On Wednesday, National Rifle Association board member Lt. Col. (ret) Allen West shed more light on the election of the group's officers during a closed-door session of the board's meeting.
"The new slate of officers for the National Rifle Association was decided upon, and nominated by, the NRA Board of Directors nominating committee," West said in a post on his personal website. "There were no nominations from the floor when these names were put forth. With no opposing nominations, the vote was done by acclamation, not roll call vote. This is similar to passing a piece of legislation by voice vote."
The NRA announced on Monday that Wayne LaPierre and other officers were elected unanimously by the board. The elections were the only publicly disclosed information to come out of the closed-door executive session, where the board spent most of its Monday meeting.
Duane Liptak, another NRA board member, told the Washington Free Beacon in a Facebook thread the rules of the executive session prevent him from discussing what actions the board decided to take during the session but was hopeful more could be revealed by the NRA board in the future.
"I'm unable to even discuss the topics covered," Liptak said. "Any info from that actual session would only be available if brought up again outside an executive session, or as part of official communications drafted to be public on the topics that would be eligible to discuss, from my understanding. I don't make those rules, but it's not uncommon for large organizations. I will say that a full accounting to the membership of the events, the actual health of the org, the issues we're dealing with, audit compliance, and all that would be my goal for the association to convey once we're through the limiting issues."
Liptak said he wants to provide more transparency on how the board is dealing with the events that came to a head at the NRA's Annual Meeting but kept from doing so over legal concerns.
"I'd rather be transparent ... because it's what I want as a member," he said. "The lawsuits, investigations, etc., make talking about anything unwise until that's all passed, though. We're definitely under attack, though ... because the left doesn't want a repeat of 2016."
When Rob Pincus, one of the NRA members who spoke at Saturday's members meeting in support of a resolution of no-confidence for Wayne LaPierre and certain board members, pushed him to disclose more information from the closed-door session, Liptak said it would be unethical and could potentially lead to legal action against him.
"Violating the conditions of executive session, attorney-client privilege, and NDAs is unethical and a black and white violation of responsibility for which a director is personally liable," Liptak said. "There's no 'because you wanted to' exception in the law. It's called 'you sign the forms or you don't get to participate' and it works that way on any board I've ever dealt with. I'd be off the board and unable to do anything at that point, and also likely be in a lawsuit, depending on what I shared, as well as potentially damage the org, which is not good for anyone."
Liptak, however, did go on to say the board has made progress on "accountability" and "fiscal responsibility" as well as preparing the organization to be a formidable force in the 2020 election.
"I will say that a lot has happened in the past year or so, and they are things that bring us closer to what I'd like to see, even though it's hard to see that from the outside," Liptak said. "Just the issues that I alone deal with ILA on are critical, let alone the 10,000 other things that they have on their plates, and that's work that I want to continue. The multi-year Supreme Court strategy is falling into place, and it's taken a lot to get all the pieces on the board. We also need a strong org in the 2020 elections for the sake of the 2A and the country, and we're rapidly approaching them."
On Wednesday, newly elected NRA second vice president Willes Lee shared the Free Beacon's report on the board meeting calling it a "good overview" and added additional comments detailing why he believed the meeting was a success.
"We were extremely successful in this meeting, 2A community collectively & @NRA in particular is winning (including evidence by the leftist & hater intensified attacks, 80k+ attend #NRAAM, 2018 record for Friends of NRA are just some examples), we elected a leadership team to grow & strengthen NRA programs & policy," he said. "Thank goodness 98.5% of membership keeps us strong w their support & encouragement."