My NRA Succession Planning Resolution Was Shot Down

Perhaps I was naive but I thought with the COVID-19 pandemic that my resolution asking for a formal succession plan for NRA leadership would pass. It didn’t.

Having a formal succession plan is a key to a healthy organization. This is critical for both for-profit and non-profit organization. The current NRA “succession plan” is a bylaw that states the Executive Director of General Operations will act as the Executive VP in a temporary capacity if the EVP is removed or incapacitated. This person will only serve until the next Board of Directors meeting. That’s it.

My proposal was, as follows:

Resolution submitted to the Annual Meeting of the National Rifle Association, 24 October 2020, by John P. Richardson of Arden, North Carolina, Endowment Life Member No. xxxxx

WHEREAS, the National Rifle Association exists for the benefit of its members and has a long, illustrious history as the nation’s premier provider of firearms safety, training, and competition, as well as our country’s oldest and most effective civil rights organization; and

WHEREAS, strong, effective, and consistent leadership is required for the organizational health and efficacy of the National Rifle Association; and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused great disruption to the normal activities of the National Rifle Association; and

WHEREAS, National Rifle Association President Carolyn Meadows has called COVID-19 “a wakeup-call to the importance of the NRA”; and the most vulnerable age cohort to COVID-19 are those over the age of 65 and is the age group with the highest mortality; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre is over the age of 65; and the premature death or disability of Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre would create an executive management and leadership vacuum greatly disrupting the effectiveness of the National Rifle Association in promoting our civil rights; and

WHEREAS, succession planning is a critical component of all effective organizations; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that, on this 24th day of October, 2020, the members of the National Rifle Association of America here gathered at the Annual Meeting of Members in Tucson, Arizona do hereby request the NRA Board of Directors to create a formal succession plan for the Chief Executive Officer and for the Executive Directors; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to have a draft of this formal succession plan ready for presentation and comment at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board in 2021; and

RESOLVED, that we, the members here gathered, further request the NRA Board of Directors to present this formal succession plan to the Meeting of Members in Houston, Texas on the 15th of May, 2021.

Because I thought the matter was important, I even couched in it terms of “what happens if we lose the irreplaceable Wayne!” Of course, that was BS.

After I rose to speak for the resolution and even used Charles Cotton’s mention of “best practices”, I was followed to the podium by three Board of Director members to speak against it. They were Don Saba, Joel Friedman, and Kayne Robinson. Their arguments were it wasn’t needed, that filling the position wasn’t the same as with a corporation, and that the Director of General Operations works closely with Wayne. They, of course, missed the whole point.

Frank Tait did rise to speak in favor of it which was much appreciated.

Resolutions at this Meeting of Members were pretty much doomed to failure in their original form. They best they could hope for was a referral to committee. A reasonable guesstimate of the number of voting members attending the meeting was in the 150-200 maximum range. That included 50 Board members, a number of their spouses, a number of older members from the area, and just a handful of us who want to see the NRA become a healthier organization. I really felt like I was one of the younger members in attendance and I’m 63!

I realize that change takes time and I need to play the long game. It is still frustrating but it is what it is. Just another great thing brought to you by 2020.

Save The Second Pre-NRA Podcast

I was a guest this afternoon on Save the Second’s pre-NRA Meeting podcast. Also on the podcast was Ron Carter, Rob Pincus, and Frank Tait.

Among the items discussed were the upcoming NRA Meeting of Members, a pre-meeting get together on Friday, resolutions, and just how we expected things to go during the meeting.

You can listen to the whole episode below.

UPDATE: The YouTube video of the podcast came out just after I posted the embedded audio. Now you have a choice – listen or watch.

NRA Meeting Rumors

The NRA Meeting of Members is scheduled for 9am on October 24th in Tucson, Arizona. As noted before, it will be at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Arizona, you will need a ticket to be admitted to the meeting. Unfortunately, the meeting is at capacity according to a notice on the ticket website.

That said, even if you don’t have a ticket to attend the actual Meeting of Members, you can still come to the resort, have your voting eligibility confirmed, and vote for the 76th Director.

From the ticket website:

The Voter Verification room will be located in the Ventana Room at the Hotel and will be open Friday October 23, 9am – 8pm, and Saturday October 24 from 8am until the conclusion of the Annual Meeting of Members. All voting booths for the 76th Director will be located in the Voter Verification room.

If you are in the area and eligible to vote, take some time and vote.

As of now, petition candidate Frank Tait is the only declared candidate for the 76th Director. I both gathered signatures for his petition and endorsed him in his run for the Board. I continue to support Frank. He is both a training counselor and an experienced businessman. He would bring a lot to the Board.

Here is where the rumors come in. Anyone of the people who ran for the Board of Directors and failed to be elected is eligible to run for the 76th Director. Thus, Rocky Marshall, Robert Wos, John Cushman, Jim Wallace, Craig Schwartz, Kevin Hogan, and Frank Tait are eligible to run. Rumor has it that the powers that be are seeking anyone other than Frank Tait to be the “endorsed candidate”.

As a reminder, Wayne LaPierre used your membership money in the past to pay for people to campaign for the “endorsed” candidate. Listen again to Dezarae Payne and Michael Schwartz describe how Paul Payne carried out Wayne’s wishes.

It takes nerve, chutzpah, arrogance, and outright disdain for the NRA members to continue in a strategy that has been both exposed and is downright dishonest.

Worse than that, it is stupid.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and her staff have made it plain that they are trying to dissolve the NRA. Stunts like this only play into her hands. If Wayne and his henchmen don’t think they are watching, they are bigger fools than I thought they were.

With no offense meant to any of the directors or candidates, the plain truth of the matter is one director on the bloated 76 member Board of Directors cannot do much. This makes it all the more stupid.

NRA Meeting Of Members Tickets!

The bylaws of the National Rifle Association require an annual Meeting of Members. After many cancellations and postponements, it will be on Saturday, October 24th starting at 9am. The location will be the Loews Ventana Canyon Hotel.

Here is the critical thing. You will need a ticket which is free.

Tickets “sales” open today at 3pm EDT or 12 noon AZ time.

Here is the link. If you can be in the area, be there! I have made plans to fly from North Carolina to attend because I consider it critical.

If you listened to the Gangster Capitalism episode, you have heard how Wayne and his cronies used NRA money to stack the odds in favor of their selected candidate. Don’t let it happen this time.

Frank Tait is the only candidate who has announced he is running for the 76th Director seat. He is the “reform” candidate. I endorsed him in the regular election and I’m endorsing him again.

UPDATE: I got my ticket. I’m looking forward to Tucson.

New Location For 2020 NRA Annual Meeting

Springfield is out and Tucson is in. The new location for the mandatory 2020 NRA Annual Meeting of Member is Tucson, Arizona on October 24th. The meeting is mandatory due to the bylaws.

An email was sent out today to the candidates for the 76th Director from John Frazer, Secretary and General Counsel of the NRA.

“Dear NRA Board candidate:

The Meeting Site Selection Committee met on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, for the purpose of deciding upon the date and location of the rescheduled 2020 Annual Meeting of Members. The Committee unanimously voted to hold the 2020 Annual Meeting of Members on Saturday, October 24, 2020, starting at 9:00 a.m. local time, in the Kiva Ballroom of the Loews Ventana Canyon Hotel in Tucson, Arizona.

Official notice of the meeting will be published in the NRA magazines and on NRA websites.

Balloting for the 76th Director seat will be held in conjunction with the meeting. Further information about the voting location and hours will follow separately in the near future.

We appreciate your patience throughout this challenging process.

Sincerely,

John”

Of course there is a conflict on that date. The 2nd Annual Rally for your 2A Rights is also scheduled for Saturday, October 24th in Washington, DC. The NRA has a “not invented here” mindset, for the most part, when it comes to other 2A activism. This was seen in Richmond back in January. The NRA held a “Lobby Day” in the State Capitol a week ahead of the long scheduled VCDL Lobby Day

Looking over the Loews Ventana Canyon Hotel website, the Kiva Ballroom can hold at most 1,000 people in normal times. What becomes interesting here is that there is a currently in-force Executive Order from Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) that limits public gatherings to 50 people.

The hotel itself seems very nice. For almost $200 a night it should be nice.

The downside is that it is 18-20 miles away from the airport and a half hour plus drive depending on traffic.

I have fully planned to go to the meeting in Springfield. I had my ticket and my room. Now I am going to have to do some recalculating.

One things for sure – it’s a heckuva lot easier to get to Tucson if you are part of the California NRA Members’ Councils than it is for us folks on the East Coast. It is not named the “Sinister Coast” for no reason.

UPDATE: I have been told by Todd Rathner, who is a Board member and Tucson resident, that the Board of Directors meeting will be on Saturday afternoon. When the meeting was scheduled for Springfield, MO, the Meeting of Members was on Saturday and the Board of Directors meeting was on Monday.

Any committee meetings will be held by phone or Zoom later. Participation in those by non-committee members will be at the discretion of the chairs.

Committee meetings will be held before the Board of Directors meeting on Saturday afternoon. I was just given a correction on that.

NRA Annual Meeting Postponed…Again

According to an article in the Springfield, MO News-Leader, the NRA Annual Meeting of Members and Board Meeting scheduled for Labor Day weekend is being rescheduled.

The head of Springfield’s convention and visitors bureau confirmed Monday that the National Rifle Association annual meeting slated to be held in Springfield on Sept. 5 is expected to be rescheduled.

“Apparently, they are going to reschedule for November here in Springfield,” said Tracy Kimberlin, president and CEO of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, in an email to the News-Leader.

Dana Maugans, another CVB official, said NRA leadership “have not settled on dates yet” but intend to move the meeting to November.

This goes to confirm a Tweet posted yesterday by Asher Stockler who formerly was with Newsweek.

Rumors of the rescheduling surfaced on the Facebook group Save the Second this morning as well.

As I understand it, the City of Springfield and Greene County had significant limits on the number of people that could attend in their Phase 3 Road to Recovery plan. By my estimation, the Springfield Exp Center would have been limited to 375 attendees provided they used the entire meeting space of 45,000 square feet. Public assemblies are limited to 25% of the capacity until October 15th.

Of course, I have my plane ticket and room reservations. The reservations for the room are no problem but now I have see whether I can roll the previous ticket over to the next meeting.

As soon as I have a confirmed date, I will post it.

Finally! An Official Notice Of NRA Meeting

We finally have official confirmation that the Meeting of Members and the NRA Board of Directors Meeting will be held in Springfield, Missouri over Labor Day Weekend.

From the NRA Blog:

Fairfax, Va. – The National Rifle Association is pleased to announce that the 149th Annual Meeting of Members, previously schedule for Saturday, April 18, 2020 in Nashville, TN, has been rescheduled for Saturday, September 5, at the Springfield Expo Center located at 635 E. Saint Louis Street, Springfield, Missouri.​

The Meeting with take place in Halls A/B/C of the Expo Center and commence at 9:00am Central Time. All members are invited to attend.

The news had leaked out a week ago thanks to a posting by the NRA Whittington Center.

Now that it is official, it is time to start planning your trip to beautiful southwest Missouri. Airfare is still relatively cheap, hotel rooms are quite reasonable, and Interstate 44 goes right through Springfield. The city is about a three hour drive from both Tulsa, Oklahoma and Kansas City and about 3 1/2 hours from Saint Louis.

2020 NRA Meeting Of Members

The NRA Meeting of Members is an organizational requirement and was to have been held in Nashville in April. Like so many meeting during the pandemic, it had to be postponed. It appears that it is now scheduled for Saturday, September 5th, in Springfield, Missouri.

There has been no official announcement but an announcement from the NRA Whittington Center regarding their Board of Trustees Fall Meeting spilled the beans.

This is Labor Day Weekend so one might hope that it would drive attendance. The NRA Board Fall Meeting will be on Labor Day itself.

There is no word on where exactly the meeting will be held but it appears that Springfield has plenty of meeting facilities. It is also home to the NRA Sporting Arms Museum at the “mother church” of Bass Pro Shops.

So if you want to get your kicks on Route 66, Springfield is the place to be this coming Labor Day weekend. As a bonus, the hotels appear to be quite reasonable.