They Refused to Back Dennis Hof. Now They Demand I Back Flippo? Seriously?
Today, from my VIP suite here at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, I want to address and respond to some of the hate mail I’ve gotten from Flippoites about how the primary is over and I have to support the Republican nominee.
They obviously have no idea who they’re talking to – or any historical knowledge of what happened in 2018.
For those who may not remember, I managed the State Assembly campaign of legal brothel owner Dennis Hof that year.
And he won his primary on the night of June 12th. As the Nevada Independent reported at the time:
“In the night’s biggest upset, brothel owner Dennis Hof unseated incumbent Assemblyman James Oscarson in the Republican primary for Assembly District 36, despite Oscarson raising major funds…”
So everyone was supposed to rally behind the guy the voters elected, right?
Yeah, right.
The very next morning – not even ten hours later – Nevada Republican Attorney General Adam Laxlt, who was running for governor, went on a radio show and threw Hof under the bus.
Conservative talk-show host Kevin Wall asked him: “Do you support Dennis Hof?”
Adam’s response: “I can’t support him in the upcoming general election.”
He later told the Reno Gazette-Journal: “I don’t plan on campaigning with (Hof) or endorsing him and that’s it.”
But it didn’t end there.
Instead, it set off a chain reaction by other high-profile Republicans who also refused to support the GOP nominee.
Republican U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, Republican attorney general candidate Wes Duncan, Republican Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, and Republican Assemblywoman Jill Tolles all issued what certainly was an orchestrated campaign to publicly disavow the Republican winner of the Assembly Republican primary.
Let’s just say Dennis wasn’t exactly a happy camper.
But when he and I talked a few weeks later in a strategy meeting, I suggested turning the tables on them.
Instead of worrying about them not endorsing him, I suggested he take the high road and announce that HE was endorsing THEM.
Dennis jumped on it immediately. He had his graphics guy design a bunch of social media posts and billboards that read, “Laxalt | Hof | Heller: The Winning Team.”
Heller and Laxalt were furious. Heller even threatened to file an FEC complaint against him. But it went nowhere.
“Fooled ‘em again, Josie.”
But hang on. There was more…
The Assembly Republican Caucus also held a panicked emergency meeting in which they decided not to endorse or support Hof. The Nevada Independent reported…
“The Assembly Republican Caucus voted after the election to not endorse or support any candidate (in the general election), though caucus leader Jim Wheeler said earlier this month that he hoped Hof wins his race.”
After that meeting, I learned that then-Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner had been particularly vocal in voicing her opposition to supporting the Republican nominee who was duly elected by the Republican voters.
So I called her.
She attempted to berate me by saying something like, “You’re a married man with two young daughters. How can you be around all those prostitutes?”
My response was something along the line of: “I’ve been around politicians for over 20 years. Being around actual prostitutes is a step up.”
In addition, Republican caucus members also appealed to the Democrat Assembly Speaker, Jason Frierson, to refuse to seat Hof if he won the general election.
To his credit, Frierson rejected their request.
Later, the Nevada Independent reported:
“Initially, the Republican Assembly Caucus voted not to endorse him (Hof) after his primary win. In interviews, a couple GOP lawmakers said they didn’t intend to caucus with him during the 2019 session.”
Now, I want everyone to know something about Dennis Hof. Sure he was PO’ed. But he had a way of always turning lemons into lemonade.
So he had me write a press release announcing that some rock band – I can’t remember which one – was going to loan him a million-dollar luxury motor home that Dennis said he was going to park across the street from the Legislature if the caucus froze him out.
He announced that it would be open 24 hours a day and include free massages and an open bar for constituents. We called it his M.A.S.H. office: Mobile Assembly Strategic Headquarters.
Dennis also issued a statement that he was thinking of buying the shuttered Ormsby House hotel “right across the street from the political whores” and turning it into a brothel.
The guy was a riot.
Sadly, in the end none of it mattered. Dennis passed away three weeks before Election Day.
But STILL won with 62% of the vote!
So the bottom line is: Spare me your sanctimony about not supporting Flippo, the Republican candidate who won the CD2 primary. In light of that 2018 experience, it’s falling on deaf ears.
HAPPY NEVADA DAY!
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Politicians give prostitutes a bad name” – Dennis Hof, The Daily Beast, 11/16
“You know, there are good politicians and there are good hookers. But if you had to compare the bad hooker with the bad politician, the politicians are a whole lot worse.” – Dennis Hof, GQ, 7/18
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.
