{"id":177935,"date":"2019-04-28T18:34:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T23:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/04\/28\/pass-the-popcorn-11\/"},"modified":"2019-04-28T18:34:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T23:34:00","slug":"pass-the-popcorn-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/04\/28\/pass-the-popcorn-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Pass the Popcorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>It looks like Oliver North has been fired as president of the NRA amid claims that he attempted to force Wayne LaPierre’s resignation by threatening to reveal his self dealing<\/a>: <\/p>\n

National Rifle Association President Oliver North has been ousted after an alleged extortion scheme within the group\u2019s highest-ranking officials came to light on Friday. In a statement, North told the organization he was \u201cinformed\u201d he would not be nominated for reelection. North\u2019s term ends Monday. <\/p>\n

The NRA\u2019s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, wrote a letter to the board Thursday accusing North of plotting to remove him from the group by threatening to release to the board \u201cdamaging\u201d information about LaPierre. He claimed North, a former Marine Corps lieutenant colonel<\/a> perhaps best known for his role in the Iran-contra affair, was pressuring him to resign over alleged financial transgressions. <\/p>\n

\u201cDelivered by a member of our Board on behalf of his employer, the exhortation was simple: resign or there will be destructive allegations made against me and the NRA,\u201d LaPierre wrote in the letter, which was published Friday by the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

On Saturday, at the NRA\u2019s annual meeting in Indianapolis, Richard Childress, a vice president at the NRA, read what amounted to a resignation letter from North<\/a> that announced and explained his departure. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n

North continued his resignation letter by saying he believes the NRA should establish a committee to review the organization\u2019s finances, which he said constitute a \u201cclear crisis\u201d that \u201cneeds to be dealt with\u201d if the NRA wants to continue to be a viable organization. <\/p>\n

The NRA\u2019s board, comprising 76 members, is scheduled to meet Monday. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal reported that North, who became NRA president last year, defended himself in a letter to the board Thursday, indicating his actions were \u201cfor the good of the NRA.\u201d North previously wrote a longer letter to the board\u2019s executive committee, alleging LaPierre had made more than $200,000 of wardrobe purchases and charged them to a vendor. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth is apparently fueled by a growing rift in a decades-long<\/a> relationship between the NRA and the advertising agency Ackerman McQueen, according to the Journal. The NRA filed a lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen this month in Virginia alleging the firm had not been transparent in justifying its billings<\/a>. In a statement to the Journal, Ackerman McQueen argued it was complying and called the lawsuit \u201cfrivolous, inaccurate and intended to cause harm to the reputation of our company.\u201d <\/p>\n

The suit specifically mentions a contract between Ackerman McQueen and North, the Journal reports, who was hired by the agency last year to host an NRATV documentary program, which LaPierre says nets him \u201cmillions of dollars annually.\u201d <\/p>\n

LaPierre detailed a phone call between one of his staff members and North that took place Wednesday, in which North allegedly suggested Ackerman McQueen was prepared to release an \u201callegedly damaging letter to the entire NRA board.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe letter would contain a devastating account for our financial status, sexual harassment charges against a staff member, accusations of wardrobe expenses and excessive staff travel expenses,\u201d LaPierre wrote. \u201cBut then, Col. North explained the letter would not be sent \u2014 if I were to promptly resign as your Executive Vice President. And, if I supported Col. North\u2019s continued tenure as president, he stated he could \u2018negotiate\u2019 an \u2018excellent retirement\u2019 for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am very amused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like Oliver North has been fired as president of the NRA amid claims that he attempted to force Wayne LaPierre’s resignation by threatening to reveal his self dealing: National Rifle Association President Oliver North has been ousted after an alleged extortion scheme within the group\u2019s highest-ranking officials came to light on Friday. In …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[817],"class_list":["post-177935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}