Thursday, June 27, 2019

NRA shuts down NRATV, and top lobbyist Chris Cox resigns

A high-ranking executive at the National Rifle Association resigned Wednesday, the same day the NRA announced the end of NRATV amid turbulent relations with its advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen. Chris Cox, the gun group’s chief lobbyist and principal political strategist for the Institute for Legislative Action — the association’s lobbying arm — stepped down from his position Wednesday. The move comes about a week after the NRA placed him on leave over accusations he tried, unsuccessfully, to extort Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre. The NRA didn’t immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment. LaPierre, in a statement on the NRA’s website, blamed advertising firm Ackerman McQueen, from which it has split, for the end of NRATV as it’s currently known. “Whether and when we return to ‘live’ programming is s a subject of ongoing analysis,” LaPierre said in the statement. “What necessitated the change now is our conclusion that our longtime advertising firm and website vendor failed to deliver upon many contractual obligations it made to our Association,” LaPierre said. He also cited members’ concern that NRATV’s messaging had become “too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment,” as one reason for the decision...MORE

Chris Cox, the National Rifle Association’s chief lobbyist for 17 years, resigned from his post Tuesday amid allegations of wrongdoing made against him by the gun-rights group. Cox submitted his resignation to CEO Wayne LaPierre, who suspended Cox June 19 after alleging his participated in a coup attempt against LaPierre, according to court documents obtained by the New York Times. “I wanted to inform you that Chris Cox tendered his resignation as executive director of the NRA-ILA. I have accepted it and want to thank Chris for his service to the NRA and for his efforts to advocate for the Second Amendment,” CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a letter to Board members and staff obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The allegations against him were disclosed in the latest chapter of the NRA’s ongoing management saga: a lawsuit the gun group filed against former president Oliver North in response to his alleged attempts to collect legal fees related to his litigation as well as a Senate Finance Committee probe. Cox called the allegations made against him “patently false” in a statement to the Times...MORE

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