The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the ad agency failed to disclose information about a contract with NRA President Oliver North. (Photo: Oliver North Facebook)
The National Rifle Association is suing its primary ad agency and the contractor that operates NRATV.
The suit alleges that the agency, Ackerman McQueen, failed to provide adequate information for how it spent $40 million, failed to reveal information about a separate contract with NRA President Oliver North, and refused to provide data about various performance measures for NRATV.
“Ackerman McQueen is interfering with the NRA’s ability to steward its funds in pursuit of its public mission,” the lawsuit alleges. “Moreover, Ackerman McQueen’s baseless refusal to permit a fulsome review of the North contract threatens to impede the NRA’s corporate governance process.”
“The NRA’s patience has run out,” the suit says.
Ackerman McQueen disputes the claims and says it had provided the gun-rights group with all of the requested paperwork and information before the lawsuit was filed last week.
“Ackerman McQueen has served the NRA and its members with great pride and dedication for the last 38 years,” the firm stated Monday. “The NRA’s action is frivolous, inaccurate and intended to cause harm to the reputation of our company and the future of that 38-year relationship. … Much like we have done for the NRA and the Second Amendment over the past 38 years, we too will defend our position and performance aggressively.”
SEE ALSO: Gun Groups Question Democrats Motive Behind NRA Congressional Investigations
The controversy began when the NRA embarked on an audit of its vendors to ensure that it was in compliance with best financial practices, according to the New York Times. The audit came amidst increasing pressure from states like New York that some worry could threaten the organization’s financial viability.
Joel Friedman, an NRA board member, told the New York Times he was dismayed that the documents had not been turned over.
“It leaves you questioning, and you can come up with all these potential different scenarios as to why, but none of them are good,” he said. “My mind goes to: Are they overcharging us? That’s one,” he added. “Two, are there things charged to us that were not part of the contract? Then, No. 3, has there been a misallocation of personnel?”
The lawsuit also alleges that Ackerman McQueen failed to adequately disclose a contract between the ad agency and NRA President Oliver North. According to the lawsuit, North had entered into a contract with Ackerman McQueen to host a web series, but the agency had only allowed the NRA to view a copy of the contract but refused to allow them to keep it.
The NRA was also concerned that North’s relationship to Ackerman could “supersede his duties to the NRA,” according to the Times.
SEE ALSO: Los Angeles Ordinance Creates NRA ‘Blacklist’
Ackerman responded in a statement saying that the gun rights group “received every single piece of information they requested,” including the North contract.
They also claim that the NRA’s outside lawyer, William A. Brewer III, has a conflict of interest in this case because he is the son-in-law of Angus McQueen, a co-chief executive of Ackerman, and the brother-in-law of Revan McQueen, its chief executive.
“Mr. Brewer has demonstrated, in words and deeds, his animus for Ackerman McQueen and these family members and that animus pervades the Brewer firm’s dealings with Ackerman McQueen, whether dealing directly with Ackerman McQueen or through other members of his firm,” the ad agency said in a statement.
Travis Carter, a spokesman for Brewer’s law firm, denied the characterization of his client. He told the Times, “the familial relationship” had “no bearing whatsoever on the NRA’s litigation strategy.”
He added, “Any suggestion to the contrary is contrived and a red herring.”
The lawsuit threatens what was described by AdAge in 2013 as “one of the longest-running collaborations in advertising history” dating back 38 years. It also puts the future of NRATV, along with Oliver North’s tenure as NRA President, in question.
North is out,la Pierre is dictator for life and the nra gave the gun grabber ag of NY a razor sharp sword to behead them.
It’s over for them soon! If they cleared their fat cat infestation they might have made it.
They have been in contractual relationship (slopping hogs at the trough) for 38 years, so this ad agency knows the NRAs dirty little secrets and closet skeletons inside and out. What ought to be concerning is it took the NRA 38 years to figure out something is not right.
Did not know North was president.
Where is the article about colorado?
“I’m shocked -SHOCKED- to think NRA might be overcharged!” -Joel Friedman, member of the management-AcMc-toady junta that took over NRA 22 years ago.
THERE BE DRAGONS HERE
The NRA seems to dealing with some deep seated corruption starting with the “coincidence” that their attorney has direct familial ties to the ad agency that somehow has disappeared $40 million in membership dues and contributions. $40 million equals over 26,000 lifetime memberships or over 1.4 million individual annual memberships! Now add that Oliver North has a previously unknown contract with the ad agency and you have a picture of a good-ol-boy network where these guys are getting rich off us members. We need new leadership at the NRA!
Among what I know from folks on the wrong end of the 1997 coup:
1. One of the big vampire vendors involved in this lawsuit gave a BMW to a key NRA officer prior to the “winning team” (management/vendor/beltway) coup. Recently retired after pocketing at least $25 million himself in salary/benefits. Probably closer to $50 million. Good timing, but hopefully not good enough.
2. At least one key NRA officer had a “relationship” with a realtor in charge of selling the old 1600 Rhode Island Ave headquarters building, a few blocks from the White House, and/or the buyer. The cool old building could’ve been remodeled, would be worth a fortune today. It was fire-sold and the current palace lavishly paid for, straining NRA finances. Commi$$ion$ both ways.
I\’m a Life Member of about 45 year. Lets get this straightened out! I am in the twilight of life, and want to live long enough to see the 2nd Amendment honored as it should be. We need our NRA Executives to be squeaky clean, and out books open and bright with integrity. Lets get this problem out in the open with bright lights and publicly clean our house. We need more members, and we can not stand any kind of scandals what so ever. Make everything out in the open, full and complete disclosure. 40 million is a lot of money, account for it!!!!!?
This is what LaPierre was paid $1-3 million a year to ensure…I mean prevent. My bad 🤗
P.S. I’m also an NRA life member, annual since 1976. 5-10 years ago when I first looked, LaPierre was averaging well over $1 million a year, plus benefits, more than GOA’s entire annual budget, and NRA was bringing in an amount that was closing up on a half billion dollars a year. Occasionally his salary would jump to over 2 million; maybe deferred comp. After some commented, he dropped his normal salary to “only” $995k plus bennies.
The NRA board is a joke. With 76 directors there is, by design, no possibility of a real, responsible board. The structure make management the effective owners, not members. But the board is kept happy with 4 junkets a year, all expenses paid, and some/many directors get sweetheart deals. The board did nothing to stop the squandered tens of millions that now surely amount to billions, or to stop NRA’s support of anti-gun Dems and squish-RINO collaborators.
In the last 25 years NRA gave thousands of bogus A and B grades, money, endorsements and orange alert cards to phony pro-gun Dems like Harry Reid and corrupt squish RINOs like Thad Cochran, even when there were viable loyal American challengers on the ballot like Sharron Angle, Joe Miller and Chris McDaniel. In some cases Orange Alerts for open gun grabbers like Sheriff Brown in Santa Barbara County – where NRA’s pet insurance company resides…Coincidence? I kindly doubt it. A few years ago they matched a $250,000 contribution by Michael Bloomberg to defeat Chris McDaniel and re-elect cheap labor RINO gun squish Thad Cochran. They put the same contribution into the same independent smear pac. Then they went all out to protect open-immigration left-“Libertarian” Islamophile Grover Norquist. Norquist is cozy with Bloomberg, so I’d lay out $1000 right now on Norquist having been behind the Bloomberg-NRA matching fund. McDaniel lost by a hair.
If righteous, honest, competent, loyal Americans had control of a half-billion dollar annual “pro-gun” budget, there would be no threats to gun rights even in California, real Republicans would have supermajority perma-lock on all branches of government and the judiciary – both federal and a supermajority of states – our borders would’ve been secured 25 years ago and we wouldn’t be losing the USA to invasion-occupation.
Vampire vendor Ac-Mc was an integral part of the 1997 “winning team” coup d’etat. The “winning team” knew about it, including the likes of “winning team” propagandist Joel Friedman who are now “shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!”
Pray for a silver lining.
Need to cool down and let time reveal what is going. All this infighting only helps the anti gun rights nuts.
Infighting…Can’t we all just get along…That see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is what got us in this fix in the first place.
Aw….. No….! You mean Oliver North is a real Rat….?
Living in Mena, Arkansas and being fairly aware of Col. North’s history with the Iran Contra episode. The affliated drug running, etc that took place here was and is a blight on American history. I was appalled to see Col. North become NRA president.
If it is true that the Ad Agency won’t give the NRA a written copy of the spending records and will not give a written copy of Oliver North’s contract, then something smells fishy and there is probably something wrong since this seemingly legitimate information sharing request should be able to be done without requiring a lawsuit. Oliver North should give a copy of his contract to the NRA. Doesn’t sound good or straight-up honest by Oliver. Doesn’t sound good either to have an outside lawyer be related to the Ad Agency management. These are obvious conflicts of interest and should have been caught by inside NRA lawyers and NRA management. I think that the Ad Agency should go as well as Oliver North. The NRA needs to stop having “celebrities” for presidents. I think that the Ad Agency and Oliver North are out to enrich themselves at the NRA members’ expense. Apparently the NRA was too trusting and naive of these individuals. On anther note, I was also amazed and very disappointed that the NRA did not oppose outlawing bump stocks recently by Presidential decree, even after several determinations by the BATFE that they were legal devices! This was a bad precedent to set! Another president in another time can now simply outlaw suppressors, hi-cap magazines, etc. with a whim and a stroke of a pen! Of course another president can undo these decrees since they are not congressionally approved laws. I am a Life Benefactor Member of the NRA, and have been a member for fifty years since I was seven years old.
$40 million dollars for advertising? And people wonder why many older NRA members have turned away from these morons. Most of that money could have spend on fighting the federal and state governments and their unconstitutional laws, no wonder the NRA doesn’t do shiite!
As for Oliver North, why is he entering into a contract with the NRA’s advertising agency? He is paid by the NRA to be their spokesman, as President, and any money that ad agency would be paying should go directly back to the NRA! I’ve never like Olie North, considering the corruption he has been involved in in the past. His whole existence revolves around MONEY!
LaPierre’s “package” alone is bigger than GOA’s annual budget. In return for that ripoff we get ripped off orders of magnitude more by vampire vendors to whom he gives sweetheart deals. And “members” of the 76-toady circle-jerk board of directors of does nothing to disturb their 4 annual all-expense-paid junkets and their own sweetheart deals. Reprehensible.
I am bothered by this apparent ‘family squabble’ of the 2 Law Firms. It bothers me that 1 Law Firm could be using the NRA to ‘bleed’ the other, while doing damage to the NRA at the same time. This is a legal tactic that is used far too often as a ‘punishment’. I do hope that we are NOT seeing the NRA being caught up in something like this, as they would end up the loser, and the innocent victim.
It’s NOT two law firms, it is an advertising agency and the lawyer for the NRA!
not sure what the WHOLE TRUTH is in this story. a good question to ask is a pubic audit of MONIES spent to help protect the 2nd and the salaries of the leadership. they always ASK for memberships and do the RA RA RA PRO GUN propaganda. what COURT CASES have they actually WON in the 50 states in the last 38 years?
That was my question – $40 million is a lot of money to waste on advertising.
I’m a Life Member of about 45 year. Lets get this straightened out! I am in the twilight of life, and want to live long enough to see the 2nd Amendment honored as it should be. We need our NRA Executives to be squeaky clean, and out books open and bright with integrity. Lets get this problem out in the open with bright lights and publicly clean our house. We need more members, and we can not stand any kind of scandals what so ever. Make everything out in the open, full and complete disclosure. 40 million is a lot of money, account for it!!!!!?
In this day and age of anti-2nd amendment groups using any and all opportunities to harass the NRA and other pro-gun groups, I think it’s a good move by the NRA to demand a complete reconciliation.
The last thing we want to do is give these anti-gun fanatics any reason to question the NRA’s integrity in terms of how it’s funding is handled.
I dropped my NRA membership the day Ollie was hired. He could never be trusted. I will rejoin when he is fired. I hope he has done something this time that will land him in jail. He should have been placed in prison years ago.
Thumbs up X infinity!
NRA got in bed with North, what did you expect. The man is not to be trusted.
Has the NRA asked Oliver North to provide his copy of the contract, and to answer questions abut whatever his deal is with the ad agency?
Seems to me that as President of the NRA, North shouldn’t receive pay to be in the advertising, any money from the ad agency should go back to the NRA!
North says his contract forbids him to show his contract, which is not uncommon. Ackerman McQueen has told the press that they have allowed NRA lawyers to view the contract but not make copies.
Life member of the NRA. You bet, I expect a full accounting of my contributions. I want the NRA and it’s members to set the example. I want the organization to be fully inclusive and to provide first class weapons training and safety classes.
This does not bode well for the NRA President. But don’t blame the NRA. It was their good business practice that brought this issue to light, and they are confronting possible financial wrong doing aggressively. So the NRA is reacting correctly. It could happen to anyone, what matters is what is done about it. So far, it appears plenty is being done.
I told a friend of mine last year that North was a dishonest liar- my Fox News-watching friend disagreed having consumed Fox’s propaganda for years- and that law-breaker North was in the NRA to wreck it. Lo’ and behold.
The one good for sure about the NRA is that it\’s members rarely do anything bad with firearms.
Mr North as proven more then once that he is a crook why would you expect any less of him now!
Ollie North is a criminal who helped to facilitate cocaine trade and plane parts to the Iranians to support the Contras. This is widely known. Why the NRA hired him is a curious question.
A law suit, and only comments by lawyers and advertising agencies… why do I sense no truth in any of it. You might notice there is nothing from Lt. Col. North in any of this. Last I checked he is still President of the NRA. Where are the facts in this article?
Seems like the rot has set in at the NRA. The executives have been making 6 or in some cases 7 figure salary’s at our expense. They beat the drums for more contributions and then raise their salaries while reducing the budgets to support the original missions of the NRA. Like Congress’s rot due to “term” limits the NRA hierarchy has become self serving enriching themselves at our and the 2nd Amendments
expense. Time to throw the lot out, this is just the tip of a smelly iceberg. There are several key leaders behind this both in and now out of the NRA. We’ve been had…..
(Hope Ollie is just collateral damage due to association and just got some stink on him, he is to new to be an active participant I think/hope)
Ollie North is no innocent bystander. He is KNOWN for his corrupt associations and actions, i.e. Iranian Contra affair. The NRA was scraping the bottom of the barrel when they “elected” him.
What’s going on with Oliver North, the NRA’s president???
The NRA has done a very good job in it’s stewardship role defending and advancing the right to keep and bear arms..
There will always be hiccups.. part of the process. We should keep in mind unlike so many phony organizations the NRA is the largest organization I am aware of that elects it board of directors from the Membership..
Wayne LaPierre deserves credit as well for his long and successful service..
NRA members can be quite proud of their accomplishments in the Defense of Liberty.
This is probably a good thing. That’s $40 Million that the anti Second Amendment NRA could have used to ban more gun accessories and create more anti-gun laws.
If the NRA is so anti-second as you claim, why does every Democrat and every leftist /communist America-despising constitution-wrecking organization constantly badmouth them?
That’s actually pretty simple. The NRA has been around for so long that its mystique has become overpowering. A great many of its longtime members have adapted the NRA as their religion. As such the left has swallowed the hype whole and mechanically burp it back out at every opportunity when in fact, the NRA is naught but a toothless, paper tiger, that remains on call as a willing whipping boy for the Left.