Join Us this Friday for our first-ever First Friday candidates’ forum featuring the top six candidates running for mayor of Las Vegas!

If you’ve never been to one of Citizen Outreach’s monthly First Friday Happy Hour events, this is the month to finally stop putting it off and join us. We’ll be hosting our first ever candidates’ forum featuring the six leading candidates running for mayor of Las Vegas.

The six candidates who have confirmed their participation are Carolyn Goodman, Chris Giunchigliani, Larry Brown, Victor Chaltiel, Steve Ross and George Harris.

As the program this month will be a little different from our usual event featuring just one VIP speaker, here are some additional details:

• The media has been invited to attend and cover the event.
• KXNT 100.5 FM/840 AM will be broadcasting Alan Stock’s show live from the event from 3-7 pm.
• The doors will open to the public at 4:30 pm. We expect a larger than usual crowd, so you may want to get there early if you can.
• Candidates have been invited to mix and mingle with guests before and after the forum itself.
• Supporters are welcome to bring and distribute campaign literature.
• The forum itself will run from 5:30 – 6:30 pm
• Alan Stock will be moderating the discussion from the stage and I will ask some questions from the floor.
• This will be a forum, not a debate or town hall. Questions will be asked by the moderators. If you have a question you’d like to be considered, please email it to chuck@citizenoutreach.com
• Audience members will be allowed to participate verbally as APPROPRIATE after and between answers; however, we request that common courtesy and good manners be observed while the candidates are speaking.

This ought to be a very entertaining, informative and fun First Friday Happy Hour event. We hope you’ll join us and take the opportunity to meet and speak directly with the six candidates most likely to fill the shoes of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. 

As usual, guests receive 2-1 happy hour drink special, courtesy of Stoney’s. 

And as we always say, be there…or be talked about!

In order to properly celebrate what would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday, our First Friday Happy Hour this week will have not one, but two VIP guests of honor. In addition to conservative Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, Republican Rep. Joe Heck will be in da house!

Dr. Heck was elected to the United States Congress last November as Nevada’s Representative for the Third Congressional District. Heck is only the third person to hold this seat since its creation. He serves on the Education and Workforce Committee, and the Armed Services Committee. He is also the only freshman appointed to serve on the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence.

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Our First Friday happy hour VIP guest of honor for February will be Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a Republican candidate to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson next year.

Elected statewide three times, he was elected to complete an unexpired term in November 2000. In November 2002 and 2008, Texans re-elected him to full six-year terms. Williams served as Chairman of the Commission from September 1999 to September 2003 and again from July 2007 to February 2009. He is the first African American in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected post.

The son of public school teachers who earned degrees in math and the husband of a mechanical engineer, Michael is the creator and co-sponsor of the “Winnovators,” a summer camp for 6th through 12th graders to inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

A devout conservative, Michael helped get out the vote for Republicans as Chairman of Texas Victory 2004 and 2006, has served as Convention Chairman and Platform Committee Chairman at Republican Party of Texas’ State Conventions and was one of the original board members of the Texas Christian Coalition. He is also a life time member of the National Rifle Association.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Williams to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, a position previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Former President Bush previously appointed Williams as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He had policy oversight responsibility for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Williams also served in the Department of Justice as Special Assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.

Williams served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was awarded the Attorney General’s “Special Achievement Award” for the conviction of six Ku Klux Klan members on stolen military weapons charges. Early in his career, he was an assistant district attorney in his hometown of Midland, Texas.

Williams is a proud alumnus of the University of Southern California where he holds a bachelor’s, a master’s and a law degree. He is a member of Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Arlington, Texas. He and his best friend, Donna, celebrate 24 years of marriage.

The next star-studded, fun-filled, action-packed First Friday Happy Hour will be this Friday, January 7, 2011. Our special VIP guest-of-honor will be national conservative talk-show host Roger Hedgecock.

Roger has made several careers out of holding people accountable: as a trial attorney, political leader, and for the past 22 years, as the number one radio host in Southern California.

When the Republicans took control of the House in the ’94 election, Roger and 200 listeners, who paid their own way, set up the first talk show broadcast from the Capitol Building in Washington, DC to lobby to make the Contract with America a reality and not just a platform.

The event became known as “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” (HTFTTF) and Roger has led listener trips back to DC 11 more times since, lobbying for a balanced budget, welfare reform, and border control.

Roger and a handful of other talk show hosts in California were instrumental in their listeners gathering over a million signatures to force newly reelected Governor Gray Davis into a recall election which he lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Roger was born in Compton, California, graduated from St. Augustine High School in San Diego, from UC Santa Barbara, and from UC Hastings College of Law. He is married to Cindy and they have two grown sons, James and Christopher.

And as always, the First Friday Happy Hour will be co-sponsored by our friends at KXNT 100.5 FM/840 AM – and the program will be MC’d by conservative talk-show host Alan Stock. It will be held at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country located at 9151 Las Vegas Boulevard South in Las Vegas from 5:00 – 7:00 pm.

Here are the straw poll results from last night’s First Friday Happy Hour:

2012 Presidential Straw Poll

Gingrich, Newt - 24%
Christie, Chris - 13%
Palin, Sarah - 13%
Romney, Mitt - 11%
Huckabee, Mike - 8%
Pawlenty, Tim - 6%
Thune, John - 3%
Daniels, Mitch - 3%
Barbour, Haley - 2%
Cain, Herman - 2%
Johnson, Gary - 2%
Pataki, George - 2%
Paul, Ron – 0%
Others - 11%

2012 Nevada Senate Straw Poll

Heller, Dean - 36%
Lippold, Kirk - 22%
Krokicki, Brian - 14%
Tarkanian, Danny – 11%
Ensign, John - 8%
Angle, Sharron - 3%
Others - 6%

Apparently a lot of folks still haven’t forgotten that it was Gingrich who led Republicans out of the wilderness back in ’94 and think he might just be the guy to similarly lead the GOP back into the White House in 2012.

And it also seems a bit of Angle fatigue has set in, because I gotta tell ya…First Friday was “Angle Central” in the months leading up to the general election this year. But it appears even many die-hard Angle-ophiles are starting to recognize that in politics, winning really is everything.

Also, the folks from Soldiers & Families First wanted me to thank everyone again for all of the donations you brought for our troops last night!

And thanks to all of you who made First Friday such a great event throughout 2010. We look forward to bringing you even more great VIP speakers in 2011!

This month’s First Friday Happy Hour is shaping up to be a real humdinger. In addition to featuring John Tyner – the Don’t Touch My Junk! guy – we just confirmed that the soon-to-be new Executive Dirctor of the teachers union, Gary Peck, will be in the house!

Many of you will remember Gary from his many years as the executive director of the ACLU here in Nevada. I know, I know….the teachers union and the ACLU aren’t exactly philosophical soul mates. But over the years Gary’s ACLU has defended the constitutional rights of a number of Republicans – including former state Sen. Bob Beers. And Gary’s a great guy to disagree with. You’ll enjoy meeting him.

What else, what else? Oh, yeah…

As a special added treat, we’ll be conducting our first-ever First Friday Happy Hour STRAW POLL featuring the 2012 President and U.S. Senate races – but there’s a catch.

In order to get a straw poll ballot, you must bring one of more of the following items to stockpile and ship to Nevada’s 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion after they’ve been deployed to Afghanistan next month.

Soldiers & Families First – a local Nevada nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting our troops and their families “anytime, anywhere and in any way” they can – will be collecting and these items that military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need and request on an ongoing basis:

• Beef Jerky
• Life Savers
• Cookies (in boxes or bagged)
• Hot chocolate and marshmallows
• Instant Coffee (Starbucks has 25 packets of instant coffee.)
• Tea Bag
• Cup of Noodles
• Chapstick
• Unscented toiletries (scented ones attract sand fleas – and they bite!)
• Toothpaste
• Foot Powder
• Baby Wipes
• Hand soaps
• Individual Detergents
• Shaving Creams
• DVDS (can be used)
• Books

Thanks to Soldiers & Families First for doing more than just talking about supporting our troops and taking up this collection at our event!

Oh, and everyone who donates one or more of the above items will receive a FREE “Don’t Touch My Junk” button!
Of course, the First Friday Happy Hour/Christmas Party will again be co-hosted by our friends over at KXNT 100.5 FM/840 AM and will be MC’d (though not “hammered”) by conservative talk show host Alan Stock.

All of this – AND MORE – at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country located at 9151 Las Vegas Boulevard South in Las Vegas. For directions, click here

Seriously, I don’t know how anyone could pass up this sure-to-be talked about First Friday Happy Hour/Christmas Party! See you tomorrow night. Be there or be talked about.

John Tyner of “Don’t Touch My Junk” fame will be our special guest for First Friday on December 3, 2010.  Don’t miss this chance to meet the man who started the outrage over the over zealous folks at the TSA.

This month we will have a VOLUNTARY cover charge for admission.  Please bring a gift for our Troops serving in Afghanistan.  Items that are needed include:

Hard Candy, Beef Jerky, Life Savers, Cookies – in Boxes or Bagged, Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows, Instant Coffee – Starbucks Has 25 Packets of Instant Coffee  (Other Brands Are Alright Too), Tea Bag, Cup of Noodles, Chap-stick, Male and Female Toiletries – Unscented  (Scented Ones Attracts Sand Fleas and They Bite), Toothpaste, Foot Powder, Baby Wipes, Hand Soaps, Individual Detergents, Shaving Creams, Dvds-can Be Used, Books.

Scott Stalker and Debbie Craig from Soldiers and Families First will be collecting items at the door.

It’s First Friday time again and this month’s VIP is You!

You can join us for a victory dance or to drown your sorrows with the 2-for-1 drinks, but make sure you’re there for camaraderie and campaign wrap ups – see you at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country on the South Strip tomorrow, November 5th from 5 – 7 pm.

Make your plans now – October’s First Friday VIP guest will be former New York governor and possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate George Pataki.

Governor Pataki is also Chairman of Revere America (www.revereamerica.org), a new organization dedicated to advancing common sense public policies rooted in our traditions of freedom and free markets that will once again make America secure and prosperous for generations to come.

Join us and meet him Friday, October 1^st from 5-7 pm at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country on the South Strip in Las Vegas.

As always, 2-for-1 drinks and the best friends you may not have met yet!

 See you there!

That’s right…it’s here already – First Friday!

Ilario Pantano joins us this month as our First Friday VIP!

An American military hero, veteran of the war on terror, author, family man and candidate for Congress in North Carolina.

Start your long weekend the right way…with 2-for-1 beers, a great American and the usual group of fun-loving conservatives – they’ll all be there this Friday and you should be too!