NEAL KNOX REPORT

The Mutiny At NRA

By NEAL KNOX

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 1, 1999)--There had been rumbles of problems for
months, but Wayne LaPierre's mutiny against the NRA Board really began at the
September 1996 meetings, when the Directors did something most unusual: They
exercised their Bylaws-imposed duty to "formulate the policies and manage and
have general charge of the affairs and property of the Association."

The Board prohibited the use of costly, member-angering certified mail
fundraising letters, and took steps to rein in LaPierre's free-spending
policies that threatened to drive NRA into bankruptcy.

The paid staff, led by the executive vice president and financially supported
by contractors who were growing wealthy from NRA, attacked the uppity board
with a well-planned, well-financed campaign that resulted in the replacement
of three incumbent Directors and the subsequent defeat of the two Vice
Presidents in 1997. Thirteen more incumbent Directors were replaced in 1998,
and 11 more are targeted for removal by the election that gets underway in
February.

Electing new NRA officers and directors can be beneficial-if it results in a
better, more financially secure NRA, one doing a better job of defending our
Second Amendment rights.

But before you cast the ballot in your February NRA magazines you need to have
a better understanding of what triggered the director purge, and decide for
yourself whether it's in NRA's best interests--and the interests of America's
gunowners--for the purge to continue.

During that 1996 meeting LaPierre told 2nd Vice President Albert Ross that the
proposed Board resolution could destroy "the greatest fundraising organization
this country has ever known."  Albert was appalled, for NRA's duty is to
defend gun rights and provide services to the members, not milk them.
Under a deluge of fundraising letters since LaPierre became E.V.P. in 1991,
contributions to NRA had increased from $13 million (mostly to NRA-ILA) to
$36.4 million in 1995. But the members were tired of it. The certified mail
fundraising letters, which caused many members to have to take off work or
make long drives to their post offices, were the last straw.

Despite the generous member contributions, NRA's tax-exempt IRS returns showed
that the association's net worth had declined more than $60 million in five
years--from $12.1 million at the beginning of 1991 to a negative $51.5 million
in the hole at the beginning of 1996. (Thanks mainly to the runup of the
stock market and an unauthorized cut-rate sale of Life Memberships, NRA's net
worth has since improved to around $30 million in the red.)

At that 1996 meeting the Board was shown a preliminary management audit
prepared under the direction of Finance Committee Chairman Rick Carone (a
highly successful businessman and former vice president of one of the nation's
largest banks). It showed that millions had been spent in violation of long-
standing Board policies requiring approval of the non-paid officers (President
and Vice President) on all contracts and agreements over $100,000, and that
millions more had been spent without written contracts.

More sweeping changes, such as taking away LaPierre's control over NRA
finances, or even removing him as E.V.P., would almost certainly have occurred
at that meeting if Directors had not been worried about adversely impacting
NRA's efforts in the 1996 general elections six weeks away.

Further actions were deferred until the winter meeting, but the Board gave the
Finance Committee unprecedented powers to try to get NRA's financial house in
order.

LaPierre--and NRA's contractors who benefit from their cozy relationship with
him--struck back.

Items were planted in the National Journal and Washington Times<D> that
"the Neal Knox faction" intended to remove LaPierre, President Marion Hammer
and ILA Executive Director Tanya Metaksa-which diverted attention from
LaPierre. (LaPierre was on thin ice with the Board, but to my knowledge there
was never any plan or organized effort to remove either Hammer or Metaksa.)
LaPierre launched a media blitz--with the help of NRA's public relations
firm--in which he accused me of "extremism," said the Board majority wanted to
turn NRA into the John Birch Society, and claimed we wanted to make NRA into a
"militia-type organization."

It was a classic Bill Clinton-type attack on those who exposed his wrongdoing.
At the February 1997 Board meeting a Bylaw change allowing the Executive Vice
President to be suspended or removed by majority vote was supported by a solid
39-30 majority, but short of the two-thirds that President Hammer ruled was
required for passage.

LaPierre then asked for negotiations with the officers and Carone, which kept
the rest of the Directors twiddling their thumbs for seven hours. No
agreements were reached, but the delay caused Carone's complex financial
report to be presented in the middle of the night, when most directors were
too punchy to understand it, much less make any intelligent decisions.
The Board meeting adjourned at 4 a.m.

What the Board majority didn't know was that the previous week LaPierre and
his supporters had secretly ordered the placement of a full page ad in the
ballot issue of the NRA magazines-six weeks after the published deadline for
election ads.

That ad featured then-President Hammer, E.V.P. LaPierre and then-ILA Director
Tanya Metaksa. It urged members to "Support the Winning Team" and to "Vote
Against" nine director candidates, including Vice Presidents Knox and Ross,
and Finance Chairman Carone.

The ad worked. five of the nine, including Carone, were defeated, tipping the
balance of power on the Board.

At the May 1997 Seattle meeting, the head of NRA's public relations firm, Tony
Makris, who has had a long relationship with actor Charlton Heston, openly
directed Heston's campaign for the one-year Directorship chosen at the annual
meeting. Vice President Ross and I had refused to extend the Makris firm's
$80,000 per month (plus expenses) contract.

Not surprisingly, Heston was overwhelmingly elected (although he had not been
a director nominee, as required by the Bylaws).

Two days later, Heston won the First Vice Presidency by four votes. Albert
Ross was defeated as Second Vice President by one vote. (The new officers
quickly approved a new contract for Makris.)

The next day, speaking from his home while the rest of the board was still in
session, Vice President Heston began his campaign to "move NRA into the
mainstream."

On KGO San Francisco he said, three times, "the private possession of AK-47s
is inappropriate." Within the next month he said, repeatedly, that he intended
to purge NRA of the "I prefer the term--extremist element." On KABC he named
me, adding that I had made "accusations of failure to do the job right, of
wasting money, of funneling money to the wrong agenda."

On NBC's "Meet the Press" Mr. Heston told Tim Russert "We unfortunately, have
a few extremists in the organization. ... and we're going to deal with that, I
promise you."

In last year's election, Mr. Heston pursued that pledge. He was featured in a
swarm of ads and mailings urging members to "Vote Against" the entire slate of
incumbent directors I supported. Again those ads worked; all those I supported
were defeated.

You'll see the same type of ad in the February ballot issue of NRA magazines.
This fall a more compliant Board--as has been widely reported--increased
LaPierre's salary and bonuses to around $250,000. And they specifically
authorized LaPierre to again make fundraising mailings by certified mail--over
the objections of our Board minority.

The new Board has put the "NRA fundraising machine" back in business.
And the purge of watchdog directors goes on. As some of you know, there is a
formal effort to remove me from NRA membership for life--because I have
truthfully informed you members of the problems within NRA. The "ethics
hearing" has been stalled until February, so if my expulsion is recommended,
the Board vote on my removal will be after new Directors are elected.
If you would like to see restraints on NRA's fundraising and fiscal policies,
and tighter oversight of the relations between NRA's senior staff and its
contractors, I urge you to vote for the following Board candidates--most of
whom are incumbent or former directors who understand how the NRA works and
how it ought to work.

Please support, and ask you friends to support, Michael Beko, Sally Drews
Brodbeck, Bill Dominguez, Howard Fezell, Dan Fiora, David Gross, Fred
Gustafson, Bob Hodgdon, Michael Kindberg, Albert Ross, Frank Sawberger, Tom
Seefeldt, John Trentes and Glenn Voorhees.

Vote only for these 14 to multiply the weight of your votes.

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For more information about NRA and these candidates see
http://www.NealKnox.com and http://www.2ndAmendment.com on the Internet. You
also can see the Neal Knox column on the SHOTGUN NEWS web site,
www.shotgunnews.com.