Jeff Knox, Again Responds To NRA’s EVP/CEO Problem [More]
I understand why they do it, but that doesn’t get rid of the problem:
You’ve hit on a critical point that highlights a potential discrepancy between the NRA’s internal governance documents (bylaws) and its external reporting… this kind of situation can create questions about the clarity and consistency of an organization’s governance practices.
In order to be consistent with the Bylaws, they would need to be changed. And while some maintain it’s no big deal, the question becomes “What other clearly stated rules/promises can be broken and shrugged off?”
We may as well be discussing the proper placement of the deck chairs on RMS Titanic. And no I didn’t just randomly pick that analogy.
Yes, Wayne LaPierre calling himself, or allowing others to call him, CEO was a violation of the bylaws. But if you looked at a list of the organization’s bylaws, you’d find that he broke quite a few of them and the use of an improper title might be the least significant of the lot.
The fact is, that he committed a long term financial rape of the organization and the membership’s financial resources, he was assisted in that crime by major contractors of the organization, and the Board of Directors, who’s job it was to stop him, sat back and watched it all happen.
Calling him CEO or Grand High Exalted Mystic Poobah pales into insignificance when compared to the list of other crimes committed.
IMHO, if the NRA vowed to never again call the EVP a CEO, and to challenge anyone else who did so, the organization would still be doomed.
No argument that the problems go far deeper than just this, and if you’ll recall, I admitted in my AmmoLand article this is comparatively “small potatoes.” That said, the clause is there for a reason and it’s legitimate to insist the Bylaws be adhered to– otherwise, if there’s no standard for how far they can be deviated from, we’re back to the whole reason NRA is in this mess.
While it may be less damaging than a big one, it’s not OK to tell a small lie, and doing it and getting away with it only encourages further departures from the truth.
One possible “good reason” for this to have happened, is that the EVP is the guy who has to sign the big government forms. Government forms love to play this game of “Only the following corporate officers may sign this form,” followed by a list of cliche titles. I’ve never seen “Executive VP” on this list. “CEO” always is. This also helps explain why this title appears next to Wayne’s name on a lot of those government forms.
Fron Google AI in response to “When a government form say s“Only the following corporate officers may sign this form” is there anything that prohibits an executive vice president from signing?”
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