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US strip clubs uniting to oust Bush
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-24 16:45 U.S. strip club owners are putting a little
bada-bing in the presidential campaign by asking patrons to turn their eyes away
from the stage for a moment to fill out a voter registration form - and then
vote against President Bush.
"It's not to say our industry loves John Kerry or anything like that," said
Dave Manack, associate publisher of E.D. Publications, which publishes Exotic
Dancer magazine. "But George Bush, if he's re-elected, it could be very damaging
to our industry."
Jim Halbach, owner
of the strip club Isabella Queen, helps Beverly Fischer with a voter
registration form in Beloit, Wis.
[AP] | Fearful that conservatives might turn off
the colored lights for good, a trade organization for adult night clubs is
asking owners to register customers and employees and then encourage them to
cast their ballots against the president. Micheal Ocello, president of the
Association of Club Executives, said the group believes the president's brand of
conservatism is bad for business.
"We must do everything within our power to help ensure that Bush and his
ultraconservative administration are removed from the White House," Ocello wrote
in a letter to nearly 4,000 club owners. "If we are to survive, we must act
now."
Heather Layman, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said she
doesn't know why the businesses would consider the president unfriendly to their
industry. In its own voter-registration drive this year, the GOP has registered
more than 1 million people.
"I have to admit that the strip club owners are not a group we targeted,"
Layman said.
Adult night clubs rake in an estimated $15 billion annually and employ
500,000 to 750,000 people, Manack said.
US President Bush
received minor scrapes in a weekend bicycle accident May 22, 2004.
[AP] | In southern Wisconsin, more than 200 people
have registered in the past month at the bar Diamond Jim's and the strip club
Isabella Queen, both located between Janesville and Beloit. They are the first
of Wisconsin's 80 strip clubs to provide voter registration services.
"I'm actually fighting for my survival," said Jim Halbach, who owns the
establishments. "That's the way I look at it."
ACE members in Ohio have registered about 2,000 people in just a few weeks,
said chapter president Luke Liakos, who calls Attorney General John Ashcroft
"the American Taliban." Liakos also is trying to form a coalition in Cleveland
between strip clubs, other adult businesses such as adult bookstores, and gay
clubs.
In North Carolina, ACE chapter president David Baucom said he plans to
distribute registration forms in his 16 clubs to encourage voting but won't be
putting down the president - his business hasn't had any problems since Bush
took office.
"We just want people to vote," Baucom said. "Every state chapter is
different."
On a recent night at the Isabella Queen in Wisconsin, Halbach made the rounds
among customers and employees, asking them to register to vote and expressing
his negative opinion about the president. A few picked up a pen and filled out
the one-page form.
Shalyn Kay, a 21-year-old dancer, said she's afraid of losing her job if
strip clubs are outlawed.
"I used to be a Republican, but now with all this, it's changing my views,"
Kay said.
Christopher Ness, a 35-year-old patron, also filled out the registration
form, although he hasn't voted in 10 years. He said if he goes to the polls in
November, he'll probably vote Republican.
"I like the way it is right now," Ness said.
Halbach said he just hopes people exercise their rights.
"That's what makes America great," he said.
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