Leaked letters reveal details of NRA chief´s alleged spending
Wall Street Journal,
by
Mark Maremont
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
5/12/2019 5:37:03 AM
National Rifle Association Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for one day of shopping at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique, $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to newly revealed NRA internal documents. The documents, posted anonymously on the internet, provide new details of the clothing, travel and other expenses totaling more than $542,000 that Ackerman McQueen Inc. alleges Mr. LaPierre billed to it. The travel expenses allegedly include more than $200,000 in “Air Transportation” costs
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Pluperfect 5/12/2019 5:42:13 AM (No. 61998)
More info at the Daily Beast (Betsy Woodruff):
https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-documents-nra-racked-up-dollar24-million-in-legal-bills-3
22 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
chumley 5/12/2019 6:12:56 AM (No. 61987)
While I am a life member and generally support their political goals, I haven´t sent them a nickel in decades. I resent the hell out of paying for their daily cocktail hour while I drink cheap beer, if anything. It appears that may have been the right decision.
But I have to wonder who benefits from a weakened NRA...
63 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
judy 5/12/2019 6:54:30 AM (No. 61996)
This sounds like the DNC & RNC! Waste waste waste
27 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
anniebc 5/12/2019 7:46:01 AM (No. 61995)
Greed destroys. Shame.
29 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
HotRod 5/12/2019 8:12:59 AM (No. 61991)
I detest wasteful and unethical (nice word) spending, and I think Mr. Lapierre needs to go. Maybe some others, as well. Ollie North tried to do something, but Mr. Lapierre was protected by those others.
On the other hand, the organization needs to survive. It has frustrated the gun-grabbers for many years. As far as soliciting money goes, it takes a lot to pay for the advertising, putting on events, lobbying, etc. So, I am not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. To me, the Second Amendment is worth fighting for, even if I must send a few bucks now and then...
62 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Blue-Z-Anna 5/12/2019 8:22:33 AM (No. 62004)
The ´expenses´, while large, still fall within the routine life style of top execs and media types. Most large ´non-profits´, sadly, compensate their top management in this style.
Further....this is not a medical outreach for suffering children. It´s a 2nd amendment lobbying outfit which has done a lot of good over the years. Should it cease to exist....the Left would discover that the rock-solid commitment to personal fire arms NEVER WAS just ginned up by the evil NRA.
So it´s a win-win.
Lock and load !
Get Mom a new shotgun for Mother´s Day !
34 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Blue-Z-Anna 5/12/2019 8:25:43 AM (No. 62006)
P.S.---When in doubt just ask yourself:"What would G.Gorden Liddy do ?"
15 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
raspberry 5/12/2019 8:50:37 AM (No. 62013)
I am a Benefactor Life Member of the NRA and completely support Wayne. I recently sent them $300. He and a united and powerful NRA have saved gun ownership for law abiding Americans. Period.
23 people like this.
I´ve read the posts above and agree that the NRA needs to maintain its funding in order to accomplish its mission to protect our Second Amendment rights and I agree completely..
I am unable to wrap my head around two instances of $38,000 worth of clothing and some other excesses. That smacks of someone who has been too long in power that feels it is okay to abuse his/her position.
The statement that the board still had confidence in Mr. Le Pierre means they too have lost touch with the reality we dues paying members face every day.
This public outing of his outrageous expense account actions only point out the need for change in the leadership of the NRA. There are many competent people that can step in and assume the mantle of leadership
39 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
JL80863 5/12/2019 8:54:43 AM (No. 61988)
Thanks #s 7-8. The first thing that popped in to my head was where are the comparisons? Surely the WSJ could come up with some but instead followed the slap/dash school of dubious reporting.
15 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/12/2019 9:08:06 AM (No. 61999)
Every non-profit in existence eventually becomes drunk on their own importance and begins to forget why they were formed.
I ask you, has there ever been a direct connection between NRA action and the government backing down from some kind of firearms ownership abuse? We still have many cities and areas that get away with abusing the "shall not infringe" policy.
My belief is that citizen gun ownership volume alone holds back the commie gun confiscators. A serious assault on the 2nd Amendment would result in overwhelming resistance. We see what happens to disarmed citizenry around the world and we resolve that it will not happen here. Obama flirted with the idea of gun control and quickly backed off due to the exposure of Fast & Furious, not NRA action.
The letters begging for more money are a grinding annoyance, especially when the NRA held its annual meeting at the complex in Indianapolis, one of the most expensive convention sites in the country. A pox on LaPierre, he needs replaced and they need to do less partying. Who do they think they are, the IRS?
52 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
MainelySane 5/12/2019 9:12:07 AM (No. 61993)
It´s a shame.
15 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Chabis 5/12/2019 9:53:59 AM (No. 62014)
One of the hard "truths" one learns to their dismay as they get older is how corrupt *every* organization becomes -- including those we had come to trust and depend on.
We all pay a price for this. We stop giving and the good they can do is thus reduced and damaged.
But how can one give once one becomes aware of this stuff.
To the extent that this is true shame, shame, shame on Mr. LaPierre.
33 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
halfnorsk 5/12/2019 10:33:33 AM (No. 62001)
If expenses of the Clinton Foundation are fully unmasked, this NRA scandal will seem minuscule.
22 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
MickeyMat 5/12/2019 10:35:03 AM (No. 62000)
Always thought this guy was not a good fit with this or any large national organization. Wondered how he was ever chosen. This opinion was based on watching him and listening to his public statements. Surely they could find someone better.
9 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 5/12/2019 10:56:21 AM (No. 61992)
Watching and listening to Wayne LaPierre in all these years and find I was correct in my assessment of him he´s like the Jim Jones of the NRA.
16 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Muguy 5/12/2019 11:25:50 AM (No. 62002)
Sadly, it seems that once many people get to the "top" of just about any enterprise, they FORGET those they are supposed to represent and become corrupted.
Not always, but $$$ has a way of corrupting the souls of those who have it at the expense of those who look to their leaders to do their jobs with accountability WITHOUT forgetting their roots and those they are charged to represent.
And then you find those who never changed and still the "salt of the earth" people whom you respect even more...
9 people like this.
So what! Wayne Lapierre built the NRA into the powerhouse it is today. As I recall Mr. North tried to bill the U.S. Taxpayers for a security wall around his private residence, then he got caught.
15 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/12/2019 11:47:27 AM (No. 62015)
This is a smear campaign to bring down another conservative. The leader of the NRA is going to have a lot of expenses. I see nothing out of the ordinary here, and I notice there are no explanations or rationale for the expenses, only a listing, which is probably a leak by someone out to get the NRA. Wayne is the current target. You can bet they will move to the next conservative target, and on and on.
19 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Zumkopf 5/12/2019 12:27:07 PM (No. 62010)
I agree LaPierre’s expenses are not wholly unusual for a typical top executive. I disagree that the NRA is a typical organization. Wayne doesn’t have to live like a monk; but any NRA exec who drops $18k at Beverly Hills boutiques has by definition lost touch with his organization’s values.
23 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
DVC 5/12/2019 1:33:13 PM (No. 62009)
THIS is why I have been unhappy with LaPierre for a couple of decades.
I have a good friend, a major gun industry businessman, who was on the NRA Board of Directors for a few years. He came away telling me that there was a lot of financial corruption at the top, and if anyone in BOD tried to find out more, they were shut down and the whole machinery of the NRA brought to bear to make sure that they were replaced with a more compliant person at the next annual election.
LaPierre has done a pretty good job on gun rights, no question about that, but he has been lining his own pockets, too.
22 people like this.
Mr LaPierre is very bad advertising for the NRA. He should go, especially now.
9 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
little guy 5/12/2019 2:07:09 PM (No. 62007)
Been an NRA member for almost 30 years. I´d like to see what Wayne´s contract says, before everyone hangs him.
His contract might say, as an example, that his reasonable travel expenses are covered including a driver and car when needed. And the $18k in clothing? Maybe it was gift jackets or some such.
Often, to avoid having to pay income taxes, CEO´s are "paid" with perks instead of direct salary so, in this way, the government gets less!
Notice how thess types of "scandals" the press runs with are always about a Right wing organization. Where´s the investigative reporting about the Sierra Club, World Wildlife, Humane Society, Planned Parenthood, EMILY´s List, etc? H-m-m-m??
17 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
snichols 5/12/2019 2:11:05 PM (No. 61990)
I have read the responses, and am surprised no one mentioned the fact that these charges were put through the ad agency. In my mind, that in itself is a crime. Hiding expenses through the agency is an admission that they were not legitimate to begin with. If true, he should be thrown out of the organization. Ollie was apparently right.
11 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
weejun 5/12/2019 3:14:18 PM (No. 61989)
#24, suggest you read the letters from the ad firm that are posted on the web asking for Mr. LaPierre “per their agreement” with him to submit details/supporting documentation for his purchases and travel expenses.
I’m a life member of the NRA, and this smells to high heaven. The “circle the wagons” response from new NRA president Carolyn Meadows is weak at best, including it’s attempt to discredit those that have raised this issue.
Finally, the NRA’s claIm that “Mr. LaPierre’s clothing expenses were justified due to his many public appearances” ($39,000 in one day and over $12,000 on five more occasions) is both laughable and insulting to members who regularly donate to the NRA.
Love what the NRA does for gun rights, but we may be witnessing a common fault of people who represent others: too much ften, they forget for whom they are working. As a result, I’ve contacted the NRA and suggested that, until they give a full accounting on these allegations (perhaps via an independent, reputable audit), they can expect NO further monetary contributions from this member. It looks like Ollie North may have been on to something and they canned him.
24 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
weejun 5/12/2019 3:16:02 PM (No. 62016)
“Too often...”
Sorry.
9 people like this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/12/2019 4:52:33 PM (No. 62011)
To add to #26, I certainly hope LaPierre reported those clothing dollars to the IRS, because it represents taxable income.
(I´m no CPA, but I believe IRS code does not allow a business deduction for clothing, unless the clothing can notreasonably be worn for every day events.
Example: A Steve Harvey suit would not be deductible. A Kennyan Klown suit would be deductible.
As a member of the NRA, I don´t want my dues money squandered.
6 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
panther361 5/12/2019 6:32:56 PM (No. 62012)
A lot of lifers here of which I have been for decades. Good to see. I can add that the Second is the only true guarantee we have and that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it. The NRA votes. If there´s something you don´t like, vote it out.
11 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/12/2019 6:56:20 PM (No. 61994)
You want Leftist examples:
United Way embedded themselves so deeply into American society that public schools sent every student home with a donation card. Many private corporations made it mandatory to give a percentage of one´s salary. The president was paid over $800K and traveled First Class on every little trip.
Humane Society: spends up to 98% of their take on "administration." Obscene abuse.
Planned Parenthood needs no explanation.
March of Dimes: Same as United Way on a smaller scale. I remember taking those donation cards home from school and putting the last dime in my piggy bank in the card so I would not be embarrassed.
Red Cross: Many abuses and thefts, charged first responders and emergency volunteers for the cost of donuts. Kept major donations from large disasters.
AARP: Jumped in with both feet into Obamacare so they could get a piece of the action, not so they could "help" senior citizens.
You get the picture.
8 people like this.
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