Chaos at the NRA

It all appears to have started in January when, according to the Wall Street Journal, the NRA’s top outside counsel, William Brewer, gave a presentation to board members about concerns that newly-elected New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, would investigate and try to break up the gun rights group. James was openly hostile toward it during her campaign and referred to it as a “terrorist organization” in an interview with Ebony magazine.

With a looming threat of investigation by the NRA’s charter state, some in its leadership began to scrutinize its business relationship with Ackerman McQueen, its largest contractor, that accounted for $40 million of NRA spending in 2017. Ackerman and the NRA had enjoyed a decadeslong relationship. Ackerman was reportedly responsible for not only creating and running NRATV but also developing its most iconic commercials and messaging. Top executives Angus and Revan McQueen are Brewer’s father-in-law and brother-in-law, respectively.

The group was behind everything from the “I am the NRA” ads, NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre’s declaration that “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” and Charlton Heston’s famous ultimatum that the only way anyone would take his guns would be “from my cold, dead hands.” It also runs one of the NRA’s magazines, America’s 1st Freedom, and provides logistics for its massive annual meetings and leadership forum.

Much of what the average person knows about the NRA was created by Ackerman.

Yet Ackerman had been a point of internal controversy for years. The last major leadership fight at the NRA, in the 1990s, involved complaints about the company’s influence over strategy and also about its billing practices. Its messaging has also clashed with efforts by the group’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action. According to the New Yorker, Ackerman’s aggressive ad campaign against President Barack Obama in 2012 after a school shooting nearly ruptured the NRA’s relationship with key congressional Democrats.

The new scrutiny precipitated a legal fight. The NRA, through Brewer’s law firm, filed suit against Ackerman, seeking details of its billing practices and, in particular, information on its contract with the man who was NRA president at the time, Oliver North. The NRA accused Ackerman of hiding crucial details about North’s pay and demanded the company turn over documents. Ackerman claimed it gave the NRA’s auditors full access to its records.

In April, with North and Ackerman McQueen on one side of this fight and LaPierre and Brewer on the other, everyone headed to Indianapolis for the NRA’s annual meeting. That’s when the internal struggle blew past the point of no return. As the massive meeting was underway, news broke that North and LaPierre had traded dueling letters to the NRA’s board of directors, accusing one another of various forms of financial impropriety and unethical behavior.

LaPierre accused North of attempting to extort him into resigning by threatening to release damaging information. North countered by announcing the formation of a crisis committee tasked with investigating accusations of mismanagement and self-dealing by LaPierre and others that had begun being reported in newspapers and magazines. It all came to a head when LaPierre refused to resign and North flew home the night before he was set to preside over the members’ meeting.

As a few thousand NRA members with voting privileges gathered to receive reports on the state of the organization from leadership and vote on their own resolutions to the board, usually a rah-rah sort of affair, North’s seat was empty, and the session began with ally and NRA First Vice President Richard Childress reading a scathing letter from the former Marine colonel to the membership, repeating accusations against LaPierre, but also effectively announcing his resignation. After stirring speeches from a number of NRA officials, the meeting devolved into a shouting match as some members, including firearms instructor and gun rights activist Rob Pincus, attempted to forward what was effectively a motion of no confidence in LaPierre, audit committee members, and other leaders. Board members meanwhile attempted to end debate and adjourn the meeting. The no-confidence resolution was eventually referred to the board for further consideration.

When the board convened at the end of the annual meeting, it referred the no-confidence resolution to the audit committee and ethics committee, which will effectively decide whether audit committee members and others should be forced to resign at the next board meeting, Sept. 13. Most of the board’s 9 1/2-hour meeting was spent behind closed doors in an executive session. It’s not clear what, if any, decisions were made about the accusations of impropriety exchanged by North and LaPierre.

One act that did seem to take place in private session — it certainly didn’t occur in public — was the election of NRA leadership. Results were leaked to the New York Times: LaPierre was reelected. North and Childress were removed from their leadership positions.

“National Rifle Association Executive Vice President/CEO Wayne LaPierre was re-elected unanimously and unopposed by the NRA Board of Directors at their meeting in Indianapolis, Ind., April 29, 2019,” NRA leadership later said in a post on American Rifleman’s website. “Carolyn Meadows was elected NRA President.”

This was disputed by board member Allen West. “The new slate of officers for the National Rifle Association was decided upon, and nominated by, the NRA Board of Directors nominating committee,” West said in a post on his personal website. “There were no nominations from the floor when these names were put forth. With no opposing nominations, the vote was done by acclamation, not roll call vote. This is similar to passing a piece of legislation by voice vote.”

Two weeks later, West publicly said he does not support LaPierre’s continued leadership, and he called on him to resign. He had already urged this in private.

“Prior to the NRAAM in Indianapolis I sent an email to Wayne LaPierre’s managing director, Millie Hallow, expressing my sentiment that Wayne LaPierre resign immediately,” he said in another statement on his website. “I also drafted a memo entitled ‘Resolution of Concerns.’ Both of these statements are known to the NRA board.

“I do not support Wayne LaPierre continuing as the EVP/CEO of the NRA. The vote in Indianapolis was by acclamation, not roll call vote. There is a cabal of cronyism operating within the NRA and that exists within the Board of Directors. It must cease, and I do not care if I draw their angst. My duty and responsibility is to the Members of the National Rifle Association, and my oath, since July 31, 1982, has been to the Constitution of the United States, not to any political party, person, or cabal.”

Meadows, First Vice President Charles Cotton, and Second Vice President retired Lt. Col. Willes Lee responded in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, defending LaPierre and accusing West of lying.

“It is unfortunate that certain board members have resorted to making false and misleading public statements about proceedings of the NRA board of directors,” the joint statement said. “As those board members know, we are not at liberty to discuss the particulars of the board of directors meeting that occurred in executive session on April 29. However, every board member was afforded the opportunity to speak openly about any issues of concern to them. To suggest otherwise is dishonorable.”

West further accused leadership of “maliciously, recklessly and purposefully put[ting] me, and uninformed board members, in legal jeopardy” by not informing them of accusations of financial mismanagement.

“The recent statements by Charles Cotton and Carolyn Meadows that are appearing in the Wall Street Journal, and now other news outlets, are outright lies,” West said. “I have never been told, advised, informed or consulted about any of these details mentioned in the WSJ, and who knows how much more despicable spending of members’ money.”

Fellow NRA board member Timothy Knight echoed West’s comments about being kept in the dark on his Facebook page. “I certainly did not know all those things being leaked nor do I believe that the whole Board was aware,” he said. He later also called for LaPierre to resign.

Meadows, Cotton, and Lee responded by reiterating that LaPierre was “unanimously” reelected and board members were briefed on the controversies and have access to further resources to keep themselves apprised of the legal situation. They further accused board members who have criticized leadership of being part of an anti-LaPierre putsch.

“It occurs to us that board members ‘voicing’ concern may have been part of a failed attempt to oust Wayne LaPierre as CEO and Executive Vice President of the NRA prior to the board meeting in Indianapolis,” the three NRA officials said. “In fact, we were all warned that a scorched earth campaign would ensue unless Wayne moved to withdraw the NRA’s lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen and walked away from the NRA. Wayne chose the principled path — and did neither. He will continue to press for full transparency from all vendors, even the ones that employ Col. North and others.”

As the fight between West and NRA leadership unfolded, the letter North sent to the board detailing accusations of excessive personal spending by LaPierre as well as another detailing his concerns over legal fees paid to Brewer’s law firm leaked online. It included memos from Ackerman McQueen outlining some of the spending the company said it had been directed to do on LaPierre’s travel and clothing over the years.

In one memo, Ackerman said it paid out nearly $275,000 over a 13-year period at Ermenegildo Zegna in Beverly Hills, a high-end suit store, on behalf of LaPierre. That includes a $39,435 trip on May 11, 2004, and a $39,000 trip on Sept. 22, 2015.

In the other memo, the company alleged it spent over $265,000 on airfare and limo rentals for LaPierre and was later reimbursed by the NRA. It claimed to have spent $17,600 on airfare for a trip between Washington, D.C., and New York; $47,025 on a trip between South Africa, Los Angeles, and Reno, Nev.; $7,075 on a second leg between Reno and Los Angeles; plus $40,345 for airfare from Reno back to Washington. Those four visits were all part of a 10-day, $112,045 trip between Jan. 17 and Jan. 27, 2013, according to the letter.

The second Ackerman memo also lists $13,804.84 worth of rent for May through August 2016 for Megan Allen, who was an intern at the NRA during that time and is now a gift planning associate. The letter lists rent for the apartment at $5,346 per month. It also asks LaPierre to explain his “business relationship with Ms. Allen.”

Another letter from North and Childress to the NRA’s general counsel and audit committee requested that an “independent, outside expert” review fees paid to Brewer’s law firm. They said the NRA had already spent $24 million on legal fees at the firm in the previous 13 months, nearly $100,000 per day at some points.

The pair described Brewer’s fees as excessive and “draining NRA cash at mindboggling speeds.” They went on to say the fees were a “fiscal emergency” that could “pose an existential threat to the financial stability of the NRA.”

Cotton responded to complaints about Brewer’s fees with a statement saying, “The memo on the Brewer firm’s legal fees is inaccurate — it reflects a misinformed view of the firm, its billings, and its advocacy for the NRA.” Brewer’s firm has said its fees, which appear well beyond what the NRA has paid for past legal representation, are justified by the firm’s expertise.

The leak of the memos set off a new round of lawsuits. In late May, the Daily Beast reported NRA leadership doubled down on its previous suit against Ackerman by having Brewer file a second one, this time over the leaks themselves and asking for $50 million in damages instead of mere document production. Ackerman hit back with its own $50 million counterclaim. The company then moved to end its decadeslong relationship with the NRA.

For now, NRATV and other Ackerman projects continue to operate as normal, but the future of some of NRA’s best-known personalities, hosts such as Cam Edwards, Grant Stinchfield, and Dana Loesch, remains unclear.

It hasn’t all been bad news for the NRA. More than 80,000 people attended the annual meeting, which featured speeches from leading Republican representatives, and President Trump spoke there for the third year in a row. Additionally, membership dues and donations reportedly rebounded in 2018. Dues grew over $42 million, or 33%, while donations climbed by over $32 million, which is a 24% increase. Dues in 2018 were even above the levels seen during the 2016 election.

The NRA also announced at the annual meeting that it now has 5.5 million dues-paying members, which was described as an all-time record. NRA support remained broad in 2018, and its supporters continued giving. But the NRA remained in the red and saw a 374% jump in administrative legal fees, while cutting training and education by 23% and dramatically curtailing election spending.

Brewer’s law firm is now working through depositions in the second suit against Ackerman, after issuing subpoenas for North, two of its board members, and Rob Pincus.

As the legal battle with Ackerman plays out, it’s sure to inform a legal battle with New York’s hostile attorney general, which poses an existential threat to the NRA and unknown consequences for gun rights supporters. An increasingly hostile Democratic Party is not only passing sweeping gun control bills out of the statehouses and the federal chamber it controls, but it’s now fielding serious primary contenders pushing some of the strictest gun control proposals in a race to challenge the NRA’s top ally, Trump. It’s also facing a battle over Trump’s call to ban firearms suppressors.

And, for now at least, it seems it’ll have to face those challenges without the man who has headed its lobbying efforts for the last 17 years: Chris Cox. He and his chief of staff, Scott Christman, were suspended by NRA leadership after being accused of participating in the effort to oust LaPierre, according to reports from the New York Times and Bloomberg News. Cox has denied any involvement, but his future with the organization and where the group’s Institute for Legislative Action will go from here is unclear.

Some, including Pincus, argue that the NRA won’t be able to take on these challenges unless it dumps both Ackerman and LaPierre. “Wayne has now become the front man for a dysfunctional, dare I say ‘corrupt’ (at least in the moral sense, if not legally), regime,” he wrote in AmmoLand. “They enriched themselves and their friends at great expense to the gun community and the cause of gun rights. They stopped lobbying and became professional panderers … fundraisers focused on the most potentially lucrative segment of American Gun Owners. Nothing more.”

He continued, “Now, that the alliance between Wayne LaPierre & Ackerman McQueen is falling apart, they are at each other’s throats, and Wayne is desperately trying to appear to be on the high ground while AM tries to manipulate the outcome to protect their cash cow.”

He has called on members to stop donating unless changes are made in leadership and the way the board works.

On the opposite side, NRA President Carolyn Meadows and a group of former presidents insisted in a recent letter that the organization is on sound financial footing, prepared to deal with legal challenges, and united behind LaPierre.

“Perhaps looking for a way to counter the narrative about a stronger, more unified NRA, questions have now conveniently surfaced about our financial situation and our standing in the regulatory arena. There also have been frequent attacks on Wayne’s personal character,” they said. “Our financial house is in order — we aren’t going away. We have full confidence in the NRA’s accounting practices and commitment to good governance.”

The NRA officials said all of the attention on the recent chaos is overblown and is being used by the group’s opponents to put them in a bad light.

“Our adversaries will not divide us and any further discussion about the so-called ‘demise of the NRA’ is only meant to distract us from our mission,” they said.

Unfortunately for all involved, and gun rights supporters at large, it will be months before we know what will come of the Ackerman lawsuits, the New York investigation, and how those ordeals will affect the NRA’s ability to spend money in elections or on lobbying. What is clear, however, is just how much is at stake.

Stephen Gutowski is a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon and widely cited expert on firearms policy and politics.