LaPierre has led the NRA as executive vice president since 1991, helping grow the organization into the most politically powerful juggernaut on the national scene,…
LaPierre has led the NRA as executive vice president since 1991, helping grow the organization into the most politically powerful juggernaut on the national scene, exceeding $300 million in annual revenues at its peak. The executive vice president is a salaried employment position at the NRA, which must be annually renewed by the board of directors. The NRA president is the chairman of the board, a position limited to two one-year terms. (The sole exception to that limit was Charlton Heston, for whom the board amended the NRA’s bylaws to permit him to serve five years.)
North had contacted LaPierre’s top staff adviser this week, demanding the CEO’s resignation, and purportedly offering an excellent retirement package if LaPierre would agree both to step down and to support North’s bid for re-election as president. When LaPierre refused, North sent a letter to board members on Wednesday claiming mismanagement by LaPierre, including allegedly unjustified expenditures on wardrobe, travel, and other matters.
“Leaders in every walk of life must often choose: between what is true, and what is polite, between what is convenient, and was is right,” LaPierre began in a Thursday letter to the board responding to North’s claims. “Despite a political climate that maligns our founding freedoms, you elected to walk the principled path and not the popular one.”
LaPierre continued that on April 24, he “was forced to confront one of those defining choices – styled, in the parlance of extortionists, as an offer [he] couldn’t refuse.” He characterized it as an ultimatum that he either “resign or there will be destructive allegations made against [him] and the NRA.” The letter then flatly declared, “I refused the offer.”
“As you know, the NRA has over this past year taken steps to strengthen its efforts to document and verify compliance by our vendors with our purchasing practices and their contracts,” LaPierre continued. “As stated in a pending lawsuit, we’ve met extraordinary resistance from one vendor: Ackerman McQueen (AM).”
LaPierre was referring to a lawsuit filed in Virginia state court by the NRA against Ackerman McQueen this month.
