My layman’s understanding is that AGs can sanction and fine orgs or, if they find that the corruption is endemic (as in the previously mentioned Trump foundation) that they can dissolve the org and/or impose criminal sanctions for fraud (as one example),
A number of years ago, I actually got a die-hard 2nd amendment supporter to admit that Wayne LaPierre was an asshole.
I am a little surprised. I knew LaPierre was making a bundle off of the NRA; why jeopardize it? Then again, running expenses through a conspirator is one of the easiest ways to skim money from an organization. Most of the political corruption in Illinois is of that nature - give an over-priced no-bid contract to a friend.
Talk about a fat consulting contract. Even if it were legit, that sort of money buys an awful lot of consulting time. How many billable hours and at what rate, dare I ask? At that price you could even take a high school kid and put him through college and all the extra training he would need.
Oakminster seems to think that this will be a political issue, but since the law courts take so long, I don’t think it will influence the election either way. But it should be very entertaining when the execs try to account for the money.
I remember seeing articles about a year ago that detailed some of the issues at the NRA, including its relationship with Ackerman McQueen, its former PR firm. There’s this long article from The New York Times Magazine (NYT paywall warning) from December last year and this Vox.com article from May last year.
It probably will be spun that way. But even gun rights supporters should see there are problems. Wayne LaPierre was paid $2.2 million in 2018 and various members of the board get consulting and other money from the NRA, its foundation and affiliated companies (Washington Post article here). Lots of people still don’t give money to the United Way after a scandal over how much the CEO was paid, and that was almost thirty years ago. So I hope that gun rights people don’t ignore the very real issues with the NRA just because they don’t like the people bringing the charges.
I don’t even have to look at the various social mediae to know that that’s a fruitless hope. Given the polarization of today’s world, it’s an absolute certainty that many people will kneejerk that way. Except the way many will phrase it is “Democrats trying to grab our guns!!!1!!!11”
That’s the thing. You can’t be ruled by fear about what a wild-eyed death-cult is gonna say in response to your actions, especially when they’re gonna say the same thing no matter what you do.
Some gun-owners are going to look honestly and sincerely at what’s happening and draw conclusions based on the facts. Others are gonna claim that libruls are conspiring to take their guns.
But they’re gonna say that no matter what–so what do I care?
Under what criteria does the NRA qualify as a global organisation?
Sure, they aren’t adverse to splashing dosh into foreign political parties in the pursuit and protection of the domestic agenda of their organisation. But, do you know of any country who has welcomed them to set up an office within their jurisdiction? Suspect the rest of the world think they are lunatic, amoral and possibly corrupt political lobby best kept within their current briar patch. They have been considered for inclusion on the anti-terrorism watch list here because of where some of the money they have funneled into fringe ultra right groups actually ends up.
Under Division 102 of the Criminal Code , it is an offence to do things such as direct the activities of, be a member of, recruit for, provide training to, receive training from or participate in training with, provide funds to or receive funds from or provide support to, a terrorist organisation. It is also an offence to associate with a member of a listed terrorist organisation in certain circumstances where such association intentionally provides support to that organisation.
Why would any organisation of the size of the NRA consider appointing as the new corporate treasurer somebody who was so quantifiably unqualified for the job that they required the old one to babysit them while they learned the ropes?
Answer, they wouldn’t.
The NYS Attorney General’s complaint talks about a consulting contract with the former treasurer (not necessarily the one referenced by Left_Hand_of_Dorkness).
On May 5, 2018, while [Wilson] Phillips was still the Treasurer of the NRA, Phillips entered into an independent consulting agreement to continue to be paid by the NRA following his retirement. The contract was executed by the NRA President and First Vice President. Pursuant to the contract, the NRA agreed to pay Phillips $30,000 per month for five years for consulting services. In exchange for this monthly payment, Phillips was to “provide advisory services and the benefit of his expertise in all appropriate areas, including, but not limited to, areas related to his prior duties as CFO and Treasurer of the Organization.” As a consultant, Phillips would “coordinate activities with the NRA’s Executive Vice President, Treasurer and CFO, and Executive Director, Office of Advancement to build and maintain relationships with major gifts donors, identify and cultivate relationships with fundraising partners, and identify prospective high net worth individuals to solicit for major gifts.” The contract was signed by the NRA President and one Vice President.
There was a lot of reporting of issues within the NRA starting in April 2019, at it appears that the N.Y. AG decided to open an investigation at around that time.
I went to check out their rating on Charity Navigator, which had not been updated to reflect the indictment at the time I posted this link. They have a series of links to public reporting on the scandal in chronological order which provide a good (although not current ) overview of the issues.
The current governor of Texas was Texas Attorney General before he ran for the top job. He ran on the platform of “I get up every morning and sue the Federal government.”
consulting