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Demovictory9

(32,423 posts) Sat Aug 17, 2019, 09:37 PM Aug 2019

NRA Spent Tens of Thousands on Hair and Makeup for CEO's Wife

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nra-spent-tens-of-thousands-on-hair-and-makeup-for-ceo-wayne-lapierres-wife-susan

NRA Spent Tens of Thousands on Hair and Makeup for CEO’s Wife
The gun group used donor funds to fly Susan LaPierre’s favorite stylists around the country and put them up in style.

https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1687,w_2998,x_0,y_0/dpr_1.5/c_limit,w_1044/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1565918771/190816-woodruff-nra-makeup-hero-1_fvmidq

The NRA spent tens of thousands of dollars bringing hair and makeup artists around the country for the wife of its CEO, two sources told The Daily Beast. The expenses–which included plane flights and luxury hotel stays for the stylists–are bound to fuel an already-raging debate over what some see as a spendthrift culture in the NRA’s upper echelons. The NRA, meanwhile, called it a “non-story,” and said their ex-ad firm was responsible for any such expenses.

Susan LaPierre, the wife of longtime NRA chief Wayne LaPierre, is one of the gun organization’s many public faces, and co-chairs its Women’s Leadership Forum. She often speaks at that group’s annual gatherings for female NRA supporters. And for years now, the NRA has paid for a makeup artist and a hair stylist, both based in Nashville and plugged in to the country music scene, to do LaPierre’s hair and make-up at events around the country, according to two sources familiar with the arrangements.

The NRA Women’s Leadership Forum hosts many of its events in major metropolitan areas where local hair and makeup talent abounds. But because of LaPierre’s preference for the Nashville artists, the gun group has paid a premium to fly them around the country, and put them up in style.

That may be changing, though, as those expenditures have raised eyebrows within the NRA. According to one of the sources, the stylists were booked to provide hair and makeup services for LaPierre at its member gathering in Indianapolis this past April. But as media reports emerged with allegations of extravagant spending by the gun group, NRA officials worried the Nashville stylists’ presence could attract scrutiny. So they canceled on them at the last minute. Because the cancellation came so late, the NRA still had to pay their fees.