Finally, something to report to those readers who ask on a recurring basis “what’s going on with the National Rifle Association?”
They’re not referring to the NRA’s day-to-day work..that continues.
They’re curious about litigation. Primarily the New York Attorney General’s campaign against the New York-chartered organization.
Last Thursday, a Manhattan judge gave New York Attorney General Letitia James the go-ahead to continue efforts to appoint and independent monitor to oversee the NRA’s finances, along with an effort to reclaim millions of dollars in back-salary from CEO Wayne LaPierre.
The ruling from NY Supreme Court Justice Joel Cohen allows James to pursue both measures when the two-year old lawsuit finally goes to trial.
While there’s no quantification of the amounts, James seeks to recover what her office calls significant amounts of LaPierre’s salary since 2014. LaPierre FYI, has made more than $1 million each of those years. According to court filings, he is currently under contract to earn $1.5 million through 2025.
James’ lawsuit alleges LaPierre and three other NRA executives “lined their pockets” with member donations, using membership funds for everything from luxury vacations to chartered aircraft for family members.
Lawyers for Mr. LaPierre and the NRA disagree, and have argued against the threat of a court-imposed monitor, calling it as a “de facto takeover” the described in their arguments as “dangerous” and “unconstitutional”.
In his ruling, Cohen disagreed with the argument that a monitorship of the organization was off the table based on it not being specifically mentioned in New York’s Estate, Powers, and Trusts Law.
The NRA, Cohen said, was attempting to read the law “so narrowly” that no attorney general would ever be able to monitor “how funds are used by an organization such as this.”
He did, however, say it was still too-early to assess the appropriateness of a monitor or financial penalties or any other “remedies” without knowing “what the fact findings are that give rise to the remedy.”
So what’s next?
According to lawyers for New York, one final round of depositions based on recently submitted discovery from the NRA.
Cohen’s response?
“I’d like to set a trial date as soon as I can, subject to one party or another winning on summary judgement,” he said, “Everybody’s been working very hard. My understanding was that things were near the end, which it sounds like is true.”
Hopefully, Cohen is correct. After that, the NRA -and its membership- can finally focus all their attention on the NRA’s mission rather than its survival.
We’ll keep you posted.
— Jim Shepherd
