NRA’s CEO re-elected; president replaced
INDIANAPOLIS — Wayne LaPierre, the public face of the National Rifle Association for decades, fended off a backlash inside the organization over its finances and direction, winning re-election Monday as the gun lobby’s chief executive officer.
The re-election of LaPierre, who is also the group’s executive vice president, was announced on the NRA magazine’s American Rifleman website. It came during a private meeting of the group’s board of directors.
The board also elected a slate of leaders, including Carolyn Meadows of Georgia as president. Meadows, previously the board’s second vice president, has worked with the Republican Party for decades and also chairs the Stone Mountain Memorial Association board of directors.
She bypassed the person who traditionally would have been next in line to become president: the first vice president, Richard Childress, who on Saturday read the announcement from retired Lt. Col. Oliver North that North would not seek a second term as president. Childress was not listed for any executive post with the NRA on its announcement Monday.
But most of the board remained intact. The board also did not formally sever ties with its longtime public relations firm Ackerman McQueen, even though the NRA has sued the Oklahoma-based company to demand documentation over its billings. Ackerman McQueen has received tens of millions of dollars to shape the gun lobby’s talking points and to operate the online channel NRATV.
The NRA has also faced some financial struggles in recent years, losing a combined $64 million in 2016 and 2017.
Despite the turmoil, LaPierre struck a cheery tone in a statement after the board meeting: “United we stand. The NRA board of directors, our leadership team, and our more than 5 million members will come together as never before in support of our country’s constitutional freedoms.”
For the past two decades, the NRA has faced criticism from among its ranks that its leaders had become corrupted by the millions of dollars flowing into its coffers. The criticism has included allegations of self-dealing and excessive personal spending. Now the pressure has increased, with New York’s attorney general opening an investigation that could threaten the group’s tax-exempt status.
President Donald Trump on Monday blamed the NRA’s woes on New York officials, accusing them of “illegally” trying to ruin an organization that is one of his strongest supporters.
In his tweets, Trump acknowledged the “internal fighting” at the gun-rights organization but suggested actions taken by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, were at the root of its troubles.
“The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others,” Trump wrote. “It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS - FAST!”
James has opened an investigation into the tax-exempt status of the organization, which is chartered in New York, that has included the issuance of subpoenas. She has made no bones about her dislike of the NRA, calling it a “terrorist organization.”
Trump has remained a strong booster of the organization, most recently appearing at its convention last week in Indianapolis, as did Vice President Mike Pence.
The NRA, meanwhile, has been involved in litigation with Cuomo over a directive last year urging insurance companies, state-chartered banks and other financial services companies to review their relationship with the NRA and consider whether those ties “harm their corporate reputations and jeopardize public safety.”
In a recent fundraising solicitation to its members, LaPierre cautioned that Cuomo’s “strongarm tactics” were causing a growing number of banks and insurance companies to refuse to do business with the organization.
The NRA is based in Virginia, but its charter was originally filed in New York, giving authorities there broad latitude to investigate its operations.