The NRA’s Board of Directors met Sunday in Dallas behind closed doors in an emergency session. At the meeting, the board approved Wayne LaPierre’s bankruptcy plan for the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, albeit retroactively.
Reportedly, the action did not go through without debate and maybe a little drama. Stephen Gutowski at the Washington Free Beacon reports:
The National Rifle Association’s board of directors retroactively approved the group’s bankruptcy plan after an emergency meeting on Sunday.
The decision was not without drama: Board members locked themselves behind closed doors in an “executive session” for hours before delivering the final verdict, and executive vice president Wayne LaPierre left through a separate exit from where press was waiting.
A copy of the resolution obtained by the Washington Free Beacon said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing initiated by LaPierre in January advances “the best interests of the NRA, its members, and its mission.” The board addressed questions on the legitimacy of the bankruptcy raised by New York attorney general Letitia James (D.)—who has moved to scuttle the bankruptcy to advance her prosecution of the group in state court—by saying the declaration is “authorized, directed and ratified” by the board. The resolution further approved the appointment of attorney Bill Brewer’s law firm as the group’s general bankruptcy counsel in a rebuke to conflict of interest allegations made by the Department of Justice.
Anything that makes life more difficult for the hyper-partisan Leticia James helps gun rights and the NRA.
The resolution also allows for the NRA to retain Brewer and the other attorneys involved in the case should it be dismissed and then refiled. The resolution could help the NRA in court. With at least a majority of the board voting to officially ratify the bankruptcy filing it becomes more difficult for James to argue NRA leadership lacks board support in the case. The move makes it less likely James will succeed in getting the case thrown out.
Plenty of people have raised questions about Bill Brewer’s law firm and its hefty, gold-plated fees charged to the National Rifle Association. Even the Department of Justice has raised conflict of interest allegations against Brewer’s firm’s representation of the NRA in the Bankruptcy as noted in the Washington Beacon story above. But it’s not the first time Mr. Brewer has been tied to alleged misconduct.
Some members of the NRA Board continue to demand answers about Brewer’s firm, its work, and the massive fees charged to the NRA.
From the Washington Free Beacon story…
Rocky Marshall, another NRA board member present at the meeting, called the resolution an “awkward attempt to ratify the Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” He said he believed the bankruptcy was “financially unnecessary” and questioned the millions of dollars spent on the Brewer firm.
“This entire episode appears to be an elaborate snipe hunt and the NRA is left holding an empty bag,” Marshall said. “The bankruptcy appears to be an attempt to find a safe harbor from the NYAG suit and a vehicle for the Brewer law firm to continue extracting assets from the NRA. The Brewer law firm claims to fight to protect the NRA, but I wonder who is protecting the NRA from the Brewer law firm? ”
That final comment from Marshall says it all. “I wonder who is protecting the NRA from the Brewer law firm?”
Indeed.