NRA

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NRA Searching For Ad Firm

June 24, 2019 by 3 Comments

What should have taken place years ago appears to be taking place now. Advertising firms are being invited to pitch the NRA their services as a replacement for Ackerman McQueen. The news comes from the British advertising news site Campaign.

Interpublic CEO Michael Roth announced that they would not be pitching the NRA account.

Roth said: “There is a review out for the NRA and we’re not participating in that. And that’s not just coming from me, it’s coming from our agencies, you know. Our people don’t want to work on an engagement like that.”

Interpublic is the fourth largest advertising company in the world with annual billing revenue of $7.5 billion. Their major advertising subsidiaries are McCann Worldgroup and Mullen Lowe Group. Some of McCann’s clients include MGM Resorts, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and GM. Meanwhile, Mullen Lowe represents companies like Burger King, Schick, and E-Trade.

This leads to the question as to whether Interpublic is just engaging in virtue signaling or does it have concerns about the NRA’s finances which might preclude them from taking the account (if they won) due to risk management. As reported last week, Ackerman McQueen is demanding to be paid for work on NRATV or they will close it down. So far that bill has gone unpaid.

The other question out there is what other advertising firms have been invited to the pitch the NRA account. The answer to that is “we’ll see”.

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In His Cold Dead Hands

June 21, 2019 by 1 Comment

It is Friday afternoon and it is time for a laugh after the NRA news of the week. My friend and fellow blogger David Yamane posted the picture below on Facebook. It had the following caption:

Photo from 2040 of Wayne LaPierre holding onto the Executive Vice Preisdency of the NRA in his cold, dead hands.


#guns #gunculture #gunculture2point0 #nra #2a

Great satire always contains an element of truth.

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The NRA, The New York Lawsuit, Ollie North, And Chris Cox

June 21, 2019 by 2 Comments

The news yesterday regarding the National Rifle Association was headlined by a story in the New York Times that said Chris Cox, head of the NRA-ILA, was suspended and put on administrative leave. This followed a late Wednesday filing in New York Supreme Court (the trial level courts in that state) in which the NRA sought a declaratory judgment that Ollie North was not entitled to his legal expenses as a director of the NRA. Also suspended was Scott Christman who served as Cox’s deputy chief of staff at the NRA-ILA.

Both Cox and Christman are accused along with NRA Board member and former Congressman Dan Boren of participating in a failed “coup” attempt orchestrated by Ackerman McQueen and Ollie North. Cox vehemently denies this.

“The allegations against me are offensive and patently false,” Cox said. “For over 24 years I have been a loyal and effective leader in this organization. My efforts have always been focused on serving the members of the National Rifle Association, and I will continue to focus all of my energy on carrying out our core mission of defending the Second Amendment.”

The New York lawsuit was filed on behalf of the NRA by outside counsel William Brewer III and his firm. It seeks a declaratory judgment stating that Ollie North is not entitled to reimbursement for legal fees and expenses incurred as a result of subpoenas in the second Ackerman McQueen lawsuit and the Senate Finance Committee’s request for documents. When a declaratory judgment is sought, it is making a statement that the facts are not in question and that the only thing sought is a declaration as to matters of law. That said, the complaint filed is a mish-mash of allegations that in no way could be considered a 100% recitation of facts. The full complaint is here.

The complaint alleges that North is an employee of Ackerman McQueen, that he had been asked to either resign from AckMac or the NRA board, that he has done neither, and that he orchestrated the “coup” attempt to oust Wayne LaPierre at the behest of AckMac. North is also accused of acting in bad faith and breaching his fiduciary duties to the NRA.

The complaint then includes this gratuitous mention of Chris Cox and Dan Boren. This is the only paragraph where either of these two are mentioned.

North and his co-conspirators orchestrated these threats through, among other
things, a string of text messages that are filed herewith. The text messages were produced in the
Virginia Litigation by Dan Boren, an NRA board member employed by one of Ackerman’s other
major clients, the Chickasaw Nation. Boren relayed the contents of Ackerman’s threatened letter
to North and helped to choreograph the ultimatum they presented to Mr. LaPierre. Moreover, in
email correspondence transmitted over non-NRA servers, Boren admitted his knowledge that
Ackerman may have been invoicing the NRA for full salaries of employees who were actually
working on the Chickasaw Nation account. The same text messages and email messages
demonstrate that another errant NRA fiduciary, Chris Cox —once thought by some to be a likely
successor for Mr. LaPierre—participated in the Ackerman/North/Boren conspiracy.

The text message can be seen in this exhibit. It should be noted that from what I’ve been told that exhibits are not usually submitted when asking for a declaratory judgment. Reading the texts between Boren and Cox, I fail to see this as a “coup” attempt. Rather, in my opinion, it seems they are concerned about the war between AckMac and the NRA and its future impact on the NRA. Cox is correct when he calls what had been going on “a tragic mess”.

This whole affair is so Byzantine. It reminds more of a Soviet-style purge where ministers and members of the Politburo are being purged after the head of the KGB whispers in the ear of the aging General Secretary that they are plotting against him. Insert Wayne LaPierre into the role of the aging General Secretary and William Brewer into the role of KGB head and there you have it.

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The Spiro Agnew Of The NRA

June 12, 2019 by 1 Comment

Those of us of a certain age will remember former Vice President Spiro Agnew. He was President Nixon’s running mate in 1968 and 1972. Prior to that he had been the Governor of Maryland and the Executive of Baltimore County. His service in those prior positions would come back to bite him but more on that later.

Agnew’s primary role as Vice President always seemed to me was to serve as Richard Nixon’s attack dog. Whether it was with the press or with other administration opponents, Agnew was ready at a moment’s notice to go on the attack. His way with words was excellent due in no small measure to having William Safire as his speechwriter. Perhaps the most famous phrase written by Safire for Agnew was “nattering nabobs of negativism” in reference to the administration’s critics.

It seems to me, and this is my opinion only, that someone somewhere in the NRA’s hierarchy has deemed that this should now be the role for 2nd VP Willes Lee. If you have been following his posts on Facebook such as the one below, you will understand what I mean.

Saving freedom and the Second Amendment is important. Otherwise, we’d do something else, or nothing. Thank you for your support, encouragement, & prayers.
You are either with us, or you’re not. Just how it is in today’s world.
Good 2A folks do not have to take abuse from haters, Dems, bots, nor trolls (heh, all the same). No one here will appease your bad behavior. You have others who kowtow to & mollify you.
This may help:
My page. My rules. I’m not an employee, this page is mine (& FB). This page is for people who want to save freedom. I came to fight. Don’t care whether the fight is for the Second Amendment & for freedom or against gun control, Democrats, & haters. Don’t like the rules? Wah, wah.
1. We give as many answers as possible. Scroll the page. Do your homework. You won’t get a response to an answer already posted.
2. Send snark? Get snark in return. I decide what is snark, & I’ll mock you for 101-level crap.
3. Show disrespect to NRA? Get disrespect in return, if anything. I decide what is disrespectful.
4. Nasty gets nasty in return. If you can’t take it, don’t send it.
5. Profanity on this page is ok.
6. Name calling gets you poofed. The more haters who self-ID, the better.
7. I decide what hater notes to keep so we can see that you have no intention of helping the movement.
8. Disgusting gets deleted. Good members shouldn’t see your depravity.
9. Bots & trolls abound. I decide if you’re a bot or troll.
PS. This is the most fun “tell”. If someone yells “snowflake” in a crowded room & you think they are talking to you, then YOU have a problem.
A lot of good folks are working hard for 2A. I appreciate every good member who helps & wants us to be successful, to defend freedom, to defend the Second Amendment. Be polite. Be respectful. Or, ha, get what you get.
Thank you. Thank you, very much.

I didn’t realize until just now that as I was reading through Willes’ Facebook timeline that I am now officially “a hater”. I was a guest on Eye on the Target Radio with Amanda Suffecool and Rob Campbell in which I discussed the Ack-Mac lawsuits, the leaks, and other stuff related to the NRA’s current problems. I concluded by saying we need the NRA and that it is up to us to make the changes needed. I knew there was another guest that would follow me but didn’t realize that it was Willes.

Sunday.
For people who want to know what’s going on. Interesting format, challenging questions. BFF to all Amanda Suffecool Rob Campbell hosted first half hater, second half me. Never enuf time to hit all the juicy gossip but we got a lot. With the pot stirred today, you’ll want to listen.

The funny thing about being called “a hater” is that in 2017 when Willes Lee was just another guy running for the Board of Directors and I endorsed him, he couldn’t thank me enough. Even in 2019 when I bullet voted for Adam Kraut, I said Willes was worthy of your vote.  I might be considered “a hater” or a “nattering nabob of negativism” in Agnew’s terms but like Pete Townshend of The Who wrote, “I won’t be fooled again.”

If those of us who have been calling for changes in the NRA and for it to clean up its house didn’t give a damn and didn’t care if we had a strong, effective advocate for the Second Amendment, we wouldn’t be writing or talking about it. I have been a Life Member and then an Endowment Life Member of the NRA since 2010 and an Annual Member on and off since I was 17 years old. Hell, when I first became a member you had to have either a Life Member or a public official sign your membership application. I had my neighbor Rep. Charlie Phillips of the NC House sign my application. One wonders how long people like Willes have been members of the NRA and if it is just another step in their career path.

As Paul Harvey often said, now for the rest of the story. Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace from the Vice Presidency. On October 10, 1973, Agnew, in a plea bargain, pleaded no contest to a felony charge of tax evasion and was sentenced to three years probation. He resigned the Vice Presidency that same day. Agnew had been taking kickbacks from contractors doing business with Baltimore County and then the State of Maryland. The cash payments even continued after he became Vice President.

UPDATE: The episode of Eye on the Target Radio where I gave my views on the NRA issues for which Willes has deemed me “a hater” has just been posted. You can find it here.

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At Least His Heart Is In The Right Place

June 10, 2019 by 6 Comments

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.

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NRA Issues Subpoenas To 3 Board Members In Ack-Mac Lawsuit (Updated)

June 9, 2019 by 7 Comments

I missed this story when it came out three days ago. It seems that attorneys for the NRA in their suit against Ackerman McQueen have issued subpoenas to three Board members. The subpoenas for documents were sent to Oliver North, Lance Olson, and Dan Boren.

From the Daily Beast which I acknowledge is a left-leaning anti-NRA publication:

Previously unreported court documents show the group served a subpoena on Oliver North late last month. It also subpoenaed Lance Olson and Daniel Boren, according to the documents; all three men are members of the NRA’s own board.


The subpoena asks for a number of documents from North: anything sent from April 10 to May 22 regarding people who work for the NRA’s longtime ad firm, Ackerman McQueen; any communications sent over the NRA’s contentious Indianapolis convention about CEO Wayne LaPierre or Ackerman McQueen; documents about the NRA’s expenditures; documents about North’s expenses; and communications about leaks.


The subpoena points to the friction between the NRA and its former president and highlights the extent to which the fight roiling the organization is focused on money and media. It specifically demands communications “related to a ‘leak’ or dissemination of previously non-public documents or information,” and cites stories from the Washington Free Beacon and The Daily Beast. The NRA previously alleged that the ad firm leaked confidential information to media outlets as part of an effort to damage senior officials in the NRA.


The NRA made the same document demands of Boren and Olson. It also demanded that North appear for a deposition on June 13 in a location the two parties would agree to, and that Olson do the same on June 17.


Lawyers for North did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Ackerman McQueen declined to comment.

The story did not publish the court documents nor did it specify whether the subpoenas were in relation to the first lawsuit the NRA filed against Ack-Mac or the second. Without paying a significant fee, access to the City of Alexandria Circuit Court filings is limited to a dated notation listing the filing in a case.

I can see the NRA’s attorneys issuing a subpoena to Oliver North as he is at the center of the lawsuits. I can even see the subpoena for Dan Boren who is from Oklahoma and reportedly opposed Wayne LaPierre at a reception during the NRA Annual Meeting. However, I don’t understand the subpoena to Lance Olson nor why certain other members such as Lt. Col. Allen West or Richard Childress didn’t receive subpoenas.

It will be interesting to see what happens at the next NRA Board meeting scheduled for September 13th in Anchorage, Alaska. Will there be a move to expel certain board members such as Lt. Col. North, Allen West, and others from the Board of Directors? An unnamed board member told me not to be surprised if this happens. North, by the way, was the leading vote getter in the 2019 BOD election surpassing even Ted Nugent.

UPDATE: The number of people getting subpoenas is now at least four. Rob Pincus acknowledged on Facebook that he had been served with one by the NRA’s lawyers with reference to the Ack-Mac lawsuit. Stephen Gutowski of the Free Beacon tweeted about it a few hours ago. A copy of the subpoena with Rob’s address information redacted can be found on Scribd.com here. He is being asked to produce letters, memos, and other communications concerning “previously non-public” information related to Wayne LaPierre, Oliver North, Marion Hammer, and Tyler Schropp. Mr. Schropp is in charge of the NRA’s fund raising operations.

UPDATE II: Checking the case number on the subpoena served on Rob Pincus it comes from the second NRA lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen. This is the lawsuit which accuses Ack-Mac of instigating a “coup” against Wayne LaPierre. I presume the other three who have been subpoenaed are being subpoenaed as a result of this suit as well.

The big picture question in all of this is what role is being played by the NRA’s outside counsel William Brewer III. Due to his ethics issues in Texas which are now before the Texas Supreme Court, he has not been granted leave to practice in Virginia.

UPDATE III: Checking the docket for this case, I see that there have been a total of six subpoenas issued. Two more were issued on June 4th. As to whom they were issued, I don’t know yet. I will report on that when I find out. To read case documents for that case directly from the City of Alexandria Clerk of Circuit Court’s website is $50 per month which I don’t anticipate me deciding to pay anytime soon.

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The Full Ack-Mac Statement On Terminating Their Contract With The NRA

May 31, 2019 by 2 Comments

Oklahoma City News 9 published the full statement from Ackerman McQueen on their move to terminate its contract with the National Rifle Association. Previous news reports only quoted excerpts from this statement.

From News 9:

May 29, 2019 State From Ackerman McQueen

“Today, faced with the NRA’s many inexplicable actions that have constructively terminated the parties’ Services Agreement, Ackerman McQueen decided it is time to stand up for the truth, and formally provide a Notice to Terminate its almost four-decade long relationship with the National Rifle Association.

“Over the last very difficult year, the NRA’s chaos led us to lose faith in the organization’s willingness to act on behalf of the NRA’s mission. We implored everyone involved to stay true to the NRA membership. In return, we were attacked in frivolous lawsuits and defamed with made-up stories that were then cowardly peddled to the media. Our employee’s rights to privacy were challenged by a determination to drag false allegations into the public with leaks and innuendo. The intent was to make us afraid. We will never fear the truth.

“The NRA has been a powerful force to protect the civil liberties of law-abiding Americans. For 38 years we were with them, as we are with all of our clients, to serve their mission. The turmoil the NRA faces today was self-inflicted. It could have been avoided. We deeply regret that it wasn’t.”

I speculated on Wednesday that Ack-Mac may be recognizing the rise of William Brewer III and his firm in the equation of things and Brewer’s goal to be the one stop shop for both legal and PR needs. I’ve had two NRA Directors who shall remain unnamed contact me since I wrote that to say they thought that was spot on and that Brewer was pushing in that direction. Both took a dim view of the efforts of Brewer.

In response to a question I posted on NRA Director and WLP loyalist Todd Rathner’s Facebook page asking if Brewer would be the new go-to for PR, Mr. Rathner replied:

No. I have asked that exact question and was told that his PR shop is specifically set up to support his legal work. They are not equipped to provide the type of services the NRA requires for overall PR. A lot will be coming in house, some services will be outsourced.

Maybe yes, maybe no but don’t be surprised to see Brewer’s billings increase even more.

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NRA Response To Ack-Mac Terminating Contract

May 29, 2019 by 1 Comment

The NRA has responded to the news that Ackerman McQueen has moved to terminate their contract. Interestingly, the place where I find the most complete version of their statements is on Bloomberg. Go figure.

The statements made on behalf of the NRA come from their outside counsel William Brewer III and NRA Public Affairs Director Andrew Arulanandam.

From Bloomberg:

“It is not surprising that Ackerman now attempts to escape the consequences of its own conduct,” William A. Brewer III, a lawyer for the NRA, said in a statement. “When confronted with inquiries about its services and billing records, Ackerman not only failed to cooperate — it sponsored a failed coup attempt to unseat Wayne LaPierre. The NRA alleges that Ackerman not only attempted to derail an investigation into its conduct, but unleashed a smear campaign against any who dared to hold the agency accountable.”


NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the group would begin shifting its communications work. “We have an opportunity to elevate our brand, communicate with a broader community of gun owners and press the advantage in the upcoming 2020 elections,” he said in a statement.

As I said in an earlier post, it looks like Brewer is angling to be the provider of both legal and PR services to the NRA. That would be a serious mistake in my opinion. Arulanandam’s statement does give me a little hope that the NRA will beginning reaching out to more than just conservatives for support. However, they may have burned their bridges on that.

Even though the NRA and Ack-Mac were facing off in court, they still continued to work together. Indeed, Ack-Mac was in the room when in the Board of Directors went into executive session at their board meeting. We find this out from a court filing made by the NRA in their suit against Ack-Mac. The motion asks for a freeze in the proceedings due to Ack-Mac coming into possession of the Powerpoint slides that William Brewer III used to outline the legal strategy.

Again, from Bloomberg.

Then came the alleged subterfuge: An employee of Brewer gave a thumb drive with the PowerPoint file to an audio-visual assistant at the meeting so he could load it onto a laptop computer to display. That AV man was an employee of Ackerman McQueen and later “absconded with a digital copy of the presentation,” according to an NRA filing Thursday in Virginia state court.

After an employee of Brewer’s firm realized the laptop was gone, he called the Ackerman employee, who said he had deleted the presentation, according to the filing. But two weeks later, a lawyer representing Ackerman notified an NRA attorney that he was in possession of not one but two thumb drives onto which the the PowerPoint presentation had been copied. He said no one at his firm reviewed the document because it appeared confidential. He offered to destroy or deliver the drives.

The NRA isn’t satisfied. It filed an emergency motion seeking to halt the lawsuit until it gets to the bottom of how its legal strategy ended up in the possession of Ackerman and its law firm. Virginia ethical guidelines instruct lawyers who receive misdirected communications to promptly notify their legal adversaries. But the NRA claims the conduct by Ackerman has done “imminent, irreparable harm” to it and asked the court to consider disqualifying the firm’s lawyers.

“The facts uncovered so far raise grave concern, because AMc stole the NRA’s confidential and privileged information for its benefit,” the group said. “The PowerPoint provides a roadmap of the NRA’s strategy in the litigation, as well as the thoughts, mental impressions and work product of the NRA’s counsel.”

I’m sure the NRA would like to disqualify Ack-Mac’s attorneys. I’ve read their counter-claim against the NRA and it is certainly better written than the NRA’s original complaint. I will admit to being a bit picky about the quality of writing in legal briefs as I’ve read a lot of good ones over the years for this blog.

As it is, what brilliant person in executive management thought it was a good idea to have employees of the company you are suing to provide technical support? Moreover, it leads to the question as to whether Wayne and Company are so intertwined with Ack-Mac that they can’t tell the difference between an Ack-Mac employee and a NRA employee?

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Ack-Mac Moves To End Contract With NRA

May 29, 2019 by 4 Comments

The NRA’s longtime advertising firm Ackerman McQueen has formally provided notice that they will be moving to terminate their contract according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the announcement Wednesday, Ackerman said it had formally provided a notice to terminate its contract with the NRA, claiming the agreement already had been “constructively terminated” by the NRA’s own “inexplicable actions.”

The NRA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ad firm said it had implored all parties to stay true to the NRA’s membership, but instead was “attacked in frivolous lawsuits and defamed with made-up stories” peddled to the news media.

This move comes on the heels of two lawsuits by the NRA against Ackerman McQueen and a counterclaim by Ack-Mac.

There is no word what will happen to NRATV which is produced for the NRA by Ack-Mac. As a reminder, NRATV personalities such as Cam Edward and Ginny Simone are Ack-Mac employees  while others like Dana Loesch are independent contractors.

While many of us have long wanted Ack-Mac gone or have, at the minimum, wanted a competitive RFP (request for proposal) search for an ad firm, this is a bit of a surprise to see Ack-Mac just walking away. It could mean that they see the NRA as a diminishing source of revenue and are fleeing like rats from a sinking ship. Alternatively, it could be a recognition by Ack-Mac of the rise of William Brewer III and his attempt to be the one stop shop for both legal and PR work for the NRA. Only time (and targeted information leaks) will tell.

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NRA Files Second Lawsuit Against Ackerman McQueen (Updated)

May 23, 2019 by 1 Comment

The National Rifle Association filed a second lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen yesterday in Alexandria (VA) Circuit Court. The lawsuit accuses Ack-Mac of leaking sensitive documents to the press, of trying to engineer an executive coup, and of seeking to tarnish the reputation and public image of the NRA and its senior executives. The lawsuit seeks $40 million in damages.

According to the Wall Street Journal which was one of the new organizations that had stories on the leaked documents:

The Wall Street Journal was among the media outlets to which the NRA accused Ackerman of “directly or indirectly” leaking confidential information.

The Journal published an article earlier this month about Ackerman McQueen letters sent to the NRA related to Mr. LaPierre’s more than $500,000 in alleged wardrobe and travel expenses. The letters had been posted anonymously on the internet.

A spokesman for Dow Jones & Co. declined to comment. Dow Jones is owned by News Corp, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

In a statement, Ackerman called the new lawsuit “another reckless attempt to scapegoat Ackerman McQueen for the NRA’s own breakdown in governance, compliance and leadership.”

The Daily Beast was the first outlet with the story yesterday afternoon. From their report:

“Over the past year, even as it withheld important documents and information from the NRA, AMc [Ackerman McQueen] readily shared snippets of confidential and proprietary materials with hostile third parties, including the news media–in a series of sordid, out-of-context ‘leaks’ engineered by AMc to harm its client,” the complaint reads.


An Ackerman McQueen spokesperson defended the firm.


“It is a sad day for NRA members that their leadership is more focused on attacking partners than fighting for freedom,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Once again the National Rifle Association leadership’s new lawsuit is another reckless attempt to scapegoat Ackerman McQueen for the NRA’s own breakdown in governance, compliance and leadership. We have done our job to protect the brand for decades and have continued to do so despite shameless and inaccurate attacks on our integrity and our personnel by a leadership group that is desperate to make this a story about anything other than their own failures.”

The story in the Daily Beast goes on to say that the lawsuit said that Ollie North was working as “an employee” of Ackerman McQueen when he said Wayne LaPierre should resign or damaging information would be released.

While I don’t have a copy of the actual complaint yet and thus don’t know who is the attorney of record, this second lawsuit comports with the advice typically given by the NRA’s outside legal counsel William Brewer III.

With regard to Brewer, the Daily Beast reported:

As of press time, the advertising firm has not entered court filings rebutting the NRA’s allegations. As the NRA’s legal fights metastasize, so do its legal bills. Leaked documents authenticated by The Daily Beast indicate that the NRA’s outside lawyer, Bill Brewer, has charged the gun group more than $24 million since signing on with them last year. That number came in a letter North wrote raising concerns about the NRA’s leadership. Outside legal ethics experts who reviewed North’s letter told The Daily Beast it raised serious concerns, and that the bills were “off the charts.”


Charles Cotton, who heads the audit committee of the NRA board, has said North’s claims are incorrect and that the NRA is pleased with Brewer’s work.


“Importantly, the relationship has been viewed, vetted, and approved,” he said in a statement.

Cotton is now the 1st Vice President and the presumptive choice to move into the presidency after Carolyn Meadows. Friends who are active in the gun rights movement in Texas note that Cotton was “anti-open carry and anti-liberty” though they did note Cotton did lash out at the current Speaker of the Texas House who is even worse at the beginning of the current session.

While I will say a pox on both their houses – I’m no fan of either Wayne or Ack-Mac – I see this as a counter-attack to muddy the waters even more. It is also a waste of money and diverts legal attention from the critical battle which is coming. The battle will not be with Ack-Mac, the battle will be with NY Attorney General Letitia James and the NY Charities Bureau to stave off dissolution of the NRA itself. I see that battle as the legal equivalent of the Battle of Stalingrad. The lax oversight of Ack-Mac and Wayne by the board when combined with the lavish salaries and extravagant spending have only served to provide our blood enemies ammunition with which to attack us.

UPDATE:  I was able to get a copy of the complaint and you can read the whole thing here.