Interview
'Wayne must go' – the staunch NRA supporter out
to take down LaPierre
Ed
Pilkington
NRA
As the gun rights group faces a move to dissolve it in
New York, David Dell’Aquila is waging his own legal battle to root out
financial impropriety
Ed
Pilkington @edpilkington
Sat 8 Aug
2020 08.00 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/08/david-dellaquila-nra-wayne-lapierre-interview
Hours after
the National Rifle Association was hit by a lawsuit from New York’s attorney
general on Thursday seeking to have the gun lobby dissolved over allegations
that millions of dollars were diverted to pay for the lavish lifestyles of its
leaders, the NRA’s CEO, Wayne LaPierre, hit back.
In
typically pugnacious fashion, LaPierre issued his own counter-suit against the
attorney general, Letitia James. In a rallying cry to NRA members, he accused
her of “weaponizing” her regulatory powers and “politicizing” her office in an
“affront to democracy and freedom”.
If
LaPierre, 70, was hoping to spark a new culture war between the
hyper-conservative group he runs and one of New York’s top Democrats, it is not
clear the strategy will work this time. For almost 30 years LaPierre has used
the same aggressive tactic to build up the NRA into the world’s largest and
most feared gun advocacy group, with 5 million members, steering it in an ever
more partisan direction that has culminated with its enthusiastic support for
Donald Trump.
But
misgivings about the inner workings of the NRA are not confined to prosecutors
in the progressive outpost of New York. Inside the organization itself, there
is a groundswell of discontent relating to the alleged misuse of millions of
dollars from the association and its charitable arm, the NRA Foundation.
Speaking to
the Guardian from Nashville, Tennessee, one of the NRA’s top donors was unrestrained
in his criticism of LaPierre and the 76 members of the NRA’s board who he
accused of collectively turning a blind eye to alleged financial impropriety.
“It makes
me feel sad and depressed,” Dave Dell’Aquila said shortly after the New York
lawsuit had been lodged. “And angry. Extremely angry. I’m angry that a
152-year-old historic institution has been taken down under Wayne LaPierre and
his management team, while the board of directors let this happen.”
Were
LaPierre tempted to try to squeeze Dell’Aquila into the same gun-hating,
freedom-loathing pigeonhole in which he crams Letitia James, he would have a
tough job. It’s not just that the former tech company boss is a lifetime member
of the NRA and has given more than $100,000 to forward its core mission.
Wayne
LaPierre. Dell’Aquila’s lawsuit cites spending of $274,695 at a Beverly Hills
clothing store on suits for the NRA’s CEO.
It’s that
Dell’Aquila has had guns and hunting in his blood, ever since he first caught
the firearms bug aged 10 growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
There’s a
clue to which side of the second amendment right to bear arms debate he stands
right there in his front room. It is dominated by a stuffed 400lb black bear he
shot a few years ago in Canada.
He’s
currently expecting a shipment of 15 animal trophies from a recent hunting trip
in Africa, including heads of sable and eland antelopes. “I’m a conservative
honest supporter of the second amendment. I passionately believe you are
entitled to firearms to protect yourself and to keep dictatorships and monarchies
out,” he said.
And so the
website Dell’Aquila created, retirelapierre.com, cannot easily be cast as the
work of a socialist ideologue out to get your guns – a favorite talking point
of LaPierre’s.
Equally,
the class-action lawsuit Dell’Aquila initiated in a federal court in Tennessee
in August 2019 carries the weight of an insider.
The suit,
brought against LaPierre personally as well as the NRA and its foundation, is
strikingly similar to New York’s action. It recalls how Dell’Aquila donated
$100,000 to the organization thinking it would go towards promoting shooting
and hunting, gun safety, wildlife conservation and the right to gun ownership
in the US.
It then
recounts how he discovered that far from going towards these core objectives,
his money was allegedly contributing towards the luxury habits of LaPierre and
other top NRA executives. Through the 2018 investigation conducted by the NRA’s
then president, Oliver North of Irangate fame, Dell’Aquila learned of
allegations that over several years “LaPierre had received hundreds of
thousands of dollars in clothing, private jet travel and other benefits”.
In
particular, Dell’Aquila’s suit alleges, some $243,644 was spent on “luxury
travel for LaPierre to the Bahamas; Palm Beach; Los Angeles; Reno, Nevada;
Budapest, Hungary; and Italy”. The court document further cites spending of
$274,695 at a Beverly Hills clothing store on suits for LaPierre – none of
which was declared under IRS tax filings.
A similar
theme is taken up by the New York suit. It accuses LaPierre and three members
of his top team of creating a “culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and
negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive and fraudulent”.
Such
financial impropriety contributed to total losses to the NRA of an astonishing
$64m, the prosecutors allege. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of charitable
money went on private jet trips for LaPierre and his family, at least eight
trips to the Bahamas over three years costing more than $500,000, and use of a
107ft yacht owned by an NRA vendor.
The CEO
also allegedly went on an African safari, all expenses paid, and spent almost
$4m on luxury limousines in the past two years alone. The suit says he
negotiated without board approval a post-employment contract in which the NRA
would pay him $1m a year for the rest of his life after he retires or steps
down – a package worth $17m.
In its
counter-suit, the NRA claims that the New York attorney general was trying “to
silence the NRA’s advocacy and neutralize it as an opposing political force”.
In his letter to NRA members following release of the legal action, LaPierre
said: “The NRA is well governed, financially solvent, and committed to good
governance.”
Responding
to Dell’Aquila’s lawsuit, the NRA has argued that as a member of the group he
has no standing to sue and has asked a federal judge to dismiss the case. A
ruling on the motion could come any day.
But for now
there’s no stopping Dell’Aquila. He is apoplectic above all about the
post-employment contract, contrasting its largesse to the meagre incomes of
many of the NRA’s members.
“I mean,
how does Wayne have a $17m contract after he leaves the NRA? On top of the
close to $2m he earns a year with stock and everything like that? Two million
dollars to run a non-profit? You gotta be kidding me.”
Dell’Aquila
began his investigation into NRA dealings two years ago. It started simply
enough, with him asking himself where his $100,000 donation was going yet
finding it hard to get satisfactory answers.
Then he
noticed how decision-making within the NRA was tightly controlled around
LaPierre and his top team. “I started to see cliques. The NRA’s inner circle is
very cliquish. That’s one thing if you are doing a good job, but then I started
to see money unaccounted for, wasteful spending.”
Dell’Aquila
began to see LaPierre as a king figure. “He thinks he is above the law. He’s
been in charge for 30 years. Presidents and their administrations come and go,
but he stays. He’s not accountable and he gets away with it – I just think it’s
gone to his head.”
Dell’Aquila
spent an intense year working around the clock, putting questions to the chief
executive and the board but rarely getting answers back. Employees, he said,
began privately coming to him with inside information.
If he has
criticisms of LaPierre, he reserves his biggest complaints for the board of
directors who have remained overwhelmingly loyal to the NRA leadership despite
mounting evidence of alleged malpractice. “Wayne couldn’t have done all this
stuff – the trips to the Bahamas, the special security, the suits, the private
jets – without the board. They have financial oversight, they can demand
documents. They could convene a vote and get Wayne out, so why don’t they?”
Over the
past 20 years, the NRA has created a mythology around itself that portrays it
as an unassailable, united, unstoppable force at the heart of conservative
America. But as the edifice begins to crumble, voices like that of Dell’Aquila
– coming from the inside – are finally beginning to be heard.
For his
part, he hopes that his class action will prevail and that on the back of it
the $64m will be repaid, the current board will be replaced, and that a new NRA
will emerge from the ashes. He believes one other thing must happen – LaPierre
must be forced out.
“I’m not
pro-Wayne, I’m not negative-Wayne. I’m objective Wayne,” he said. “For
the good of the NRA – Wayne must go.”
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