Shall Not Be Questioned

I’ve said for a while, most of the ILA folks can make better money somewhere else, and it’s not looking to me like Chris Cox is planning on leading any kind of revolution but rather making better money somewhere else. This is basically what James Baker did when he left ILA, and he made a lot of money doing it. Of course Baker came back, but I wouldn’t count on that here. John Richardson is covering the purges.

I understand that Jason Ouimet, Chris’ replacement, is well liked and considered a good choice to lead ILA. I’m sure I’ve probably met him but I don’t know him. He will have big shoes to fill, and I wish him luck.

I am still lacking in optimism for the future of the RKBA cause. We’re pretty much now dependent on the courts to save us long term, and I’m not sure they are really willing. Any state where Dems have a shot at control is not a safe state at this point.

It’s the NYT, so you might need a clean browser to view, but the story is about how David Dell’Aquila is organizing donors to withhold donations from NRA if Wayne does not step down and put an end to this mess.

“Even if these allegations regarding Mr. LaPierre and his leadership are false, he has become radioactive and must step down.”

I think that has unfortunately become true.

He said he was among a network of wealthy N.R.A. donors who would cumulatively withhold more than $134 million in pledges, much of it earmarked years in advance through estate planning, and would soon give the gun group’s board a list of demands for reform.

That’s not minor money. That kind of money is going to talk, loudly. Party line, mentioned in the article, is that the big donors are backing Wayne. This would seem to suggest that narrative is false. If you want to donate to the cause, I would still encourage people to donate to PVF, since that is a sequestered fund that can only be used on electioneering, and can’t be touched for other purposes. Also worthwhile is the Civil Rights Defense Fund, which is also not controlled by any of the players here.

“I’m not pro-Mr. LaPierre, and I’m not anti-Mr. LaPierre, I’m just simply being objective and trying to save a historic institution from itself,” he said. “Right or wrong, the buck stops with Mr. LaPierre, because this occurred underneath his leadership, and he’s ultimately accountable.”

I agree completely with that sentiment. I also agree with him that I’d like to see Cox back in Wayne’s spot. But he suggests Alan West for President. I’d pass on that one.

Chris being forced out was a bridge too far for me. I also am very upset that it’s being reported that board members are being removed from committee assignments as retaliation for not being sufficient boosters of the regime.

Board members are permitted to have opinions on the people they hire and who they are meant to hold to account. Period.

Good article about NRATV from the Winston-Salem Journal:

It turned out, however, that they didn’t understand the conservative media well enough to find a place in it.

As I’ve said, I found Cam Edward’s show watchable (usually listenable, when I even have the time). What was different about Cam’s show? It was mostly about guns. He made forays into general politics, but it was mostly 2nd Amendment issues.

There’s always a risk when a company wanders outside of what it knows. Ask the Carlyle Group about running a refinery sometime. How’d that go for ya? Ask Delta Airlines the same question. Or Cerberus running gun companies.

NRATV had one thing right: Conservatism today is indeed driven by a politics of resentment and anger, where the threats are overwhelming and there is no higher goal than owning the libs. But as the Times article notes, “The site’s web traffic was minuscule, with 49,000 unique visitors in January.”

Yeah, because that’s totally not also true about your side too.

John Richardson has an interesting tidbit:

One thing that has been mentioned to me is that there is more than a supposed “coup” attempt behind this. The NRA-ILA gave the NRA proper a substantial loan that has not yet been repaid so that they could cover their bills. The loan was made in the 2017 time frame. Now it is rumored that Wayne came back to ILA asking for a loan in the $15 million range and Chris Cox said no. The other person who had the authority to say “no” on behalf of the NRA-ILA was Scott Christman and he is on administrative leave as well.

Interesting.

Wayne will turn 70 in November. He’s the same age as my father, who has been retired now for 8 years. My father is starting to go from an old guy to an elderly guy. How many more productive working years does Wayne have left? Five maybe? Are we to have an octogenarian running NRA? Is there a possibility he’s already losing his mojo and is lashing out?

At some point, NRA will face a future without Wayne at the helm, and they just pissed away the most likely and probably the most effective replacement. Chris was the heir apparent. So what now? This isn’t a long term question. At the very least, Wayne isn’t going to live forever. Chris had already been positioned and groomed. I am hoping the Board starts to understand the depth and seriousness of the matter that is now before them.

I’ve read the lawsuit against Ollie North. They don’t have shit on Chris Cox if this is all that’s known. But nonetheless, he’s resigned. This isn’t good. Now ILA is rudderless at a very dangerous time for us.

It’s not clear who inside the NRA could take Cox’s place, and recruiting an outsider could be especially difficult because of the financial turmoil and political bloodletting roiling the group, insiders say.

This is an understatement.

I was reserving judgement until I read the lawsuit. The text that came out in discovery were from April 24th, which is about when we all found out about North’s ultimatum. If Wayne’s side of NRA is going to interfere with ILA’s operations, they’d better have a damned good reason, and if this discovery is all they have, it is not a good reason. I don’t really care if they find evidence Chris Cox was involved in succession planning with the Board. I would expect that if there was a possibility the Board would shit can Wayne. I don’t even really care if he was aware of North’s plot, or expressed a willingness to see Wayne off. Chris Cox is hired by the Board, and is not Wayne’s report. The Board and Board members should be permitted to seek the advice from the people they hire on NRA related matters, and those people the Board hires should be permitted to give it.

I’m becoming more and more convinced Wayne needs to retire, and absent that, the Board should be willing to force the issue.

My message to the NRA Board is that we have a big heap problem. I don’t blame Wayne for the current state of affairs, because there are people that, theoretically, should be holding him to account.

If anyone is to blame, it’s the Board itself for failing to oversee the organization. I get it. I’ve been on boards. But it’s time to clean house. It’s time to start doing your jobs. The future of the NRA is at stake.

The latest victim in the Ack-Mac dispute. I think Media Matters is feeling a bit self indulgent over believing they played a role, since they brought to light the Tommy the Tank fiasco. Though, I do have to admit that their statement that “NRATV was a malevolent and destructive force” is kind of hard to argue with.

Way before NRATV, Ack-Mac was putting on some reasonable programming. Then they brought in Internet personalities like Colion Noir, Billy Johnson, Dom Raso, and actually, Angry Dana was part of that initial group. None of that early foray I had issues with, because their programming was very gun focused initially, and some of it even watchable. In hindsight, bringing them in as paid professionals was a mistake. They were more valuable to the movement as independent personalities.

I can’t exactly recall when, but at some point Ack-Mac really started taking NRATV off the rails with loony right-wing bullshit that had nothing to do with guns. The poster child I have in my mind for all this was Grant Stinchfield. Any time NRATV became controversial, and I don’t mean “no such thing as bad publicity” controversial, it’s this guy who kept turning up like a bad penny. Angry Dana just got angrier. A lot of our people were publicly questioning the value and tone of NRATV, not just our opponents. The Tommy the Tank gaffe was just the dog shit icing on the mold ridden cake.

I feel for a lot of the Ack-Mac employees who worked hard for NRA all these years, and who are victims of this shit show. But for the sake of NRA’s future, we have to move on. NRATV is gone. Time to keep cleaning house.