NRA Files Claim Against Ackerman

[Mainah]

This sure isn't good: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/...-dollar-fraud/

I'm not sure how leadership can claim that the NRA brand was so badly damaged with their cooperation without accepting any blame.

[Mike38]

The damage to the NRA is coming from..... the NRA. It's basically turned into a joke. They no longer care about shooting or competitions, which is the main items they originated for. They haven't updated the Competitor's Activity page or classification page for 6 months now. I guess too much time and money is being spent on law suits, new suits and shoes for Wayne Lapierre, and internal feuding than it is for it's intended purpose.

[J.G. Terry]

NRA: Go back to the basics?

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by Mike38

The damage to the NRA is coming from..... the NRA. It's basically turned into a joke. They no longer care about shooting or competitions, which is the main items they originated for. They haven't updated the Competitor's Activity page or classification page for 6 months now. I guess too much time and money is being spent on law suits, new suits and shoes for Wayne Lapierre, and internal feuding than it is for it's intended purpose.

I cancelled my membership. It's corrupt. Time for house cleaning. (IMHO)

[Skans]

I note that nothing in the article provided any substance either way against the NRA or Ackerman. Allegations of "racist content" never referred to what that content was. I'm not aware of any racist content in any NRA publication.

[Mike38]

I cancelled my membership. It's corrupt.

I don't know why I'm still a member. Maybe because I've been for 20+ years, so why stop now? But to be honest, I'm thinking long and hard about it.

The AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) went through some similar problems a few years back. I am no longer a member of the AMA. They basically placed competitive racing aside. They sold AMA Pro Racing, making things worse instead of better. The President of the AMA filled the Board of Directors with yes men. The organization started it's downhill slide, filled with good old boys and yes men. I decided to keep my $40 per year for better things.

May do the same with the NRA, may not. I'll give them a year or two to see if they can pull their heads out of their behinds and right the wrongs.

[Mainah]

I note that nothing in the article provided any substance either way against the NRA or Ackerman. Allegations of "racist content" never referred to what that content was. I'm not aware of any racist content in any NRA publication.

Yeah, the article wasn't written that well. But these quotes from the article break it down:

In an effort to bolster traffic numbers its leaders knew were insufficient, AMc increasingly came to rely on content that NRA executives found “distasteful and racist,” according to the complaint. By way of example, the complaint cites one segment in which NRATV host Dana Loesch — who, like all NRATV employees, technically worked for AMc — addresses the audience as an image of the children’s television character Thomas the Tank Engine appears on the screen wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood.

“Attempts by the NRA to ‘rein in’ AMc and its messaging were met with responses from AMc that ranged from evasive to hostile,” the complaint alleges...

I've worked with outside marketing vendors, but never on anything that approaches this scale. Nonetheless I know for a fact that if I detected a hint of racism in what my organization was paying for I could shut it down in a heartbeat. But the NRA is seems to be claiming that AMc pushed them around.

So if they can't handle a vendor that they're paying how on earth can they handle the forces that support gun control?

[Aguila Blanca]

Mainah, you only presented one side from the article. It goes on:

AMc’s attorneys go on to argue that the allegations advanced in the NRA’s claim are implausible given LaPierre’s “paranoid” nature, which led him to require that he “sign off on every performance metric” as well as NRATV’s “culture war” editorial direction.

AMc’s focus on LaPierre is understandable given the less-than-flattering details about his tenure as CEO that have emerged since the legal battle began. Shortly before resigning as NRA president in April, Oliver North sent a letter to the group’s board alleging that LaPierre spent more than $200,000 in NRA funds on clothing. LaPierre claimed in response that North’s letter and his various other claims of impropriety amounted to a blackmail campaign, carried out on AMc’s behalf, in order to force his departure and preserve AMc’s lucrative relationship with the NRA.

I am concerned (I was from the start of this mess, and I remain so) that the NRA is represented by William Brewer III and his law firm. And William Brewer III is the son-in-law of the Ackerman of Ackerman-McQueen. So we have a senior partner in a law firm directing a lawsuit against his father-in-law's advertising agency. How is that not a conflict of interest?

Personal opinion only: I think the entire NRA v. AckMac lawsuit is a smokescreen. It think it has been set up and orchestrated so that the NRA won't win, but it conveys the impression (too little, too late) that the NRA is acting responsibly by trying to rein in a rogue subcontractor.

[J.G. Terry]

It looks like the advertising company is being blamed for a bunch. Wayne was helpless and could not head off the costly moves that are now coming home to roost? This whole deal is BS. The word of the day is "deniability". I was minding my own business when this terrible ad agency took us where we did not want go. What a joke.

[Mainah]

I think it may have been more cost effective to simply spend time reading the comments on sites like this instead of paying to create racist (the NRA's claim) television networks.

[Prof Young]

I've been a member of the NRA for some time now. I do think a lot of their rhetoric is over the top. I took their "membership renewal notices" at face value and renewed myself all the way through 2024 until I figured out how often the renewal notice came out.

The thing is, I don't know who else to support for the protection of the 2nd amendment and gun owner's rights.

Talk to me.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[Aguila Blanca]

Second Amendment Foundation.

[J.G. Terry]

These other organizations?: Are these other Second Amendment organizations transparent with good accountability? This is off topic but many people would like to know short of sending money to find themselves worse off

Wonder if influence peddling will be another scandal with the NRA? Was the "A" rating up for bids?

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Sadly, all the other Second Amendment organizations would be classified as “authoritarian” in structure. If you send money to CCRKBA, JPFO, or SAF, then it gets spent however Alan Gottlieb deems appropriate and they don’t have to disclose anything to you beyond their Form 990. Gottlieb, you may remember, came out in support for Schumer-Toomey-Manchin gun control in 2013, then pulled his support after criticism, then said he was right all along the first time.

Same with GOA, you are giving your money to the Pratts and hoping they spend it well.

Certainly the NRA’s corporate structure pretends to be a lot more democratic than it actually is, as recent events have amply demonstrated; but they are, at least, trying to pretend.

[MTT TL]

Personal opinion only: I think the entire NRA v. AckMac lawsuit is a smokescreen. It think it has been set up and orchestrated so that the NRA won't win, but it conveys the impression (too little, too late) that the NRA is acting responsibly by trying to rein in a rogue subcontractor.

I think you are in the ten ring here.

[J.G. Terry]

Alan Gottlieb. You gotta be kidding. I favor active shooters to represent my interest. These born again 2A people do not have what it takes. How many of the NRA Imperial Court had a history of firearms ownership and of hunting or shooting sports experience?

What would happen if people like Aguila Blanca, warts and all were to start an organization. The conservative people I know would not have tolerated the Wayne type of characters for one minute. Where are these people that could do a good job that have hands on experience with firearms.

[Bob Willman]

I have been an NRA member since 1964, Life Member since 1967 and Benefactor since 2000. I was in Cincinnati when that crisis came to a head but I did not understand what the whole thing was about but I do vividly remember meeting Elmer Keith and shaking his hand. I was in Indianapolis this spring when the latest crisis unfolded and I still don't understand what this one is all about. I suspect a lot of grandstanding on all sides.
I was subscribed to the NRA-TV e-mail series and watched most of the videos. I thought some were off the beaten path from the usual NRA message but nothing that stood out as being wrong. Some were not very interesting to watch. I have tried to follow the debate since April and it seems to get more confusing. It sounds like a lot of legal wrangling.
What I do know is that the NRA and all gun owners are under attack from several sides and all of those folks would like nothing more than to see the NRA go away forever. I truly hope that does not happen. No other organization has the national clout that the NRA has and if it ever needed our support, now is that time. I plan to renew my Golden Eagles membership by years end and continue to wear my NRA hat. We are all in this fight together and I hope the NRA survives and emerges stronger than ever.

[thallub]

The NRA is mortgaged to the hilt. La Pierre is spending about $90,000 per day on lawyers. The state of New York stands a good chance of revoking the NRAs tax exempt charter.

i've been an NRA member for about 60 years. For decades i donated to the NRA until it hurt. i'm PO'd to the extreme to learn donations were squandered by a charlatan, Wayne La Pierre. i absolutely refuse to donate one dime to the NRA until La Pierre is gone and the NRA restructured. Currently all my donations go to children's charities like St. Jude.

[J.G. Terry]

It's hard for me to see how Wayne could have pulled off all that stuff by himself. There had to be some "toady throne sniffers" who were part of that dance! It is wishful thinking to say all will be well after Wayne is gone. When Wayne leaves will the NRA be broke, disgraced, and in a shambles? When this money situation first went public there was some suggestion that the advertising agency was a co-conspirator and willing participant in the looting. Could present and past NRA members have a class action lawsuit to defend their interest?

[thallub]

It's hard for me to see how Wayne could have pulled off all that stuff by himself.

Wayne La Pierre was rubber stamped by the NRA Board Of Directors. About one fourth of board members received money from the NRA for "services".

The New York AG has subpoenaed 90 past and present board members. The AG could charge board members with malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance (aka general doofusness).

[J.G. Terry]

Doofusness: What a lovely descriptive word. Had not heard this word used in fifty fears. I always thought it was ignorance combined with laziness.