Secrecy, Self-Dealing, and Greed at the N.R.A.

[gejohnston]

Interesting and well written article. It didn't tell a lot of 2A activists what they didn't know, and have been the subject of some pro gun YouTubers. rI would also add the partisan alliance with the GOP, which pushes away left of center allies (or not really partisan) groups like Liberal Gun Club and Pink Pistols.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/secrecy-self-dealing-and-greed-at-the-nra

[jimmy the one]

1. Heads up katzenjammers

gejohnston Interesting and well written article. It didn't tell a lot of 2A activists what they didn't know, and have been the subject of some pro gun YouTubers. I would also add the partisan alliance with the GOP, which pushes away left of center allies (or not really partisan) groups like Liberal Gun Club and Pink Pistols {gay gun group}.

Hey Gejohnston, just a friendly heads up alert that there is someone with the very exact same screen name as yours who is posting as a rabid pro gun rightwing democrat, on these very boards.

Here's an april 18, 2019 development regarding the new yorker's expose regarding nra (Nutty Rightwingers, Armed):

april 2019:NEW YORK – .. in response to an article published by The New Yorker, in conjunction with The Trace, detailing how “a small group of N.R.A. executives, contractors, and vendors has extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from the nonprofit’s budget,” Everytown for Gun Safety has filed a complaint about the NRA’s tax-exempt status with the IRS, and is calling for federal and state investigations into the NRA’s operation as a charity.

Today’s call and IRS complaint are based on the available evidence, including:
1 Payments and other financial arrangements with executives and insiders at the NRA that resulted in millions of proceeds going to these executives and insiders;
2 Evidence that NRA employees and officers, including NRA President Oliver North, are paid by outside entities – such as public relations firms and insurance companies;
3 The revelation that the NRA Board of Directors Audit Committee “retroactively signed off on at least some of the NRA’s problematic [financial] transactions.”
4 Documentation reviewed by the New Yorker, which was purportedly prepared ahead of an emergency meeting of the NRA Board of Directors Audit Committee in July 2018 to discuss “whistleblowing reports,” listed concerns including, “NRA pays overbilled, deceptive, vague invoices to ‘preferred’ vendors and contractors” and “decisions are made in the best interests of vendors.”
5 Revelations that NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre has an arrangement that – “provides for consulting services and personal appearances upon the end of his employment, at an annual rate that starts at his currently contracted final base salary and is later reduced” — effectively serving as a salary for life.
6 .. the NRA’s most recent public disclosures, for 2017, revealed the NRA Foundation gave a $5 million loan to the NRA. The New Yorker article indicated that a financial “audit from 2017 revealed that [the NRA] had nearly reached the limit of a twenty-five-million-dollar line of credit”
and the NRA was forced to “borrow almost four million from its officers’ life insurance policies….

Excuse me a moment, I'm having a sudden attack of schadenfreude. Jammerschaden too.

7 Mounting evidence that the NRA engages in political activity outside of its stated purpose as a charity focused on U.S. gun rights. These efforts reportedly occur in political systems from Russia to Australia and other points in between... ??? East to west or west to east? https://everytown.org/press/everytown-files-complaint-about-nras-tax-exempt-status-with-irs-calls-for-federal-and-state-investigations-into-the-nra/

[gejohnston]

2. Everytown is a crackpot

astroturf ran by a former Monsanto PR executive paid by the bigoted and authoritarian Mike Bloomberg. The issue is that the NRA doesn't actually do anything for gun rights, but Wayne has been embezzling funds and funneling money to some PR firm. It is something that many gun rights activists, including myself, has known for years. Too many local grassroots groups were fucked over and ripped off by NRA and their favorite PR firm.That is why North's predecessor quit.
NRA actually stands for Not Real Activists.
NRA would push for things like bump stock bans and red flag laws, then send out fund raising letters. All of the money from the letters and phone calls went to the company that did the work, not for doing anything for gun rights. They also pushed for the current background check system.
If NRA goes down, you lose an ally, not me.

[jimmy the one]

3. further developments vs NRA

Hey GE, that guy I was telling you about posted a reply (#2) to my last post. Delusional too, thinks the nra is my ally, ha.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) was sued in federal court {apr 23,2019} for allegedly failing to enforce campaign finance laws against the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Giffords, the nonprofit organization founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) after she survived an assassination attempt, sued the FEC for allegedly allowing the NRA to violate campaign finance law — including to help Donald Trump.

The new lawsuit mentions the word “Trump” thirty-five times. “Plaintiff’s complaints demonstrate that the National Rifle Association (“NRA”) violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by using a complex network of shell corporations to unlawfully coordinate expenditures with the campaigns of at least seven candidates for federal office, thereby making millions of dollars of illegal, unreported, and excessive in-kind contributions, including up to $25 million in illegal contributions to now President Donald J. Trump,” the lawsuit charged.
The lawsuit attempted to explain the scale of the alleged campaign finance violation.
“The illegal contributions to the Trump campaign alone are up to 9,259 times the limit set by Congress. Yet the Commission has taken no action on Plaintiff’s complaints,” .. “In light of this unlawful and unreasonable delay, Plaintiff files this action to compel the FEC to comply with its statutory duty to act.”
The lawsuit claims a “shell company” was created to bypass campaign finance law.

“By coordinating their advertising strategy in this manner, the NRA-PVF and the NRA-ILA have made up to $35 million in contributions to candidate campaigns since the 2014 election, in excess of the contribution limits, in violation of the source restrictions, and without the disclosure required under federal law. This includes up to $25 million in coordinated, illegal contributions to the Trump campaign in 2016,” the lawsuit argued.
Also on Wednesday {april 24}, the Associated Press reported on the infighting at the NRA.

And Trump wasn’t the only Republican listed in the lawsuit. The lawsuit also named Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2018.
“Taken together, these facts demonstrate an elaborate scheme for the NRA to unlawfully coordinate with the candidates it supports for federal office, including Donald J. Trump, Thom Tillis, Cory Gardner, Tom Cotton, Ron Johnson, Matt Rosendale, and Josh Hawley, while evading detection of its violations of federal law concerning the coordination of advertising communications through common vendors,” the lawsuit argued.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/04/nra-busted-giving-trump-9259-times-legal-limit-bombshell-campaign-finance-lawsuit/

[gejohnston]

4. there is a reason why they are called

Not Real Activists. They get credit for stuff they had nothing to do with. Anyone can file a lawsuit to claim everything. A couple of years ago, they sued the ATF looking for NRA influence, same with "sanctuary counties" in Washington and Colorado.

Oh, Rawstory is the far left version of The Blaze.

[jimmy the one]

5. not real accurate

GE: there is a reason why they are called Not Real Activists. They get credit for stuff they had nothing to do with. Anyone can file a lawsuit to claim everything. A couple of years ago, they sued the ATF looking for NRA influence, same with "sanctuary counties" in Washington and Colorado.

Who are you talking about here, nra or everytown? the nra sued the atf(e) looking for nra influence?

ge: Oh, Rawstory is the far left version of The Blaze.

Relevance? are you saying the story is invalid? it was on msnbc or cnn this afternoon.

[gejohnston]

6. Giffords sued them

Relevance? Equally full of shit and clueless. Cable "news" is dying for a reason.

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. Not Everytown, which mainly exists to 'causewash' the backgrounds of Bloomberg and Watts...

...and provide a safe outlet for those who think hitting "Like" on Facebook is effective activism.

[gejohnston]

8. The interesting thing about

the article is that writer's sources are whistle blowers within the NRA. I read where the board of directors told Wayne to resign, and he gave them the middle finger.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

9. I haven't read hardly anything from the NRA in years

The few things I've seen have been linked on DU. I'm starting to get the feeling that the NRA is going Charlie Foxtrot and that the ILA leaders act like politicians more than anything.