Posted on 3/14/2006, 7:35:48 AM by vwunpimsmyride
Hockey team plays on Cheney's woes with vest giveaway
Hunting gear to be given to 1,000 fans Friday
By MOLLY BALL REVIEW-JOURNAL "DON'T SHOOT, I'M HUMAN."
The Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team is having that message printed on 1,000 bright-orange hunting vests, to be given to fans on Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night.
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The lighthearted take on the incident in which the vice president accidentally shot a friend on a Texas quail hunting trip came from the team's front office, Wranglers Vice President Billy Johnson said.
Johnson said he didn't think anyone would find the promotion offensive.
"With an 18 percent approval rating (for Cheney), I don't think it's an issue," he said. "Twenty percent of our fans are mad at me all the time anyway."
On Friday, the night of the promotion, the Wranglers will be playing their first game at home after 2 1/2 weeks on the road. As of last Friday, they had a 42-10-6 record, second in their division, and had secured a playoff spot in the ECHL, formerly the East Coast Hockey League.
Little support for candidates
Between state treasurer candidate Kathy Augustine and her Republican primary opponent, Mark DeStefano, many voters might be wishing for another option, a pollster says.
An automated poll of 1,160 Republicans who voted in the 2002 primary found that 21 percent supported DeStefano, a businessman whose past includes a bankruptcy and being kicked off a ballot for university regent.
Eleven percent were for Augustine, the current state controller, who was impeached and convicted by the Legislature on ethics charges.
That leaves 68 percent undecided.
"Who do you want, the impeached ... controller or the bankrupt businessman?" said Chuck Muth, the Carson City conservative activist who commissioned the March 7 poll.
"Without forcing people to make a decision, we found that an awful lot were undecided."
A Muth poll last month asked primary voters to choose between the two candidates without the option of being undecided.
That survey found 66 percent for DeStefano and 33 for Augustine.
Muth said the treasurer race probably will get ugly, given the negative information about both candidates.
"It could be a very messy primary that gives the Democrats an opening," he said.
He added, "I wouldn't be shocked to find a third Republican in the race" by the time candidate filing ends in May.
The new poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points in either direction.
Porter touts endorsement
Republican U.S. Rep. Jon Porter's campaign is touting his recent endorsement by the firefighters' union as proof of his opponent's weakness.
Despite the fact that Tessa Hafen is a Democrat and former staffer for U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, the spin goes, Porter still managed to gain the support of an influential union.
Hafen spokeswoman Megan Jones said the Democratic campaign, which kicked off just three weeks ago, was disappointed it wasn't given a chance to meet with the firefighters' group.
"It's only one endorsement, it's early (in the campaign), and we're confident that, come Election Day, the voters will endorse Tessa Hafen," Jones said.
The firefighters also have endorsed Democrat Dina Titus for governor. Last week, the Democratic attorney general candidate, Catherine Cortez Masto, also received their nod.
Berkley left off invite list
Nevada Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Jim Gibbons met on Thursday in Gibbons' office with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss anti-terrorism funding for Las Vegas.
Absent was Democrat Shelley Berkley. She said she was not invited and that she was troubled by what she considered a political snub.
"No matter what party we belonged to, we could disagree on every other issue but when it came to issues important to Nevada we spoke with one voice," Berkley said of the Nevada delegation. "Now we are seeing that comity replaced by rather transparent partisan politics."
But Berkley was not purposely excluded from the Chertoff meeting, said Amy Maier, Gibbons' chief of staff.
Maier explained Gibbons and Porter separately had asked Chertoff for private meetings, and the homeland security secretary granted both requests at the same time.
"It made sense for the two members to hold the meetings together," Maier said. "Obviously Congresswoman Berkley is free to make her own request to meet with the secretary as well."
House Committee Vacancies
Last week's retirement announcement by Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., created another vacancy on the House Ways and Means Committee, and Nevada casinos are expected to push Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., to fill one of the coveted slots.
Thomas served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy that could impact Nevada's No. 1 industry.
Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., also is stepping down because he is running for governor in Colorado. Beauprez and Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind., were chosen ahead of Porter for Ways and Means seats in January 2005 by House Republican leaders.
"Anytime we can have a Nevadan on Ways and Means, it's very important because that committee is very critical for the state of Nevada and the gaming industry," said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association.
Porter's best shot may be the seat held by Beauprez because the powerful California congressional delegation is likely to want one of their own to succeed Thomas, Fahrenkopf said.
The AGA president said he has not talked to Porter since Thomas announced he will retire at the end of this year.
Porter declined to be interviewed, but spokesman T.J. Crawford said the congressman, "has always maintained that Nevada would greatly benefit from a member of the (Nevada congressional) delegation serving on any top-tier committee."
Stephens Washington Bureau writers Steve Tetreault and Tony Batt contributed to this report. Contact political reporter Molly Ball at 387-2919 or MBall@reviewjournal.com.
outrageous.
I didn't really find it offensive until I read Johnson's reasons for why he didn't think it would be offensive to fans. It sounds like they thought it was offensive to Cheney and the fact that it is offensive is what makes it funny.
Same here, siting low poll numbers as a reason for it to be OK. What a load of cr@p.
Well, once it is out, it acquires a life of its own and their motives and reasons tend to fade off. A person seeing such a vest on somebody would probably connect it to Cheney, but would need constant reminders to connect it with the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team and its managers and marketers.
haha...lighten up people...thats funny.
Another team could give something funny like this to 'promote' Hillary, a Ft. Marcy Park flak jacket?
Charles Davenport, IV
Email: cdavenport@lasvegaswranglers.com
Jonathan Fleisig
Email: jfleisig@aol.com
From the Las Vegas Wranglers website:
"Jonathan is primarily occupied as a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) specializing in trading energy derivatives. he has been an active member since 1990, and has been featured on CBS, NBC, CNBC, CNN and a variety of nationally televised financial, business and sports shows.Please contact him at jfleisig@aol.com with any comments or suggestions you may have."
From the Fundrace 2004 [fundrace.org] website:
J. D Fleisig
Broker - New York Mercantile Exchange
John Kerry $2,000
Dont shoot I`m human,I thought it was a lawyer who was shot.
Cute. How about another specialty night, "I'll Never Play Hockey Night" with the picture of an aborted baby. Fun's fun, after all...
Yep. Why not?
Yup, nice idea. Or how about a
"Mary Jo Kopechne Night".
"If Hockey was being played on the Chappaquiddick I wouldn't of drown"
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