Ollie outgunned
Won’t run again amid talk of fight vs. LaPierre
Sorry, Oliver North, it looks like Wayne LaPierre is top gun.
In the bizarre battle at the top of the National Rifle Association, North will not be seeking a second term as president of the embattled gun group. The announcement comes on the heels of reports that North was attempting to extort LaPierre, the NRA’s chief executive, into resigning.
At the group’s annual convention Saturday, NRA Vice President Richard Childress unexpectedly took the stage in Indianapolis to read a letter from North, who was elected to a one-year term as president in September 2018.
“Please know I’d hoped to be with you today as NRA president endorsed for reelection. I’m now informed that will not happen,” he read.
North, a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel known for his role in the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, wrote that there is a “clear crisis” within the group and that it needs to be dealt with swiftly so “the NRA can continue to focus on protecting our second amendment.”
While North’s memo was met mostly with silence, LaPierre got two standing ovations during his Saturday speech.
LaPierre, long the face of the operation, didn’t reference the infighting in his address, but he did take aim at familiar targets like Gov. Cuomo.
“Our enemies have sunk to new lows,” he said.
The NRA, which is chartered in New York, recently filed a lawsuit against the state over efforts to strip the organization of its nonprofit status. The group, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union in the legal battle, claims its rights are being violated under the Constitution’s First Amendment.
“We won’t accept,” LaPierre said. “We will resist it. We won’t give an inch.”
LaPierre’s defiant stances comes a day after a bizarre back-and-forth between the high-caliber heavyweights.
In a letter to the NRA board published by The Wall Street Journal, LaPierre claimed North threatened to make public a detailed account of financial improprieties and sexual harassment allegations unless he stepped down.
“The letter would contain a devastating account of our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses, and expenses,” cessive staff travel exhe wrote.
“But then Col. North explained that the letter would not be sent — if I were to promptly resign as your executive vice president. And, if I supported Col. North’s continued tenure as president, he stated that he could ‘negotiate’ an ‘excellent retirement for me.”
North fired back in a separate letter, vowing to establish a committee dedicated to probing the NRA’s finances and “allegations of financial misconduct related to Mr. LaPierre” — which he said jeopardized the group’s tax-exempt status as a nonprofit.
Gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety in January filed an IRS complaint, claiming the NRA’s fi- nances “stray from the norms and rules of governing charities.”
The feud reportedly stems in part over a dispute regarding the NRA and Ackerman McQueen Inc. The ad agency was sued by the NRA this month after it refused to provide records to justify its billings. According to the Journal, Ackerman McQueen dismissed the suit as “frivolous” and “inaccurate.”
The suit specifically references a contract between Ackerman McQueen and North, who was hired by the agency last year to host an NRATV documentary program, which LaPierre said earns him “millions of dollars annually.”