Wayne’s World

With so much cra going on in the news – most of it of the “you can’t make this stuff up” variety – last month’s word that then-NRA President Oliver North was in a shootout with NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre was almost lost.

But really, is there not something entirely delicious about these two going after each other? I mean, who’da ever thunk that liberals would be rooting for Oliver North?

North – who was recently shown the door as the organization’s president – was going after LaPierre with allegations of financial improprieties.

LaPierre fought back, and Ollie was kicked to the curb. But the info on LaPierre’s spending became public.

Among the more interesting tidbits was a one-day $39K shopping spree at the Zegna store in Beverly Hills.

Shades of Paul Manafort’s ostrich jacket!

The odd arrangement that LaPierre had was that he expensed the excellent shopping day at Zegna, along with hundreds of thousands more, to the NRA’s PR agency. Hmmmm.

I’m sure the PR folks want old Wayne to look snappy when he’s out on the hustings raging against the coastal elites who are trying to pry semi-automatic rifles out of the hands of regular folks in flyover country who’re just trying to protect their property. But wouldn’t it be more appropriate if LaPierre was outfitted by Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shop? Surely a camo suit and fluorescent orange cap can be had for a lot less than the cost of a Zegna outfit.

Apparently that’s not the part that LaPierre wanted to look.

But if LaPierre wanted to shop at Zegna, where, in truth, all $39K will get you is a handful of suits, you’d think that he could pay out of pocket for it. After all, his total compensation package last year was $5M. That should be able to cover the cost of at least a few fancy duds.

The expenses also allegedly include more than $200,000 in “Air Transportation” costs in less than a month, partially connected to a Christmastime Bahamas visit by LaPierre, the [Wall Street] Journal reported. (Source: The Hill)

Hmmmm. That’s about $30K a day in air transportation. Wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper to just shoot him from guns, at least for the short hops? Might wrinkle a Zegna suit, but might be worth exploring.

And one does have to wonder as we wander just what official business LaPierre would have been on in the Bahamas during Christmas.

Maybe it’s a hotbed of Second Amendment activity. Or something.

Oliver North’s replacement has jumped in to defend Wayne’s world:

NRA President Carolyn Meadows told the newspaper in a statement that the “entire board is fully aware of these issues. We have full confidence in Wayne LaPierre.”

“It is troubling and pathetic that some people would resort to leaking information to advance their agendas,”  she added.

Tut, tut. Someone trying to advance their agendas. Tuttedy tut tut tut.

And let’s see how long that full confidence lasts if Oliver North’s contention that the NRA’s spending habits is causing the organization to face an “existential threat.”

Given that the NRA has long posed an “existential threat” to Americans, I think it’s reasonable to say that turnaround is fair play.

In the leaked confidential April memo dating to the week before he was dramatically ousted as president, North wrote that the NRA was being billed nearly $100,000 a day [in legal fees]. North then pleaded for an audit of their payments to outside attorney Bill Brewer. (Source: Slate)

$100K a day in legal fees to their outside attorney. I’d say it’s pretty good to be Bill Brewer. Bet he can afford to shop at Zegna’s on his own dime.

The NRA in financial peril, Wayne LaPierre’s profligacy exposed, the presumed legal risk of all those expenses floated through the PR firm (which presumably turned around and billed the NRA). Who says there’s no good news out there?