(NN&V Staff) – Citizen Outreach announced today that it will host a candidate forum featuring six candidates for Las Vegas mayor at its regular First Friday Happy Hour event on March 4, 2011 at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country on the south Strip from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
The event will be co-hosted by KXNT 100.5 FM/840 AM and conservative talk-show host Alan Stock will moderate the discussion. The event will be free and open to the public and Stoney’s will offer its usual 2-1 First Friday Happy Hour drink special.
All six of the leading candidates have confirmed their participation. They are: Carolyn Goodman, Chris Guinchigliani, Larry Brown, Victor Chaltiel, George Harris and Steve Ross. Stock and Citizen Outreach President Chuck Muth will take turns with the Q&A, with Stock moderating from the stage and Muth posing questions submitted by readers of his Nevada News & Views online newsblog from the floor.
“While we are certainly a conservative organization and there has been a little concern expressed about potential ‘ambush’ questions being raised, nothing could be further from the truth,” said Muth. “Conservatives share many of the same concerns as others about the future of Las Vegas, including downtown redevelopment, taxes, spending, firefighter sick leave abuse, unemployment, traffic, air pollution and crime. Alan and I will play this forum straight.”
Muth acknowledges that he expects to receive criticism from the dozen candidates who were not invited to participate in the forum, but noted that, among other reasons, it would be virtually impossible to feature 18 candidates on-stage answering questions within a one-hour time period.
“This is an old chicken-and-egg discussion that comes up whenever an organization puts on a candidate debate or forum,” Muth said. “The lower-tier, uninvited candidates ask how they can get the public’s attention if not included in public debates. But it’s their job, not ours, to make themselves viable and be taken seriously. Simply paying a $100 filing fee does not buy you credibility or a seat at our table. Our members want to hear from the candidates most likely to advance to the general election in June.”
And if that explanation isn’t good enough, Muth concludes simply: “It’s my party and I’ll invite who I want to. Anyone who doesn’t like it is urged to send an angry, expletive-filled, grammatically-challenged email to: I-don’t-care-at-go-bother-someone-who-does-dot-com. ”
