What is it with “tough” guys and clothes? First Paulie Manaforte and ostrich skin jackets and now LaPepedePu and using NRA funds to the tune of $275K? Those duds bullet proof, yo?
Three
National Rifle Association board members who have raised concerns about
reports of reckless spending and mismanagement by the group’s
leadership resigned Thursday, another sign of mounting dissent within
the nation’s most powerful gun-rights group.
The
three board members — Esther Schneider of Texas, Sean Maloney of Ohio
and Timothy Knight of Tennessee — said they were stripped of their
committee assignments after they asked questions about allegations of
lavish spending by NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other
financial excesses.
“While our belief in the
NRA’s mission remains as strong today as ever, our confidence in the
NRA’s leadership has been shattered,” they wrote in a letter to NRA
officials Thursday obtained by The Washington Post.
NRA President Carolyn D. Meadows said in a written statement that the organization accepts the resignations.
“We
look forward to working with our new board members in furthering our
noble mission of protecting our Second Amendment rights on behalf of our
millions of members,” she said.
The three members represent a small share of the NRA’s 76-member board.
But their resignations are the latest in a series of dramatic upheavals
at the organization. In recent months, NRA President Oliver North was ousted after raising concerns about the group’s finances and top lobbyist Christopher W. Cox resigned after he was accused of participating in an alleged extortion scheme to push out LaPierre.
Before
North was forced out, he said the NRA’s outside attorney reaped
“extraordinary” legal fees that totaled millions of dollars in the past
year. NRA officials have said that figure was inaccurate and have
repeatedly defended the group’s spending as responsible.
The NRA is also contending with multiple investigations, as both the District’s attorney general and the New York Attorney General have demanded financial records from the nonprofit and its charitable foundation.
Former
U.S. Rep. Allen B. West, who was the first board member to call for
LaPierre's resignation, said in an interview he was remaining on the
board. However, he said he would not be attending the next board meeting
in September, which is set to be held in Anchorage. “I think that’s a
waste of money,” West said.
West said that
“the membership of the National Rifle Association deserves better when
it comes to fiscal responsibility because they donate their hard-earned
dollars, $25 or $50 at a time, for the protection of the Second
Amendment, not the protection of the cabal of cronyism.”
In
their letter, Schneider, Maloney and Knight said they have sought
information from NRA leaders as part of their oversight responsibilities
as board members, “only to be rebuffed at every turn.”
“We
had expected – or at least hoped— that the executive leadership team
would recognize the seriousness of these allegations and work with us in
a constructive and transparent manner to address our concerns and
minimize any further harm to the Association,” they wrote. “Instead, we
have been stonewalled, accused of disloyalty, stripped of committee
assignments and denied effective counsel necessary to properly discharge
our responsibilities as Board members.”
Other board members have risen to the defense of LaPierre and the current leadership.
Board
member Marion Hammer, who lobbies on behalf of the NRA in Florida, on
Thursday wrote in a text message to The Post her reaction to the
departing board members: “Don’t let the door hit you in the back on your
way out.”
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She said the trio “made a treacherous attempt to
overthrow leadership and lost, now they’re unhappy nobody trusts them
and doesn’t want them on committees where they can continue to disrupt
the organization.”
Another board member,
Anchorage attorney Wayne Anthony Ross, said the disgruntled board
members are undercutting an organization already under attack from
Democrats and gun control groups. Ross successfully lobbied three years
ago for the September meeting to be held in his hometown and defended
the NRA’s practice of covering airfare, lodging and food for board
members.
“Believe it or not, it’s the same
distance from Washington to Alaska as it is from Alaska to Washington,”
he said. “This is the National Rifle Association of America, and we have
board members all over the country.”
Still, calls for LaPierre’s resignation have been building from NRA stalwarts popular on YouTube and talk radio, as well as rank-and-file members who have been fuming on social media.
Some longtime members formed a nonprofit called Save the Second that is
seeking to overhaul the NRA by shrinking the 76-member board, imposing
term limits and setting minimum attendance requirements.
Resistance
is also building among donors. Randy Luth, a Minnesota-based firearms
executive, said he has nixed plans to donate part of his estate — a
seven-figure value — to the NRA. He has also cancelled plans to match a
previous donation of $50,000 and ceased advertising in NRA publications.
“I’m
not one of the biggest donors but I am a donor, and until Wayne
LaPierre and his cronies are removed or retired, I am suspending my
donations,” he said. “All these stories of extravagant spending — it
shouldn’t happen at any nonprofit, let alone the NRA.”
Meanwhile, the NRA is still enmeshed in a lawsuit
with New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who issued a directive last
year urging insurance and financial services companies to review their
relationships with the organization. It came after a state investigation
found the NRA’s “Carry Guard” insurance product violated New York law.
Scrutiny
of the organization has also increased on Capitol Hill. Sen. Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.) has been investigating the organization’s finances and ties to
Russia.
At the same time, the NRA is contending
with the loss of Cox, who had led the organization’s political and
lobbying arm since 2002 and was considered one of its most effective and
high-profile leaders. The political arm spent more than $30 million to
help elect President Trump.
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The NRA is a terrorist organization at worst and an organization that aids terrorists at best.
Little harsh, no?
Nope. If you knowing use $ and influence to support the continued attacks...what else are you? We went after the Taliban for the same thing. Providing cover, helping provide $.
The NRA is the biggest threat to any US citizen at the moment.
The NRA is a terrorist organization at worst and an organization that aids terrorists at best.
Little harsh, no?
Nope. If you knowing use $ and influence to support the continued attacks...what else are you? We went after the Taliban for the same thing. Providing cover, helping provide $.
The NRA is the biggest threat to any US citizen at the moment.
I agree , something has to be done and if the NRA are not going to be part of the solution then they are part of the problem!
The NRA is a terrorist organization at worst and an organization that aids terrorists at best.
Little harsh, no?
Nope. If you knowing use $ and influence to support the continued attacks...what else are you? We went after the Taliban for the same thing. Providing cover, helping provide $.
The NRA is the biggest threat to any US citizen at the moment.
+1
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
President
Trump has repeatedly told lawmakers and aides in private conversations
that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks in the wake of
two mass shootings, prompting a warning from the National Rifle
Association and concerns among White House aides, according to lawmakers
and administration officials.
Trump, speaking
to reporters Wednesday before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, where
weekend shootings left 31 dead, said there “was great appetite for
background checks” amid an outcry over government inaction in the face
of repeated mass shootings.
Trump’s previous
declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the
deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting in February 2018, have foundered without
a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or
Republican lawmakers. Even Trump’s advisers question how far he will go
on any effort.
NRA chief executive Wayne
LaPierre spoke with Trump on Tuesday after the president expressed
support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular
among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal talks. LaPierre also
argued against the bill’s merits, the officials said.
The two men had several more calls on Wednesday, White House officials said.
The
NRA, which opposes the legislation sponsored by Sens. Patrick J. Toomey
(R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), declined to comment.
Ohio governor calls for more stringent gun laws after facing public pressure to act
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced Aug. 6 gun violence and mental
health proposals in response to pressure for him to "do something" after
the Dayton shooting. (Reuters)
Advisers to Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would not bring any gun-control
legislation to the floor without widespread Republican support. Trump
has waffled, current and past White House officials say, between wanting
to do more and growing concerned that doing so could prompt a revolt
from his political base. Even some supporters of the Manchin-Toomey
bill, which would expand background checks to nearly all firearm sales,
say it is unlikely to pass.
“I don’t think the
president or his Republican allies are going to become out of nowhere
advocates of aggressive gun control,” said Matt Schlapp, who leads the
American Conservative Union and is a close ally of Trump.
Trump
has focused on guns extensively since the shootings, calling lawmakers
and surveying aides about what he should do — outreach that began Sunday
evening. White House officials say there has been a series of meetings
on a response, convened by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney,
including a session Tuesday morning. The president has discussed with
aides the idea of a Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony for gun-control
legislation, a notion that seems premature to many in the West Wing.
Trump also asked lawyers about what he could enact through an executive order, officials said.
“He
seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get
something done this time around,” said Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who said he had spoken to Trump
“four or five times” since the shootings. “The president has a pretty
common-sense point of view. He’s never been a sports or gun enthusiast.
But he is more determined than ever to do something on his watch.”
President
Trump and first lady Melania Trump speak to first responders Wednesday
as they visit the El Paso Regional Communications Center after meeting
with people affected by the El Paso mass shooting. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Manchin
said that Trump called him at 6:30 a.m. Monday and that the two spoke
again on Tuesday, when Trump said he wanted legislation before
September, when the Senate is scheduled to return.
Trump
did not express explicit support for the Manchin-Toomey bill but asked a
range of questions. Most of the recent mass shootings were carried out
with guns purchased legally.
“He was
inquisitive, wanting to know why it hadn’t happened. He wanted to know
all about it,” Manchin said. “I told him we couldn’t get enough
Republicans to help us.”
Manchin said he told
Trump that he would need to back any gun-control legislation or it would
fail again. Those comments were mirrored by almost a dozen GOP and
White House aides.
“If you don’t stand up and
say, ‘This is a piece of legislation I support,’ we’re not going to get
enough cover to have Republicans stand tall. They won’t be able to do
it,” Manchin said.
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On Tuesday, Trump outlined some NRA concerns in a
second call with Manchin. “We talked about that,” Manchin said. “I told
him, we don’t expect the NRA to be supportive. Mr. President, in all
honesty, when you did the bump stocks, they weren’t for you. They were
against that, too. You didn’t take any hit on that.”
In
March, the administration administratively banned bump stocks, the
devices used to make semiautomatic rifles fire rapidly like machine
guns.
A White House official said Trump had
asked some advisers and lawmakers this week about whether the NRA had
enduring clout amid an internal leadership battle and allegations of
improper spending, as well as what his supporters would think of the
bill. The Washington Post reported this week that LaPierre sought to
have the NRA buy him a $6 million mansion in a gated Dallas-area golf
club after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland, in which 17 students and staff members were killed.
Toomey
said he has spoken with the president at least three times since the
weekend shootings. He declined to elaborate on the conversations,
although he stressed that Trump hasn’t specifically endorsed the bill.
Their conversations have been more general, he said, but Toomey noted
that they had been “encouraging” and “very recent.”
“I will just tell you generally the president is open-minded about this,” Toomey said.
Some
measures — such as a ban on assault weapons — have been ruled out,
White House officials and legislative aides say. Recent polls indicate a
majority of Americans support some form of a ban on assault rifles,
though there is a large partisan divide and fewer than half of
Republicans support such measures.A July NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll
found 57 percent of the public supported a ban on “the sale of
semiautomatic assault guns, such as the AK-47 or the AR-15.” Fewer than 3
in 10 Republicans supported the proposal, rising to a slight majority
of independents and more than 8 in 10 Democrats.
“There’s no political space for that,” Graham said. “So I don’t think he’s going to go down that road.”
However,
about 9 in 10 Americans support requiring background checks for all gun
purchases, including more than 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats and
independents, according to polling.
Trump was
vague about what he would do in his comments Wednesday, and current and
former White House officials said he is often ambivalent on what he
should do after shootings.
After the Parkland
shooting, Trump expressed support for background checks for gun
purchases and greater police power to seize guns from mentally disturbed
people. But he faced significant resistance from the NRA and
Republicans and abandoned the ideas.
On Air
Force One after the October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58
dead, Trump said he wanted to enact a law to keep such shootings from
happening again and would question others for ideas but did not have
specific proposals.
After shootings, Trump
regularly would poll aides about what measures would have political
support, but if they did not gain backing, he was not inclined to lead
the charge.
“He would not be blocking it, but he’s not going to be the one forcing it to happen,” one official said.
Some
of the president’s more-moderate friends and donors have pressed for
more-robust gun-control measures. But Trump has also told advisers that
he cannot lose any members of his “base.”
“Republicans
are headed for extinction in the suburbs if they don’t distance
themselves from the NRA. The GOP needs to put forth solutions to help
eradicate the gun violence epidemic,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican
donor.
In public, Trump has promoted “red
flag” laws — also known as extreme risk protection orders — that allow
family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to ban gun access
for someone they believe is an imminent threat to themselves or others.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have such laws already in
place, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
which advocates more restrictions on firearms.
White
House aides said such a bill was the most likely outcome and had the
most support in the West Wing. Schlapp said that Trump could persuade
Republicans to support some measures seen as less restrictive.
“It’s
the best route forward because it can pass, the president will sign it
and it can actually stop the next attack,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.),
who drafted legislation to encourage more states to pass their own
red-flag laws, said in a phone interview Wednesday. He began working on
the legislation after the Parkland shooting.
“If
you look at all the studies that have been done, you see that
invariably, with perhaps the exception of Las Vegas, they all exhibited
signs and warnings to people around them that they could do something,”
Rubio said.
Yet any effort on Capitol Hill to
implement firearms restrictions is likely to face, at a minimum,
skepticism from conservatives concerned about any measure viewed as
restricting gun rights.
Early on in his
administration, Trump moved to loosen restrictions on gun purchases by
people with mental illnesses, signing legislation overturning an
Obama-era regulation that barred certain people with mental health
issues from purchasing firearms.
Some
Republican officials have pointedly noted that Graham didn’t consult
other GOP senators before forging ahead with Sen. Richard Blumenthal
(D-Conn.) on a plan to advance red-flag legislation through the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
A handful of Republican
members of the Judiciary Committee, through aides and in public
comments, have indicated they are open to policies that would encourage
states to implement such laws.
Sen. Ben Sasse
(R-Neb.) appeared the most skeptical, with a spokesman saying merely
that Sasse has asked to review the legislative language from Graham. A
spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said the lawmaker “believes
red-flag laws are one of the tools states can consider, but that there
are dangers depending on how a state implements these laws,” expressing
concern about protecting “due process and our constitutional rights.”
Democrats,
while generally supportive of red flag laws, questioned how much
congressional efforts would actually help states — particularly
conservative ones with Republican governors — enact them. Senate
Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that
Democrats would demand a vote on legislation expanding background checks
that had already passed the House and is opposed by the Trump
administration in tandem with any Senate vote on red flag laws.
“The
question is, what difference can the federal government make in what is
largely a state decision?” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the
most vocal advocates of gun control in Congress. “I’m all for federal
action on extreme risk protection orders. I’m just not sure it’s going
to move the needle.”
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Accepting foreign money as a non-profit and making illegal campaign contributions on behalf of those foreigners is not a good look. Particularly for Putin on the ritz.
So SCOTUS refused to hear an appeal of Conn Supreme Courts ruling that the familes of Sandy Hook can sue Remington. This means that lawsuit can move forward....
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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Just a heads up for all you gun owners out there, it's been taking longer then usual to get your FOID card renewed.
Because of the Hillary-Obama cabal or because the Team Trump Treason Administration is fully staffed with people who can’t complete a form or operate a computer?
Just a heads up for all you gun owners out there, it's been taking longer then usual to get your FOID card renewed.
Because of the Hillary-Obama cabal or because the Team Trump Treason Administration is fully staffed with people who can’t complete a form or operate a computer?
Illinois has a huge Dem presence in govt there. I might lean on that first. It's a state law and nothing to do with the President.
So SCOTUS refused to hear an appeal of Conn Supreme Courts ruling that the familes of Sandy Hook can sue Remington. This means that lawsuit can move forward....
NRA has been awwwwfullly quiet lately, awwwweefuly quiet like wascily wabbits. Devin Nunca? SDNY? Team Mueller? But they sure don’t mind spending your dues, if you’re a fool to dues, making their lives convenient, now do they?
NRA has been awwwwfullly quiet lately, awwwweefuly quiet like wascily wabbits. Devin Nunca? SDNY? Team Mueller? But they sure don’t mind spending your dues, if you’re a fool to dues, making their lives convenient, now do they?
They've been busy increasing Wayne's pay and cutting programs! Highlights include: 57% Increase in Wayne's pay 22% Cut for Education and Training 61% Cut for Hunters Services 51% Cut for Field Services
If you send $$$ to the NRA, it's going right into executive compensation at this point. Gone are the days of the NRA being about safety and education.
"I'll use the magic word - let's just shut the fuck up, please." EV, 04/13/08
by Beth Reinhard November 26 at 8:09 PM EST Compensation for top officials at the National Rifle Association surged by 41 percent last year, according to a new tax filing, as the nation’s largest pro-gun organization sharply reduced spending on programs central to its mission.
The jump from 2017 to 2018 for the NRA’s officers, directors and highly paid employees included a 57 percent increase for chief executive Wayne LaPierre that boosted his overall compensation to $2.15 million.
The filing also shows perks for top officials that are typically associated with the corporate world, including charter and first-class travel with companions as well as dues for health or social clubs. Those costs were not detailed, though the NRA filing says housing expenses were provided for five people.
During that same period, NRA spending plunged 22 percent for education and training, 61 percent for hunter services and 51 percent for field services, which includes organizing volunteers, fundraising for shooting sports and promoting the NRA at gun shows and other events, according to a previously released audit.
NRA officials said the raises resulted from a periodic analysis by a committee of board members. In response to questions about the program cuts, spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the NRA “eliminated costly advertising” in a number of program areas.
“Priority number one is investing in the projects and services that best serve our members and protect their Second Amendment freedoms,” Arulanandam said.
The pay hikes, coupled with program cuts, feed into a line of attack coming from some board members and firearms enthusiasts: that NRA leaders are putting their own financial interest above those of dues-paying members.
“Money flowing away from programs and into executives’ pockets is causing many longtime members to join the ranks of American gun owners who have lost faith in the NRA, especially its leadership,” said Rob Pincus, a firearms instructor and NRA lifetime member who is leading a petition drive to overhaul the group’s board.
According to the tax filing, legal fees more than tripled in 2018, to more than $25 million. For the first time, the tax filing lists the Texas law firm of William Brewer III as one of its most highly compensated contractors, receiving $13.8 million. Brewer has become one of LaPierre’s most trusted advisers despite his lack of experience in Second Amendment litigation. NRA officials stand by Brewer.
“We make no apologies for doubling down on the investment required to confront our enemies and unprecedented attacks on our members in 2018,” Arulanandam said.
[Just how bad are things at the National Rifle Association?]
The new tax filing helps fill in the financial picture of the NRA at the end of a tumultuous year for the gun lobby.
The drama began at the annual convention in April, when board president Oliver North was ousted after accusing LaPierre of overspending on legal fees. That clash was followed by leaks showing LaPierre spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing and luxury travel. A court battle escalated between the NRA and its longtime public relations agency, Ackerman McQueen, while the Democratic attorneys general of New York and Washington, D.C. launched investigations into the tax-exempt group’s spending.
NRA officials have disputed North’s claims and said the clothes and travel were necessary for media appearances and fundraising. Eight of the 76 members of the board have resigned since the spring, some in protest of LaPierre’s leadership, while others have rallied behind the longtime chief executive as a powerful spokesman for gun rights.
To address concerns, LaPierre summoned members of the “Golden Ring of Freedom” — donors who have given at least $1 million — to huddle at the Virginia headquarters last month, according to attendees.
“The meeting was scheduled so he could explain to us what was really going on — the truth,” said Florida real estate developer John Rumpel, who said he has given about $2.8 million to the NRA. “I left without feeling suspicious about anything.”
More than two dozen of the donors — easily spotted at conventions in their custom-made gold jackets — were told that the NRA had conducted a line-by-line review of the budget and would emerge stronger than ever from the lawsuits and investigations, attendees said. LaPierre also disputed reports that he and his wife wanted the NRA to buy them a $6 million home in a gated golf community because of security concerns, saying that the real estate deal was Ackerman McQueen’s idea.
Ackerman McQueen has said it was alarmed when LaPierre sought the agency’s assistance with the real estate transaction.
NRA officials declined to discuss the Oct. 15 gathering with its top donors, which has not been previously reported.
“Mr. LaPierre meets regularly with NRA donors, grass-roots supporters and other stakeholders,” Arulanandam said. “As he has done for years, he confronts false allegations about the NRA head-on, and speaks about our mission in the 2020 election cycle.”
Donors said LaPierre told them a harrowing story about a false 911 call that sent the police to his Virginia home in the middle of the night in 2013. He was ordered to come out with his hands up, Rumpel said.
“I’ve offered him any and all of the five homes I own and my plane to move him around,” he said. “He has to travel around incognito.”
Another major donor who attended the meeting, Pat Hogan, chief executive of an Illinois-based auction house for antique firearms, also said he was worried about LaPierre’s safety. “The amount of abuse that Wayne takes — I would suggest he’s not paid enough, even with that increase,” he said.
But Hogan added that the NRA had turned over too much money and control to Ackerman McQueen, and that he regretted the departure in June of this year of the NRA’s chief political strategist, Chris Cox. The NRA has accused Cox in a lawsuit of being part of a “conspiracy” with North, which Cox has denied.
In 2018, Cox was among several top executives who received double-digit-percent increases in pay, according to the filing. He received nearly $1.4 million in compensation from the NRA and related entities, a 17 percent hike from the previous year. Twelve top officials received six-figure compensation packages, including two who left the NRA in 2016. Wilson Phillips, who served as treasurer through mid-September 2018, got $948,769 in compensation that year, up 34 percent.
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Neither Cox nor Phillips responded to requests for comment.
According to the tax filings, charter travel was used “on occasions when travel logistics or security concerns precluded other available options.” LaPierre’s travel has come under scrutiny following revelations that about $250,000 was spent on his trips to locations such as Italy, Budapest and the Bahamas in recent years.
Members of the NRA’s board are not paid for overseeing the organization’s finances. But North, then the board’s president, received $1.38 million from Ackerman McQueen in 2018. Under that arrangement — the details of which the NRA has claimed were kept secret from the board — North appeared on NRATV, a platform that espoused gun rights.
North has said LaPierre authorized the contract and declined through his attorney to comment on the tax filing that showed the pay increases. Experts on nonprofit organizations say that board members who receive money from the one they oversee or its vendors can face conflicts of interest. The tax filings show another 11 board members were paid a total of more than $617,000 from the NRA, which has defended such payments as going toward services and membership recruitment.
In a year in which LaPierre weathered calls for his resignation, his base salary rose from $1.2 million in 2017 to $1.3 million in 2018; his bonus tripled to $455,000; and “other reportable compensation” climbed from about $45,000 to more than $427,000, the filing shows. LaPierre also received an additional $73,793 in “retirement and other deferred compensation” and “nontaxable benefits” from the NRA and related entities.
NRA officials said LaPierre’s contributions are instrumental to the organization’s success.
beth.reinhard@washpost.com
Carol D. Leonnig and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
By Beth Reinhard March 24 at 7:30 AM ET The National Rifle Association is cutting salaries 20 percent and bracing for layoffs, as the coronavirus pandemic forces the nonprofit to cancel its annual meeting set for April and a wide range of upcoming fundraisers and programs, according to a memo to staffers from the nonprofit’s leadership Monday.
More than 800 people worked at the NRA in 2018, according to its latest tax filing, although that number includes part-time workers who would not be affected by the reductions. Schedules for hourly workers will be reduced from five to four days a week, the memo said.
Some top NRA officials, including chief executive Wayne LaPierre, are taking salary reductions greater than 20 percent, according to a person familiar with the cuts who was not authorized to speak publicly about them.
In 2018, compensation for top officials, including LaPierre, surged by 41 percent and legal fees more than tripled, according to the organization’s tax filing, even as the nation’s largest gun rights organization sharply reduced spending on programs central to its mission. LaPierre received a total of about $2.2 million from the NRA and related entities in 2018, including a base salary of $1.27 million, tax documents show.
LaPierre withstood calls for his resignation last year amid allegations of lavish spending on travel, clothing and legal fees. NRA officials have staunchly defended their stewardship as the Democratic attorneys general of Washington and New York investigate the tax-exempt group’s spending.
“We must address immediate financial challenges and, as importantly, plan for long-term impacts to ensure the viability of our organization during this crucial year,” LaPierre said in the memo describing the pay cuts and proposed layoffs. “Unfortunately, these changes will necessitate the elimination of certain positions on either a temporary or, in some cases, permanent basis.”
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The memo said that due to public health guidance and state or local restrictions, all Friends of NRA banquets across the country were canceled as were gun shows, recruitment stations and other income-generating activities.
“We believe these actions will favorably position the Association leading up to the November election,” an NRA spokesman said.
The NRA’s political arm spent a record-setting $30 million in 2016 to help elect President Trump.
The organization ended 2018 with a $2.7 million shortfall in 2018, compared with a $17.8 million shortfall the previous year and a hole of $45.8 million in 2016, according to NRA tax filings.
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After
years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National
Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing:
Current and former executives used the nonprofit group’s money for
personal benefit and enrichment.
The
NRA said in the filing that it continues to review the alleged abuse of
funds, as the tax-exempt organization curtails services and runs up
multimillion-dollar legal bills. The assertion of impropriety comes four
months after the attorney general of New York state filed a lawsuit
accusing NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other top executives of
using NRA funds for decades to provide inflated salaries and expense accounts.
The
tax return, which The Washington Post obtained from the organization,
says the NRA “became aware during 2019 of a significant diversion of its
assets.” The 2019 filing states that LaPierre and five former
executives received “excess benefits,” a term the IRS uses to describe
executives’ enriching themselves at the expense of a nonprofit entity.
The
disclosures in the tax return suggest that the organization is standing
by its 71-year-old chief executive while continuing to pursue former
executives of the group.The filing says that LaPierre
“corrected” his financial lapses with a repayment and contends that
former executives “improperly” used NRA funds or charged the nonprofit
for expenses that were “not appropriate.”
LaPierre
has reimbursed the organization nearly $300,000 in travel expenses
covering 2015 to 2019, according to the tax return, which does not
explain how that amount was determined or when LaPierre paid it.
NRA
spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a statement this week that “the
vast majority of Mr. LaPierre’s travel was undertaken in strict
compliance with NRA policy.”
In
response to questions from The Post, NRA executives said the
organization is financially strong and closely adhering to nonprofit
law. “As its tax filing demonstrates, the NRA is committed to strict
compliance with its accounting controls and goodgovernance practices,”
said Charles Cotton, an NRA vice president and audit committee chair.
The
tax filing acknowledges that there are disputes over the alleged
financial abuses the NRA blames on the departed officers, including
former board president Oliver North and former chief lobbyist Chris Cox.
Some
of those executives parted ways with LaPierre over his leadership and
are cooperating with the New York attorney general’s investigation,
according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the ongoing
investigation.
In
another disclosure in the tax return, the NRA said it is investigating
unnamed board members for flying first class without authorization.
Three
tax and accounting experts who reviewed the 2019 tax return for The
Post said the disclosures show the organization and LaPierre trying to
take responsibility and avoid further legal jeopardy.
“This
is the type of cleanup I would expect to see after a history of gross
violations of nonprofit law,” said Philip Hackney, an associate
professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh who worked at the IRS
for five years until 2011 providing legal oversight of tax-exempt
organizations.
LaPierre
personally signed the 2019 tax return; such a document is customarily
signed by the organization’s treasurer. “He is putting himself on the
line, under penalties of perjury, which is what you do if you are trying
to get in someone’s good graces,” Hackney said.
New
York lawyer and expert on nonprofits Daniel Kurtz said, “It’s a smart
move by the NRA instead of digging in their heels, though who knows how
they came up with the numbers. It’s an admission of wrongdoing, for
sure.”
In her lawsuit,
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, alleged a much
larger misappropriation of funds, seeking to shut down the nation’s
largest gun rights organization and oust LaPierre.
“For
years, Wayne LaPierre and his lieutenants skirted the law and pocketed
millions from NRA coffers to fund lavish lifestyles that included
private jets, pricey vacations, expensive meals and no-show contracts,”
James said this week. “Mr. LaPierre’s reimbursement of just a fraction
of the millions he personally profited from indicates how the NRA went
unchecked under his leadership.”
LaPierre
has called the lawsuit unconstitutional, casting James as a liberal
anti-gun activist who has long sought to destroy the gun lobby.
The
New York suit alleges that LaPierre funneled personal expenses through
the NRA’s former public relations and advertising firm, Ackerman
McQueen, and failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars of
personal income. Executives at Ackerman McQueen have said that all of
their financial arrangements were approved by LaPierre.
James said in August that she was referring her findings to the IRS. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the agency was investigating LaPierre for possible criminal tax fraud related to his personal taxes.
According
to two people familiar with a deposition LaPierre gave last year in
litigation between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen, the chief executive
said he never reported as personal income the travel and entertainment
expenses the NRA paid on his behalf because he thought those benefits
were provided as part of his leadership role at the organization.
LaPierre declined an interview request from The Post through his new personal attorney, Kent Correll.
Of the reported IRS inquiry, Correll said, “We are unaware of any inquiry, therefore it would be premature to comment.”
The
new tax documents portray an organization trimming costs and struggling
as membership dues and other revenue declined even before the coronavirus
pandemic curbed charitable fundraising nationwide. The NRA reported a
$12.2 million operating shortfall last year, up from $2.7 million the
previous year. This is the fourth year in a row the organization has
reported spending more than it took in.
The
one area where the NRA’s expenses are growing: legal costs, which
soared in 2019 to $38.5 million from $25 million in 2018. Ackerman
McQueen was the NRA’s highest paid contractor for years, churning out
provocative marketing campaigns and broadcasts, until the relationship
disintegrated in a litigious squabble last year. Now the NRA’s single
largest vendor is the Dallas law firm headed by William Brewer, which
was paid nearly $25 million last year.
Arulanandam
called the legal costs “an investment in the future of the NRA.” He
added: “NRA members expect us to use our resources to defend their
constitutional freedoms — not avoid the fight.”
In the latest legal setback, New York insurance regulators announced
last week that the NRA is barred from selling insurance in the state
for five years and will pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle
charges of illegally marketing insurance to gun owners involved in
self-defense shootings. The NRA said in a statement that it had
“successfully resolved” the matter.
That
LaPierre remains at the NRA helm despite months of turmoil is a
testament to his tenacity as the face of the American gun lobby for
decades.
Since
his leadership was challenged at a raucous annual meeting in the spring
of 2019. LaPierre has weathered revelations that he spent hundreds of
thousands of the nonprofit’s dollars on luxury menswear and travel, and
that the NRA considered
buying him a multimillion-dollar estate in Texas. Some board members
and veteran staffers walked away in protest, accusing LaPierre and other
executives of self-dealing and alleging that the group had strayed from
its core mission of promoting firearm ownership.
“LaPierre
would have stepped aside a long time ago if his concern was really for
the institution,” said Rob Pincus, a lifetime NRA member who has led a
campaign to overhaul the organization. “He remains a distraction and a
detraction.”
Cox resigned
in June 2019 after LaPierre accused him and North of orchestrating a
coup — a claim they both denied. The tax return says the organization is
seeking to recover more than $1 million it says Cox improperly received
for travel, meals and tickets to sporting events.
Cox’s
lawyer, Tom Buchanan, called the allegation “false” and said all of the
lobbyist’s expenses during his 24 years with the NRA were reviewed and
never questioned. Buchanan said also that Cox has provided the New York
attorney general with “thousands of documents” and has not been
implicated in her investigation.
North
was ousted as NRA president last year after accusing LaPierre of
spending recklessly on legal fees for Brewer’s firm. The new tax filing
says the NRA has “reason to believe” North received excess salary that
he failed to earn. North declined through his attorney to comment on the
tax return.
North
has previously argued that the NRA has falsely accused him of financial
improprieties in retaliation for his cooperating as a key witness in
the New York investigation, according to pleadings in New York State
Court.
“In
public, the NRA has said these allegations of misspending were
completely unfounded, but these official filings present a picture that a
lot of the claims made were accurate and the only question is who was
at fault,” said Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State
University.
On
Nov. 18, after NRA members complained that Brewer’s firm should not
represent both the NRA and LaPierre, the chief executive notified the
court in Texas that he had hired his own lawyer, Correll.
Correll previously worked in Brewer’s firm.
Three
other former NRA executives are accused in the tax return of receiving
“excess benefits.” They are Wilson “Woody” Phillips, who was treasurer;
Joshua Powell, who had been chief of staff to LaPierre; and David
Lehman, who was a lobbyist. Powell declined to comment. Phillips and
Lehman could not be reached this week after repeated phone calls from
The Post.
Last year, compensation for top NRA executives rose
by 41 percent, with LaPierre receiving a total of about $2.2 million
from the NRA and related entities even as pension benefits for employees
have been frozen. By comparison, the previous year, he received about
$1.4 million. Executive salaries declined only slightly in 2019, and
the NRA continued to hand out six-figure bonuses to four top executives,
including LaPierre, the tax filing shows.
The
NRA also continued to direct money to some board members for providing
various services, according to the return, a practice tax experts say can cloud a board’s independent oversight.
For
the first time in years, the NRA filing acknowledged the dual and
potentially conflicting roles held by board member Marion Hammer, a
longtime consultant who was paid $220,350 last year. She did not respond
to requests for comment by phone and email. Seven other board members
received a total of $175,000 in side agreements with the organization,
the filing shows.
During
the same period, the group slashed spending on hunter services by 63
percent; public affairs by 52 percent; legislative programs by 17
percent; and safety education, training, gun shows and exhibits by 16
percent, according to an audit filed this year with North Carolina
charity regulators.
NRA
spokesman Arulanandam said the organization “has never been better
positioned to execute its legislative and political agenda — leading the
protection of America’s constitutional freedoms.”
In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus forced states to close business and schools, the NRA announced
that it was cutting salaries, canceling fundraising activities and gun
shows, and laying off employees to “favorably position the Association
leading up to the November election,” according to a statement from a
spokesman at the time.
But the NRA also cut its spending on political campaigns.
The
group’s political arm allocated less than $17 million for President
Trump’s reelection, according to Federal Election Commission records,
compared with the $30 million it spent to help elect Trump in 2016.
Bill
Powers, the executive vice president for communications at Ackerman
McQueen, said the financial statements lay out the NRA’s steady decline
as the organization faced a raft of defectors questioning LaPierre’s
leadership, and as more of its money went into scorched-earth legal
battles to defend LaPierre. “You have just seen an election where the
NRA was sidelined,” he said.
John
Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, which supports
gun control measures, said, “Put simply, they put their limited money on
Donald Trump and lost big time.”
Arulanandam
said the NRA helped pro-gun Republicans pick up seats in the House and
in state legislatures in this month’s election.
The
tax return shows membership dues falling 34 percent in 2019, to $113
million. Arulanandam called those figures “dated information.” He said
that donations and grass-roots support are “surging” and that the NRA
added 300,000 members in the past six months.
The
NRA continues to rely on its charitable arm, the NRA Foundation,
according to the tax return. It received $12 million in grants and is
paying off a $5 million loan from the foundation. The two entities
share employees, office space and other resources, and the NRA sought
about $15 million in reimbursements from the foundation in 2019.
The
relationship between the NRA and the foundation is the subject of a
lawsuit by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D), who contends that
the foundation has strayed from its legal duty to pursue charitable
activities and instead has been used to cover the NRA’s deficits.
NRA
executives have said that the financial statements are audited and that
the organization uses best practices in accounting and governance.
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Three National Rifle Association board members who have raised concerns about reports of reckless spending and mismanagement by the group’s leadership resigned Thursday, another sign of mounting dissent within the nation’s most powerful gun-rights group.
The three board members — Esther Schneider of Texas, Sean Maloney of Ohio and Timothy Knight of Tennessee — said they were stripped of their committee assignments after they asked questions about allegations of lavish spending by NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other financial excesses.
“While our belief in the NRA’s mission remains as strong today as ever, our confidence in the NRA’s leadership has been shattered,” they wrote in a letter to NRA officials Thursday obtained by The Washington Post.
NRA President Carolyn D. Meadows said in a written statement that the organization accepts the resignations.
“We look forward to working with our new board members in furthering our noble mission of protecting our Second Amendment rights on behalf of our millions of members,” she said.
The three members represent a small share of the NRA’s 76-member board. But their resignations are the latest in a series of dramatic upheavals at the organization. In recent months, NRA President Oliver North was ousted after raising concerns about the group’s finances and top lobbyist Christopher W. Cox resigned after he was accused of participating in an alleged extortion scheme to push out LaPierre.
Before North was forced out, he said the NRA’s outside attorney reaped “extraordinary” legal fees that totaled millions of dollars in the past year. NRA officials have said that figure was inaccurate and have repeatedly defended the group’s spending as responsible.
[NRA money flowed to board members amid allegedly lavish spending by top officials and vendors]
The NRA is also contending with multiple investigations, as both the District’s attorney general and the New York Attorney General have demanded financial records from the nonprofit and its charitable foundation.
Former U.S. Rep. Allen B. West, who was the first board member to call for LaPierre's resignation, said in an interview he was remaining on the board. However, he said he would not be attending the next board meeting in September, which is set to be held in Anchorage. “I think that’s a waste of money,” West said.
West said that “the membership of the National Rifle Association deserves better when it comes to fiscal responsibility because they donate their hard-earned dollars, $25 or $50 at a time, for the protection of the Second Amendment, not the protection of the cabal of cronyism.”
In their letter, Schneider, Maloney and Knight said they have sought information from NRA leaders as part of their oversight responsibilities as board members, “only to be rebuffed at every turn.”
“We had expected – or at least hoped— that the executive leadership team would recognize the seriousness of these allegations and work with us in a constructive and transparent manner to address our concerns and minimize any further harm to the Association,” they wrote. “Instead, we have been stonewalled, accused of disloyalty, stripped of committee assignments and denied effective counsel necessary to properly discharge our responsibilities as Board members.”
[Inside the NRA’s finances: Deepening debt, increased spending on legal fees — and cuts to gun training]
Other board members have risen to the defense of LaPierre and the current leadership.
Board member Marion Hammer, who lobbies on behalf of the NRA in Florida, on Thursday wrote in a text message to The Post her reaction to the departing board members: “Don’t let the door hit you in the back on your way out.”
continues...
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She said the trio “made a treacherous attempt to overthrow leadership and lost, now they’re unhappy nobody trusts them and doesn’t want them on committees where they can continue to disrupt the organization.”
Another board member, Anchorage attorney Wayne Anthony Ross, said the disgruntled board members are undercutting an organization already under attack from Democrats and gun control groups. Ross successfully lobbied three years ago for the September meeting to be held in his hometown and defended the NRA’s practice of covering airfare, lodging and food for board members.
“Believe it or not, it’s the same distance from Washington to Alaska as it is from Alaska to Washington,” he said. “This is the National Rifle Association of America, and we have board members all over the country.”
Still, calls for LaPierre’s resignation have been building from NRA stalwarts popular on YouTube and talk radio, as well as rank-and-file members who have been fuming on social media. Some longtime members formed a nonprofit called Save the Second that is seeking to overhaul the NRA by shrinking the 76-member board, imposing term limits and setting minimum attendance requirements.
Resistance is also building among donors. Randy Luth, a Minnesota-based firearms executive, said he has nixed plans to donate part of his estate — a seven-figure value — to the NRA. He has also cancelled plans to match a previous donation of $50,000 and ceased advertising in NRA publications.
“I’m not one of the biggest donors but I am a donor, and until Wayne LaPierre and his cronies are removed or retired, I am suspending my donations,” he said. “All these stories of extravagant spending — it shouldn’t happen at any nonprofit, let alone the NRA.”
Meanwhile, the NRA is still enmeshed in a lawsuit with New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), who issued a directive last year urging insurance and financial services companies to review their relationships with the organization. It came after a state investigation found the NRA’s “Carry Guard” insurance product violated New York law.
Scrutiny of the organization has also increased on Capitol Hill. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has been investigating the organization’s finances and ties to Russia.
At the same time, the NRA is contending with the loss of Cox, who had led the organization’s political and lobbying arm since 2002 and was considered one of its most effective and high-profile leaders. The political arm spent more than $30 million to help elect President Trump.
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We charge people with accessory to crimes.
Forget the manufacturers...but the NRA is an organization that props up domestic terrorists. Eventually, they need to be held accountable.
https://www.nraila.org/articles/20190617/governor-abbott-signs-ten-pro-second-amendment-bills-into-law
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The NRA is the biggest threat to any US citizen at the moment.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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President Trump has repeatedly told lawmakers and aides in private conversations that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks in the wake of two mass shootings, prompting a warning from the National Rifle Association and concerns among White House aides, according to lawmakers and administration officials.
Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, where weekend shootings left 31 dead, said there “was great appetite for background checks” amid an outcry over government inaction in the face of repeated mass shootings.
Trump’s previous declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting in February 2018, have foundered without a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or Republican lawmakers. Even Trump’s advisers question how far he will go on any effort.
NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump on Tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal talks. LaPierre also argued against the bill’s merits, the officials said.
The two men had several more calls on Wednesday, White House officials said.
The NRA, which opposes the legislation sponsored by Sens. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), declined to comment.
Advisers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would not bring any gun-control legislation to the floor without widespread Republican support. Trump has waffled, current and past White House officials say, between wanting to do more and growing concerned that doing so could prompt a revolt from his political base. Even some supporters of the Manchin-Toomey bill, which would expand background checks to nearly all firearm sales, say it is unlikely to pass.
“I don’t think the president or his Republican allies are going to become out of nowhere advocates of aggressive gun control,” said Matt Schlapp, who leads the American Conservative Union and is a close ally of Trump.
Trump has focused on guns extensively since the shootings, calling lawmakers and surveying aides about what he should do — outreach that began Sunday evening. White House officials say there has been a series of meetings on a response, convened by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, including a session Tuesday morning. The president has discussed with aides the idea of a Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony for gun-control legislation, a notion that seems premature to many in the West Wing.
Trump also asked lawyers about what he could enact through an executive order, officials said.
“He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who said he had spoken to Trump “four or five times” since the shootings. “The president has a pretty common-sense point of view. He’s never been a sports or gun enthusiast. But he is more determined than ever to do something on his watch.”
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump speak to first responders Wednesday as they visit the El Paso Regional Communications Center after meeting with people affected by the El Paso mass shooting. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Manchin said that Trump called him at 6:30 a.m. Monday and that the two spoke again on Tuesday, when Trump said he wanted legislation before September, when the Senate is scheduled to return.
Trump did not express explicit support for the Manchin-Toomey bill but asked a range of questions. Most of the recent mass shootings were carried out with guns purchased legally.
“He was inquisitive, wanting to know why it hadn’t happened. He wanted to know all about it,” Manchin said. “I told him we couldn’t get enough Republicans to help us.”
Manchin said he told Trump that he would need to back any gun-control legislation or it would fail again. Those comments were mirrored by almost a dozen GOP and White House aides.
“If you don’t stand up and say, ‘This is a piece of legislation I support,’ we’re not going to get enough cover to have Republicans stand tall. They won’t be able to do it,” Manchin said.
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On Tuesday, Trump outlined some NRA concerns in a second call with Manchin. “We talked about that,” Manchin said. “I told him, we don’t expect the NRA to be supportive. Mr. President, in all honesty, when you did the bump stocks, they weren’t for you. They were against that, too. You didn’t take any hit on that.”
In March, the administration administratively banned bump stocks, the devices used to make semiautomatic rifles fire rapidly like machine guns.
A White House official said Trump had asked some advisers and lawmakers this week about whether the NRA had enduring clout amid an internal leadership battle and allegations of improper spending, as well as what his supporters would think of the bill. The Washington Post reported this week that LaPierre sought to have the NRA buy him a $6 million mansion in a gated Dallas-area golf club after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 17 students and staff members were killed.
[NRA chief sought purchase of $6 million mansion in wake of Parkland shooting]
Toomey said he has spoken with the president at least three times since the weekend shootings. He declined to elaborate on the conversations, although he stressed that Trump hasn’t specifically endorsed the bill. Their conversations have been more general, he said, but Toomey noted that they had been “encouraging” and “very recent.”
“I will just tell you generally the president is open-minded about this,” Toomey said.
Some measures — such as a ban on assault weapons — have been ruled out, White House officials and legislative aides say. Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans support some form of a ban on assault rifles, though there is a large partisan divide and fewer than half of Republicans support such measures.A July NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found 57 percent of the public supported a ban on “the sale of semiautomatic assault guns, such as the AK-47 or the AR-15.” Fewer than 3 in 10 Republicans supported the proposal, rising to a slight majority of independents and more than 8 in 10 Democrats.
“There’s no political space for that,” Graham said. “So I don’t think he’s going to go down that road.”
However, about 9 in 10 Americans support requiring background checks for all gun purchases, including more than 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to polling.
Trump was vague about what he would do in his comments Wednesday, and current and former White House officials said he is often ambivalent on what he should do after shootings.
After the Parkland shooting, Trump expressed support for background checks for gun purchases and greater police power to seize guns from mentally disturbed people. But he faced significant resistance from the NRA and Republicans and abandoned the ideas.
On Air Force One after the October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, Trump said he wanted to enact a law to keep such shootings from happening again and would question others for ideas but did not have specific proposals.
After shootings, Trump regularly would poll aides about what measures would have political support, but if they did not gain backing, he was not inclined to lead the charge.
“He would not be blocking it, but he’s not going to be the one forcing it to happen,” one official said.
Some of the president’s more-moderate friends and donors have pressed for more-robust gun-control measures. But Trump has also told advisers that he cannot lose any members of his “base.”
“Republicans are headed for extinction in the suburbs if they don’t distance themselves from the NRA. The GOP needs to put forth solutions to help eradicate the gun violence epidemic,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor.
In public, Trump has promoted “red flag” laws — also known as extreme risk protection orders — that allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to ban gun access for someone they believe is an imminent threat to themselves or others. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have such laws already in place, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates more restrictions on firearms.
White House aides said such a bill was the most likely outcome and had the most support in the West Wing. Schlapp said that Trump could persuade Republicans to support some measures seen as less restrictive.
“It’s the best route forward because it can pass, the president will sign it and it can actually stop the next attack,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who drafted legislation to encourage more states to pass their own red-flag laws, said in a phone interview Wednesday. He began working on the legislation after the Parkland shooting.
“If you look at all the studies that have been done, you see that invariably, with perhaps the exception of Las Vegas, they all exhibited signs and warnings to people around them that they could do something,” Rubio said.
Yet any effort on Capitol Hill to implement firearms restrictions is likely to face, at a minimum, skepticism from conservatives concerned about any measure viewed as restricting gun rights.
Early on in his administration, Trump moved to loosen restrictions on gun purchases by people with mental illnesses, signing legislation overturning an Obama-era regulation that barred certain people with mental health issues from purchasing firearms.
Some Republican officials have pointedly noted that Graham didn’t consult other GOP senators before forging ahead with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on a plan to advance red-flag legislation through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A handful of Republican members of the Judiciary Committee, through aides and in public comments, have indicated they are open to policies that would encourage states to implement such laws.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) appeared the most skeptical, with a spokesman saying merely that Sasse has asked to review the legislative language from Graham. A spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said the lawmaker “believes red-flag laws are one of the tools states can consider, but that there are dangers depending on how a state implements these laws,” expressing concern about protecting “due process and our constitutional rights.”
Democrats, while generally supportive of red flag laws, questioned how much congressional efforts would actually help states — particularly conservative ones with Republican governors — enact them. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that Democrats would demand a vote on legislation expanding background checks that had already passed the House and is opposed by the Trump administration in tandem with any Senate vote on red flag laws.
“The question is, what difference can the federal government make in what is largely a state decision?” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the most vocal advocates of gun control in Congress. “I’m all for federal action on extreme risk protection orders. I’m just not sure it’s going to move the needle.”
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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57% Increase in Wayne's pay
22% Cut for Education and Training
61% Cut for Hunters Services
51% Cut for Field Services
If you send $$$ to the NRA, it's going right into executive compensation at this point. Gone are the days of the NRA being about safety and education.
November 26 at 8:09 PM EST
Compensation for top officials at the National Rifle Association surged by 41 percent last year, according to a new tax filing, as the nation’s largest pro-gun organization sharply reduced spending on programs central to its mission.
The jump from 2017 to 2018 for the NRA’s officers, directors and highly paid employees included a 57 percent increase for chief executive Wayne LaPierre that boosted his overall compensation to $2.15 million.
The filing also shows perks for top officials that are typically associated with the corporate world, including charter and first-class travel with companions as well as dues for health or social clubs. Those costs were not detailed, though the NRA filing says housing expenses were provided for five people.
During that same period, NRA spending plunged 22 percent for education and training, 61 percent for hunter services and 51 percent for field services, which includes organizing volunteers, fundraising for shooting sports and promoting the NRA at gun shows and other events, according to a previously released audit.
NRA officials said the raises resulted from a periodic analysis by a committee of board members. In response to questions about the program cuts, spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the NRA “eliminated costly advertising” in a number of program areas.
“Priority number one is investing in the projects and services that best serve our members and protect their Second Amendment freedoms,” Arulanandam said.
The pay hikes, coupled with program cuts, feed into a line of attack coming from some board members and firearms enthusiasts: that NRA leaders are putting their own financial interest above those of dues-paying members.
“Money flowing away from programs and into executives’ pockets is causing many longtime members to join the ranks of American gun owners who have lost faith in the NRA, especially its leadership,” said Rob Pincus, a firearms instructor and NRA lifetime member who is leading a petition drive to overhaul the group’s board.
According to the tax filing, legal fees more than tripled in 2018, to more than $25 million. For the first time, the tax filing lists the Texas law firm of William Brewer III as one of its most highly compensated contractors, receiving $13.8 million. Brewer has become one of LaPierre’s most trusted advisers despite his lack of experience in Second Amendment litigation. NRA officials stand by Brewer.
“We make no apologies for doubling down on the investment required to confront our enemies and unprecedented attacks on our members in 2018,” Arulanandam said.
[Just how bad are things at the National Rifle Association?]
The new tax filing helps fill in the financial picture of the NRA at the end of a tumultuous year for the gun lobby.
The drama began at the annual convention in April, when board president Oliver North was ousted after accusing LaPierre of overspending on legal fees. That clash was followed by leaks showing LaPierre spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing and luxury travel. A court battle escalated between the NRA and its longtime public relations agency, Ackerman McQueen, while the Democratic attorneys general of New York and Washington, D.C. launched investigations into the tax-exempt group’s spending.
NRA officials have disputed North’s claims and said the clothes and travel were necessary for media appearances and fundraising. Eight of the 76 members of the board have resigned since the spring, some in protest of LaPierre’s leadership, while others have rallied behind the longtime chief executive as a powerful spokesman for gun rights.
To address concerns, LaPierre summoned members of the “Golden Ring of Freedom” — donors who have given at least $1 million — to huddle at the Virginia headquarters last month, according to attendees.
“The meeting was scheduled so he could explain to us what was really going on — the truth,” said Florida real estate developer John Rumpel, who said he has given about $2.8 million to the NRA. “I left without feeling suspicious about anything.”
More than two dozen of the donors — easily spotted at conventions in their custom-made gold jackets — were told that the NRA had conducted a line-by-line review of the budget and would emerge stronger than ever from the lawsuits and investigations, attendees said. LaPierre also disputed reports that he and his wife wanted the NRA to buy them a $6 million home in a gated golf community because of security concerns, saying that the real estate deal was Ackerman McQueen’s idea.
Ackerman McQueen has said it was alarmed when LaPierre sought the agency’s assistance with the real estate transaction.
NRA officials declined to discuss the Oct. 15 gathering with its top donors, which has not been previously reported.
“Mr. LaPierre meets regularly with NRA donors, grass-roots supporters and other stakeholders,” Arulanandam said. “As he has done for years, he confronts false allegations about the NRA head-on, and speaks about our mission in the 2020 election cycle.”
Donors said LaPierre told them a harrowing story about a false 911 call that sent the police to his Virginia home in the middle of the night in 2013. He was ordered to come out with his hands up, Rumpel said.
“I’ve offered him any and all of the five homes I own and my plane to move him around,” he said. “He has to travel around incognito.”
Another major donor who attended the meeting, Pat Hogan, chief executive of an Illinois-based auction house for antique firearms, also said he was worried about LaPierre’s safety. “The amount of abuse that Wayne takes — I would suggest he’s not paid enough, even with that increase,” he said.
But Hogan added that the NRA had turned over too much money and control to Ackerman McQueen, and that he regretted the departure in June of this year of the NRA’s chief political strategist, Chris Cox. The NRA has accused Cox in a lawsuit of being part of a “conspiracy” with North, which Cox has denied.
In 2018, Cox was among several top executives who received double-digit-percent increases in pay, according to the filing. He received nearly $1.4 million in compensation from the NRA and related entities, a 17 percent hike from the previous year. Twelve top officials received six-figure compensation packages, including two who left the NRA in 2016. Wilson Phillips, who served as treasurer through mid-September 2018, got $948,769 in compensation that year, up 34 percent.
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According to the tax filings, charter travel was used “on occasions when travel logistics or security concerns precluded other available options.” LaPierre’s travel has come under scrutiny following revelations that about $250,000 was spent on his trips to locations such as Italy, Budapest and the Bahamas in recent years.
Members of the NRA’s board are not paid for overseeing the organization’s finances. But North, then the board’s president, received $1.38 million from Ackerman McQueen in 2018. Under that arrangement — the details of which the NRA has claimed were kept secret from the board — North appeared on NRATV, a platform that espoused gun rights.
North has said LaPierre authorized the contract and declined through his attorney to comment on the tax filing that showed the pay increases. Experts on nonprofit organizations say that board members who receive money from the one they oversee or its vendors can face conflicts of interest. The tax filings show another 11 board members were paid a total of more than $617,000 from the NRA, which has defended such payments as going toward services and membership recruitment.
In a year in which LaPierre weathered calls for his resignation, his base salary rose from $1.2 million in 2017 to $1.3 million in 2018; his bonus tripled to $455,000; and “other reportable compensation” climbed from about $45,000 to more than $427,000, the filing shows. LaPierre also received an additional $73,793 in “retirement and other deferred compensation” and “nontaxable benefits” from the NRA and related entities.
NRA officials said LaPierre’s contributions are instrumental to the organization’s success.
beth.reinhard@washpost.com
Carol D. Leonnig and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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1) They are a terrorist organization that enables mass murder
2) fuck the nra
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March 24 at 7:30 AM ET
The National Rifle Association is cutting salaries 20 percent and bracing for layoffs, as the coronavirus pandemic forces the nonprofit to cancel its annual meeting set for April and a wide range of upcoming fundraisers and programs, according to a memo to staffers from the nonprofit’s leadership Monday.
More than 800 people worked at the NRA in 2018, according to its latest tax filing, although that number includes part-time workers who would not be affected by the reductions. Schedules for hourly workers will be reduced from five to four days a week, the memo said.
Some top NRA officials, including chief executive Wayne LaPierre, are taking salary reductions greater than 20 percent, according to a person familiar with the cuts who was not authorized to speak publicly about them.
In 2018, compensation for top officials, including LaPierre, surged by 41 percent and legal fees more than tripled, according to the organization’s tax filing, even as the nation’s largest gun rights organization sharply reduced spending on programs central to its mission. LaPierre received a total of about $2.2 million from the NRA and related entities in 2018, including a base salary of $1.27 million, tax documents show.
LaPierre withstood calls for his resignation last year amid allegations of lavish spending on travel, clothing and legal fees. NRA officials have staunchly defended their stewardship as the Democratic attorneys general of Washington and New York investigate the tax-exempt group’s spending.
“We must address immediate financial challenges and, as importantly, plan for long-term impacts to ensure the viability of our organization during this crucial year,” LaPierre said in the memo describing the pay cuts and proposed layoffs. “Unfortunately, these changes will necessitate the elimination of certain positions on either a temporary or, in some cases, permanent basis.”
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The memo said that due to public health guidance and state or local restrictions, all Friends of NRA banquets across the country were canceled as were gun shows, recruitment stations and other income-generating activities.
“We believe these actions will favorably position the Association leading up to the November election,” an NRA spokesman said.
The NRA’s political arm spent a record-setting $30 million in 2016 to help elect President Trump.
The organization ended 2018 with a $2.7 million shortfall in 2018, compared with a $17.8 million shortfall the previous year and a hole of $45.8 million in 2016, according to NRA tax filings.
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NRA reports alleged misspending by current and former executives to IRS
After years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing: Current and former executives used the nonprofit group’s money for personal benefit and enrichment.
The NRA said in the filing that it continues to review the alleged abuse of funds, as the tax-exempt organization curtails services and runs up multimillion-dollar legal bills. The assertion of impropriety comes four months after the attorney general of New York state filed a lawsuit accusing NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other top executives of using NRA funds for decades to provide inflated salaries and expense accounts.
The tax return, which The Washington Post obtained from the organization, says the NRA “became aware during 2019 of a significant diversion of its assets.” The 2019 filing states that LaPierre and five former executives received “excess benefits,” a term the IRS uses to describe executives’ enriching themselves at the expense of a nonprofit entity.
The disclosures in the tax return suggest that the organization is standing by its 71-year-old chief executive while continuing to pursue former executives of the group. The filing says that LaPierre “corrected” his financial lapses with a repayment and contends that former executives “improperly” used NRA funds or charged the nonprofit for expenses that were “not appropriate.”
LaPierre has reimbursed the organization nearly $300,000 in travel expenses covering 2015 to 2019, according to the tax return, which does not explain how that amount was determined or when LaPierre paid it.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a statement this week that “the vast majority of Mr. LaPierre’s travel was undertaken in strict compliance with NRA policy.”
In response to questions from The Post, NRA executives said the organization is financially strong and closely adhering to nonprofit law. “As its tax filing demonstrates, the NRA is committed to strict compliance with its accounting controls and goodgovernance practices,” said Charles Cotton, an NRA vice president and audit committee chair.
The tax filing acknowledges that there are disputes over the alleged financial abuses the NRA blames on the departed officers, including former board president Oliver North and former chief lobbyist Chris Cox.
Some of those executives parted ways with LaPierre over his leadership and are cooperating with the New York attorney general’s investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation.
In another disclosure in the tax return, the NRA said it is investigating unnamed board members for flying first class without authorization.
Three tax and accounting experts who reviewed the 2019 tax return for The Post said the disclosures show the organization and LaPierre trying to take responsibility and avoid further legal jeopardy.
“This is the type of cleanup I would expect to see after a history of gross violations of nonprofit law,” said Philip Hackney, an associate professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh who worked at the IRS for five years until 2011 providing legal oversight of tax-exempt organizations.
LaPierre personally signed the 2019 tax return; such a document is customarily signed by the organization’s treasurer. “He is putting himself on the line, under penalties of perjury, which is what you do if you are trying to get in someone’s good graces,” Hackney said.
New York lawyer and expert on nonprofits Daniel Kurtz said, “It’s a smart move by the NRA instead of digging in their heels, though who knows how they came up with the numbers. It’s an admission of wrongdoing, for sure.”
In her lawsuit, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, alleged a much larger misappropriation of funds, seeking to shut down the nation’s largest gun rights organization and oust LaPierre.
“For years, Wayne LaPierre and his lieutenants skirted the law and pocketed millions from NRA coffers to fund lavish lifestyles that included private jets, pricey vacations, expensive meals and no-show contracts,” James said this week. “Mr. LaPierre’s reimbursement of just a fraction of the millions he personally profited from indicates how the NRA went unchecked under his leadership.”
LaPierre has called the lawsuit unconstitutional, casting James as a liberal anti-gun activist who has long sought to destroy the gun lobby.
The New York suit alleges that LaPierre funneled personal expenses through the NRA’s former public relations and advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, and failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal income. Executives at Ackerman McQueen have said that all of their financial arrangements were approved by LaPierre.
James said in August that she was referring her findings to the IRS. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the agency was investigating LaPierre for possible criminal tax fraud related to his personal taxes.
According to two people familiar with a deposition LaPierre gave last year in litigation between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen, the chief executive said he never reported as personal income the travel and entertainment expenses the NRA paid on his behalf because he thought those benefits were provided as part of his leadership role at the organization.
LaPierre declined an interview request from The Post through his new personal attorney, Kent Correll.
Of the reported IRS inquiry, Correll said, “We are unaware of any inquiry, therefore it would be premature to comment.”
The new tax documents portray an organization trimming costs and struggling as membership dues and other revenue declined even before the coronavirus pandemic curbed charitable fundraising nationwide. The NRA reported a $12.2 million operating shortfall last year, up from $2.7 million the previous year. This is the fourth year in a row the organization has reported spending more than it took in.
The one area where the NRA’s expenses are growing: legal costs, which soared in 2019 to $38.5 million from $25 million in 2018. Ackerman McQueen was the NRA’s highest paid contractor for years, churning out provocative marketing campaigns and broadcasts, until the relationship disintegrated in a litigious squabble last year. Now the NRA’s single largest vendor is the Dallas law firm headed by William Brewer, which was paid nearly $25 million last year.
Arulanandam called the legal costs “an investment in the future of the NRA.” He added: “NRA members expect us to use our resources to defend their constitutional freedoms — not avoid the fight.”
In the latest legal setback, New York insurance regulators announced last week that the NRA is barred from selling insurance in the state for five years and will pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle charges of illegally marketing insurance to gun owners involved in self-defense shootings. The NRA said in a statement that it had “successfully resolved” the matter.
That LaPierre remains at the NRA helm despite months of turmoil is a testament to his tenacity as the face of the American gun lobby for decades.
Since his leadership was challenged at a raucous annual meeting in the spring of 2019. LaPierre has weathered revelations that he spent hundreds of thousands of the nonprofit’s dollars on luxury menswear and travel, and that the NRA considered buying him a multimillion-dollar estate in Texas. Some board members and veteran staffers walked away in protest, accusing LaPierre and other executives of self-dealing and alleging that the group had strayed from its core mission of promoting firearm ownership.
“LaPierre would have stepped aside a long time ago if his concern was really for the institution,” said Rob Pincus, a lifetime NRA member who has led a campaign to overhaul the organization. “He remains a distraction and a detraction.”
Cox resigned in June 2019 after LaPierre accused him and North of orchestrating a coup — a claim they both denied. The tax return says the organization is seeking to recover more than $1 million it says Cox improperly received for travel, meals and tickets to sporting events.
Cox’s lawyer, Tom Buchanan, called the allegation “false” and said all of the lobbyist’s expenses during his 24 years with the NRA were reviewed and never questioned. Buchanan said also that Cox has provided the New York attorney general with “thousands of documents” and has not been implicated in her investigation.
North was ousted as NRA president last year after accusing LaPierre of spending recklessly on legal fees for Brewer’s firm. The new tax filing says the NRA has “reason to believe” North received excess salary that he failed to earn. North declined through his attorney to comment on the tax return.
North has previously argued that the NRA has falsely accused him of financial improprieties in retaliation for his cooperating as a key witness in the New York investigation, according to pleadings in New York State Court.
“In public, the NRA has said these allegations of misspending were completely unfounded, but these official filings present a picture that a lot of the claims made were accurate and the only question is who was at fault,” said Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University.
On Nov. 18, after NRA members complained that Brewer’s firm should not represent both the NRA and LaPierre, the chief executive notified the court in Texas that he had hired his own lawyer, Correll.
Correll previously worked in Brewer’s firm.
Three other former NRA executives are accused in the tax return of receiving “excess benefits.” They are Wilson “Woody” Phillips, who was treasurer; Joshua Powell, who had been chief of staff to LaPierre; and David Lehman, who was a lobbyist. Powell declined to comment. Phillips and Lehman could not be reached this week after repeated phone calls from The Post.
Last year, compensation for top NRA executives rose by 41 percent, with LaPierre receiving a total of about $2.2 million from the NRA and related entities even as pension benefits for employees have been frozen. By comparison, the previous year, he received about $1.4 million. Executive salaries declined only slightly in 2019, and the NRA continued to hand out six-figure bonuses to four top executives, including LaPierre, the tax filing shows.
The NRA also continued to direct money to some board members for providing various services, according to the return, a practice tax experts say can cloud a board’s independent oversight.
For the first time in years, the NRA filing acknowledged the dual and potentially conflicting roles held by board member Marion Hammer, a longtime consultant who was paid $220,350 last year. She did not respond to requests for comment by phone and email. Seven other board members received a total of $175,000 in side agreements with the organization, the filing shows.
During the same period, the group slashed spending on hunter services by 63 percent; public affairs by 52 percent; legislative programs by 17 percent; and safety education, training, gun shows and exhibits by 16 percent, according to an audit filed this year with North Carolina charity regulators.
NRA spokesman Arulanandam said the organization “has never been better positioned to execute its legislative and political agenda — leading the protection of America’s constitutional freedoms.”
In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus forced states to close business and schools, the NRA announced that it was cutting salaries, canceling fundraising activities and gun shows, and laying off employees to “favorably position the Association leading up to the November election,” according to a statement from a spokesman at the time.
But the NRA also cut its spending on political campaigns.
The group’s political arm allocated less than $17 million for President Trump’s reelection, according to Federal Election Commission records, compared with the $30 million it spent to help elect Trump in 2016.
Bill Powers, the executive vice president for communications at Ackerman McQueen, said the financial statements lay out the NRA’s steady decline as the organization faced a raft of defectors questioning LaPierre’s leadership, and as more of its money went into scorched-earth legal battles to defend LaPierre. “You have just seen an election where the NRA was sidelined,” he said.
John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, which supports gun control measures, said, “Put simply, they put their limited money on Donald Trump and lost big time.”
Arulanandam said the NRA helped pro-gun Republicans pick up seats in the House and in state legislatures in this month’s election.
The tax return shows membership dues falling 34 percent in 2019, to $113 million. Arulanandam called those figures “dated information.” He said that donations and grass-roots support are “surging” and that the NRA added 300,000 members in the past six months.
The NRA continues to rely on its charitable arm, the NRA Foundation, according to the tax return. It received $12 million in grants and is paying off a $5 million loan from the foundation. The two entities share employees, office space and other resources, and the NRA sought about $15 million in reimbursements from the foundation in 2019.
The relationship between the NRA and the foundation is the subject of a lawsuit by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D), who contends that the foundation has strayed from its legal duty to pursue charitable activities and instead has been used to cover the NRA’s deficits.
NRA executives have said that the financial statements are audited and that the organization uses best practices in accounting and governance.
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