached their duty in their loyalty to Wayne instead of the members. Whether it was due to ignorance or a willful choice, it really doesn’t matter.

The victim in this trial has never been the state of New York. It has always been the members of the NRA who paid their dues and donated what they could to the organization because they believed in the mission. In return, they were used as the personal piggy banks to support the avaricious lifestyles of the Millies, the Waynes, the Susans, and those of their ilk.

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Marion Calls For A Search Committee To Replace Wayne

January 29, 2024 by 2 Comments

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that Marion Hammer was agreeing with Buz Mills regarding setting up a search committee to find the permanent Executive Vice President and CEO for the NRA. I had assumed – wrongly it seems – that she was in the camp pushing Charles Cotton to be the EVP/CEO for the next few years. Something along the lines of “a steady hand on the rudder” as the NRA transitions away from the Wayne era.

This is her email sent to the Board today:

It has come to my attention that another NRA BOD Member is making phone calls trying to gain support for yet another NRA BOD Member to take Wayne’s job.

Please, please, stop and think about this.  I personally believe we need a dedicated Search Committee to find someone who is actually qualified to take the helm at NRA.  

Any member of the Board who thinks he or she is qualified for the position can submit his or her name to a Search Committee to be vetted along with other candidates.

This is a turning point for NRA and a time when we need the most qualified, dedicated person we can find to lead NRA and lead the fight to save Second Amendment rights.

The NRA President can appoint a Search Committee at any time and I believe should do so immediately.  Search Committee members can be confirmed or rejected and replaced by the Board of Directors at it’s next meeting.

Please, this is a critical point for us and the future of NRA and it’s members is in our hands.  Let’s do it right.  Under our By-Laws we have a process to fill the EVP position on an interim basis while we search for the right person.

Please do not be stampeded into anything.

I know that there are a significant number of Board Members who agree that we need a Search Committee because they have told me so.  And, I also know that previously another Board Member has emailed you suggesting a Search Committee.  And while that particular Board Member and I rarely ever agree on what’s best for NRA, this time we happen to agree that we need a Search Committee.

Marion P. Hammer

Marion’s letter may also be seen as a way to head off those who are supporting Wade Callender to be the EVP/CEO such as Texas AG Ken Paxton, Utah AG Sean Reyes, and board member Rick Ector. However, while it is probably not her intent, I do think it could work in his favor as an honest Search Committee would have to consider him a candidate.

I think the person most disappointed about this letter beyond Charles Cotton has to be Bill Brewer. I got the feeling that Brewer was hoping to maintain the cozy relationship between the leadership and himself so as to keep the money flowing to his firm.

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Padding The NRA Ballot

January 17, 2024 by 3 Comments

When the NRA Nominations Committee first released their list of nominations for the 2024 Board of Directors election it had 28 names on it. As I noted at the time (Sept. 27th), 25 of those on the list were current board members with 23 having been nominated in 2021. The only three new persons nominated were Craig Haggard, Susannah Warner Kipke, and Gina Roberts.

Fast forward to early November when the complete ballot with the four petition candidates was released. I did not take notice of it at the time but the Nominations Committee had added another two nominees to go along with the four that were on the ballot by petition. I’ll attribute my oversight to being on vacation with family as well as being excited that all four petition candidates had made it.

The additions to the ballot were former NRA President Carolyn Meadows and Greer Johnson of Duluth, Georgia. Ms. Johnson, 72, is on the Board of Trustees of the NRA Foundation. I have been told she is or was a “Friend of Wayne”. Meadows and Johnson both have served as officers on the Board of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in Georgia at the same time. Note that these two were added to the ballot before Wayne LaPierre resigned.

Adding more people to the list of nominees aka padding the ballot is meant to decrease the odds of one or more of the petition candidates being successful in their quest to be elected to the Board of Directors.

What makes this more egregious is that the Nominations Committee had to be aware that Mrs. Meadows’ health was an issue. Going back as far as the 2020 NRA Annual Meeting in Tucson, it was apparent from her video appearance that she was suffering from a neuro-muscular illness of some sort. More recently, she was supposed to be a witness in the NRA trial in New York City. Attorneys for the NRA informed the NY Attorney General’s Office in mid-December that her health might not allow her to testify in person at the trial. This was amended to both in person and virtually.

From the letter to the court by the Attorney General’s Office:

On January 5, 2024, the NRA finally provided a medical affidavit for Ms. Meadows. Ms. Meadows’ physician represents that she is unable to testify in person or virtually because of her health condition. Subject to a representation from NRA counsel that Ms. Meadows did not attend, in person or virtually, the January 2024 Board meeting, Plaintiff will use Ms. Meadows’ videotaped deposition in lieu of live testimony.

If Mrs. Meadows’ health is such that she cannot even testify virtually, how can she effectively serve on the NRA Board of Directors? The answer is she cannot and it is a disservice to the members of the NRA to even nominate her.

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Another AG Weighs In On NRA EVP Succession

January 17, 2024 by

As I posted last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) endorsed former NRA-ILA General Counsel Wade Callender to succeed Wayne LaPierre as the permanent Executive VP and CEO of the NRA. He was joined in endorsing Callender by Texas St. Sen. Drew Springer (R-30th).

Now Callender has been endorsed for the position by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R-UT).

Obviously, two of the state attorney generals who worked with Callender in submitting amicus briefs in support of the NY State Rifle and Pistol Association in the Bruen case think very highly of him. I would not be surprised if more of these state attorney generals weigh in with support of Callender.

This must cause a bit of dismay in Fairfax where those still in denial that there is anything wrong within the NRA seem to be backing Charles Cotton to be the successor to Wayne.

Too bad!

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Analogy Of The Day

January 13, 2024 by 2 Comments

I started hearing rumors as soon as Wayne LaPierre resigned that current NRA President Charles Cotton was jockeying for the position of CEO and Executive Vice President. Personally, I think this would be a travesty and would mark the death knell of the NRA. One merely needs to remember that Mr. Cotton served and continues to serve as head of the Audit Committee for many years while the grifters grifted.

The best analogy on the move by Mr. Cotton to win the EVP position was by my friend Ron Carter who said:

Cotton is clearly the Nikita Khrushchev seeking to seize the opportunity on the death of Stalin….I use the Soviet reference because it sure resembles it. All the yes-men will keep saying yes to the strongest posture regardless of any other criteria.

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Will Texas Politics Impact NRA EVP Succession?

January 11, 2024 by 1 Comment

With so much attention focussed on the trial involving the NRA in New York City, scant attention has been paid to who succeeds Wayne LaPierre as CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA. I think most observers would agree that Andrew Arulanandam, who will serve as the interim EVP upon Wayne’s January 31st resignation, is a place holder and not a serious contender for the permanent position.

An article by Stephen Gutowski in The Reload posted today may give some clue as to a potential successor. After discussing what I called “the dueling letters” regarding post-employment compensation and health issues of Wayne, Gutowski provides this potential clue.

Prominent NRA supporters have already begun publicly circulating at least one alternative. Former NRA Institute of Legislative Action deputy executive director and general counsel Wade Callender, who helped coordinate with the group’s state affiliate in the successful 2022 Supreme Court Bruen case, has already received the backing of several elected officials. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R.) and State Senator Drew Springer (R.) posted a call for Callender to take over the NRA’s top perch on social media this week.

Callender left the position as General Counsel and Deputy Executive Director of NRA-ILA due, in large part, to the growing interference from the NRA’s outside counsel William Brewer III. Callender confirmed this to me in a face-to-face conversation we held at the 2022 Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Irving, Texas. He has since returned to private practice in Dallas area.

Texas AG Ken Paxton has been a stalwart supporter of the Second Amendment and has signed on to a number of amicus briefs in support of it. Paxton, who was last year impeached by the Texas House of Representatives, was acquitted on all charges in the trial in the Texas Senate. The move to impeach Paxton was led by Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan who is his arch political enemy. Phelan, who is considered a RINO by Texas conservatives, and has been asked to resign by the leaders of the Texas Republican Party.

After the murders of school children in Uvalde, Phelan formed a House Select Committee on Community Safety to review all firearms-related legislation. This included red flag laws and raising the age to purchase a modern sporting rifle. While the committee composition was officially seven Republicans and six Democrats, the Republican chair had been a Democrat until just recently.

With this as a background, Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of NRA-ILA and Chairman of the NRA-PVF, endorsed Dade Phelan and rated him A+.

This brought pushback from a number of conservatives including Dana Loesch who served as a special assistant to Wayne at one time. She said of Phelan that he “was an obstacle while fighting red flag laws, and dragged out our fight to win Constitutional carry.” Others are saying they are dropping their NRA membership or looking for alternatives.

One must wonder who pushed Randy Kozuch to give an A+ rating to Phelan who by most accounts is a RINO and who is marginal on gun rights. Was it the Old Guard on the NRA led by NRA President Charles Cotton who is a Texan? Was it Bill Brewer who saw an ally in a RINO politician who was barely so-so on gun rights? If Brewer, was it with knowledge that it would anger true Second Amendment supporters in Texas?

Giving Phelan the A+ rating and endorsement obviously angered his arch-enemies Ken Paxton and Sen. Drew Springer as the next day they endorsed Wade Callender for EVP. This move by Paxton and Springer is definitely a call for new blood to lead the NRA and a repudiation of the Old Guard.