NRA board member and Wichita judge Phil Journey seeks investigation of NRA leadership
A Sedgwick County district court judge who also serves on the board of the National Rifle Association has asked a federal court in Texas to appoint an independent examiner to investigate allegations that the NRA’s longtime chief executive and others mismanaged the organization to enrich themselves and a handful of well-connected insiders.
Lawyers representing Judge Phil Journey filed the motion on Monday in the Dallas federal bankruptcy court, where the NRA is trying to stave off a lawsuit by New York state that seeks to dissolve the organization.
Journey, a former Kansas state senator and longtime advocate for gun rights, is the first NRA board member to officially question the management practices of Wayne LaPierre, who has served as executive vice president — essentially the CEO of the NRA — for the past 30 years.
“The hope (of appointing an independent investigator) is to either confirm or deny the allegations swirling around the association,” Journey said Monday.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the NRA over allegations that management racked up tens of millions of dollars in improper expenses and payments to LaPierre, his supporters within the organization and favored vendors.
In a 169 page lawsuit, the New York official alleged numerous cases of lavish private-jet and yacht trips and hunting safaris, some of which were hidden by paying the NRA officials’ expenses through vendors, who then billed them back to the NRA as consulting fees.
In his filing, Journey said the evidence indicates “The Debtors (the NRA) have improperly paid excessive compensation to current management in base salaries, and, perhaps more troubling, via a series of excessive perks that were wholly for the Debtors’ insiders’ personal benefit.
“The Debtors’ insiders received this hidden compensation for items via direct payment of purely personal costs. This includes the Debtors paying for purely personal travel costs for private chartered airplane trips for the Debtors’ insiders and extended family members and friends.”
Journey’s filing claims that NRA management has kept the organization’s board in the dark while maneuvering to protect key officials involved in the scandal.
In recent years, the 76-member governing board’s oversight role has been whittled down to “figure head” status while hired management actually steers the organization, Journey alleged.
“In direct violation of its own bylaws, the NRA did not disclose to the board of directors its intent to seek Chapter 11 relief,” Journey’s filing said. “In further violation of the bylaws, no solicitation to the board for votes of approval of the filing was conducted. In fact, one or more board members only became aware of this case through media outlets.”
The NRA has said the motivation for the bankruptcy is to deal with lawsuits in New York and the District of Columbia and move the organization’s headquarters to Texas, a more gun-friendly state.
Journey’s filing also questioned the NRA management’s creation of a Texas subsidiary, a legal maneuver to allow its bankruptcy case to be heard there.
“The board of directors did not approve the formation of Sea Girt, LLC, the new corporation created by the NRA to bootstrap this filing into this district and venue,” the filing said.
Sea Girt is the name of a New Jersey rifle range where the NRA held national shooting championships in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Spokespersons for the NRA could not immediately be reached for comment.
In court documents filed Jan. 15, the NRA management claimed it had been authorized to take whatever legal action it deemed necessary as long as it was approved by a Special Litigation Committee created in a Jan. 7 board vote.
The committee consists of NRA president Carolyn Meadows and vice presidents Charles Cotton and Willes Lee, who gave LaPierre the green light to proceed with the Texas bankruptcy and the creation of Sea Girt LLC.
The document, signed by LaPierre, said the special committee was authorized to “exercise corporate authority” over the prosecution and defense of the New York case, a countersuit against the New York attorney general, similar litigation by the District of Columbia against the NRA Foundation, a charity fund-raising arm of the NRA, and “any additional legal proceedings arising from or relating to the same facts, circumstances or allegations.”
A brief filed a week after the bankruptcy characterized it as a defensive measure to protect the organization from political persecution by James and other New York authorities.
“Despite the efforts of politicians in New York and elsewhere to styfle the NRA’s efforts, multiple states, including Texas, have beckoned the NRA to leave New York and its toxic political environment which has increasingly infringed on the NRA’s ability to fulfil its mission to its members,” the Jan. 20 filing said.
Journey, a former Kansas state senator, is a longtime firearms enthusiast and activist in the NRA and the associated Kansas Rifle Association. He served on the NRA national board from 1995 to 1998 and returned to the board after winning election last year.
In his filing, he emphasized that he’s not opposed to the NRA moving to Texas and still strongly supports the goals of the NRA, including its emphasis on gun owner’s rights.
“It is his (Journey’s) dedication to the NRA and its basic ideals that inspires this Motion,” the filing said. “Accordingly, Movant (Journey) seeks the appointment of an examiner to bring to light the veracity of the alleged fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, and gross mismanagement that has plagued the NRA’s reputation, caused significant alienation of the Association’s members and supporters, and hampered its ability to fulfill its core organizational purpose.”
Journey’s motion argued that if allowed to continue, management practices alleged in the New York case could “continue to hinder the NRA’s mission of defending and celebrating the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution through education, training and sport if reorganization of the NRA as a Texas entity is the sole focus of this bankruptcy proceeding.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 6:52 PM.
