Don’t Worry, Be Happy: An Evening with Mark Amodei and Joe Lombardo!

(Chuck Muth) – It was almost exactly 14 years ago that Citizen Outreach held its first “First Friday Happy Hour” featuring former Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) as our VIP guest-of-honor.

We held it at the old Stoney’s Rock ‘n Country down by the Southpoint Casino in Las Vegas, which was/is owned (at a new location) by my longtime friend and political ally Sue Lowden and her family.

Over the years, we brought in all kinds of speakers from all over the country who folks like you would otherwise probably never get a chance to see in person, let alone meet.

We had congressmen, U.S. senators, governors, conservative leaders, Hollywood celebrities…and even the police officer who took down the Ft. Hood shooter years ago.

And who could ever forget the time we had Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who attracted our largest crowd ever?   Over a thousand people – and that didn’t even include the hundred or so protestors marching up and down the sidewalk outside on Las Vegas Boulevard!

Good times, good times.

Anyway, Citizen Outreach continued hosting the event every month for years before turning it over to the Nevada Republican Party, I think back in 2015.  Sadly, the event died out a couple years ago.

But now we’re putting the band back together…and you’re invited! 

Part of “First Friday’s” success was that it was a casual happy hour networking/meet-and-greet event.

There was no formal program or long, boring political speeches.  Our VIP’s took the mic for very brief remarks and mingled with attendees one-on-one.  Took photos with them, signed autographs, exchanged political war stories, etc.

And everybody was welcome, regardless of party or philosophical persuasion.  Heck, we even had liberal blubber-blogger Jon Ralston show up one time!

Now, one of the challenges we had with First Friday was holding it on the first Friday of every month. I had tons of VIP’s willing to come to Vegas for an appearance, but their schedules didn’t line up with the “first Friday” of the month.

So we’re re-branding it “Politics on the Rocks” – which I think is much better than re-branding Twitter with “X.” But maybe that’s just me.

And instead of it being held on the “first Friday” of every month, we plan to hold the events on whatever day the VIP can make it into town; often on weeknights rather than busy weekends.

The first new-and-improved (but not lemon-scented) Politics on the Rocks will be held on Monday, August 21.  Our dual-VIP’s will be Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.

And boy, do we have stuff to celebrate!

Congressman Amodei is no longer “just” a congressman.  He’s a “cardinal.”  He chairs one of the House’s budget committees.  For us “inside baseball” political folks, that’s, as Joe Biden would say, a big f-ing deal.

And Gov. Lombardo just survived his first legislative session in which he faced a hostile enemy force – the Democrat-controlled Legislature – and ended up signing a record-setting 75 vetoes!

Gov. Joe “Don Veto.”

In addition, a couple things are going to be done differently from the First Friday events.  We learned some things from back in the “old days” and are making some changes that I think will make the events even BETTER.

First, while people were happy to imbibe adult beverages at Stoney’s, there were regular requests for food, as well, which wasn’t available there.  So we’re fixing that “problem.”

The Lowdens have a new restaurant, “Vic’s”, in downtown Las Vegas, right across the street from the Smith Center.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Old-style Vegas.  And is centrally located/easily accessible from anywhere in the valley.

Plus, the restaurant has a big, covered parking lot connected to it – which certainly will come in handy when Las Vegas temperatures exceed 100 degrees!

However…

Even though we’re going to “take over” their entire restaurant for the event, it only holds 100 people in the dining room.  So while “Politics on the Rocks” will be open to the public, it’s going to be a ticketed event.

Haven’t set the ticket price yet, but it will be affordable and lower than the cost for our Pastapalooza and Death-and-Taxes dinners earlier this year. And all proceeds will go to Citizen Outreach’s “Pigpen Project” to clean up the voter rolls in Nevada.

So you’re not only gonna have a great time, but you’ll be supporting a great cause.

Sure, it was great when we’d pack Stoney’s with 400-500 people with no entry fee.  But you can’t save the world if you can’t pay the rent.  And limiting attendance means those who are lucky enough to get tickets will get better opportunities to mix and meet with our VIP’s.

Indeed, this is going to be a much more personal, exclusive, and intimate event.  You don’t want to miss it.

Now here’s the challenge we face…

Since we’ve never done this event before and don’t know how many people will want to grab a bite in addition to some adult beverages, the restaurant needs to get some idea as to how many people expect to eat so they can bring in enough kitchen and wait staff.

So if you want to join us and just have a cocktail or two, that’s fine.

But if you think you might want to try out the food – and you SHOULD; it’s great and perfect for a “date night” – we’ll just ask you to indicate “food” or “no food” on your RSVP.

Vic’s is putting together some food and drink specials for the event which haven’t been finalized yet.  But if you want to take a look at their full menu in the meantime, click here.

And lastly, we couldn’t put the band back together without the great conservative talk-show host Alan Stock of KXNT serving as our master-of-ceremonies.  He started First Friday with me in 2009 and will be at Politics on the Rocks with bells on.

The Lowdens and Vic’s are taking a big risk with us for this event.

Like any business – other than the government – they’re not in the business to lose money.  And normally for an event like this they charge a per-person minimum to cover the wait staff, room rental fees, fees for audio-visual, etc.

But they’ve waived all of that for us.  So PLEASE be generous when tipping your servers.

I should have the details finalized and an online registration page up on our website in the next couple of days.  As usual, Inner Circle members will get advance notice (and probably a discount) before opening the event up to the general public.

In closing, as with any first-time event there may be a hiccup or two as we work out the bugs for this first one.  But don’t worry, we won’t ask you to bus your own table or wash your own dishes!  Just be understanding and let me know how to make it better in the future.

Personally, I think it’s gonna be great…and we’re all gonna have a lot of fun…while celebrating with Congressman Amodei and Gov. Lombardo.  Stay tuned, Batfans!

Cheers!

Chuck Muth
Your Happy Hour Host & Activities Director

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“(Trump’s) mantra that he is a victim of a partisan ‘witch hunt’ resonates with a great many of his followers because he has indeed been in the crosshairs of his Democratic political opponents from the day he entered the White House.” – Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial, 8/1/23

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.  You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.