Think Progress

Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.

Newt Gingrich Last month, Allison Vivas of Pink Visual — a porn DVD superstore headquartered in California — was tickled to find out that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Business Defense and Advisory Council had chosen her for a 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award. Embarrassed, Gingrich’s group eventually said that it had “inadvertently” sent the invitation to Pink Visual. Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News reported that The Lodge, “one of the best-known gentlemen’s clubs in Dallas,” also received an Entrepreneur award from Gingrich, only to have it taken away:

That all changed, however, when Gingrich realized that The Lodge was a topless bar, not some other business in Virginia. He rescinded [Lodge owner Dawn] Rizos’ invitation to a private dinner and returned the $5,000 donation she made to his group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.

“It was disappointing,” Rizos said. “We were looking forward to sharing our political views with Newt Gingrich.” … She said she didn’t figure Gingrich had the wrong company because her business has been honored many times and she thought “his intentions were honorable.”

An spokesperson for Gingrich’s group American Solutions for Winning the Future said that the notice Rizos received “was sent at the same time as the other mistake [to Pink Visual] for the same reason.” CNN adds, “It did not specify what that reason was.” (HT: Raw Story)



53 Responses to “Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.”

  1. Sandoz76 says:

    Oh phew! I was worried for a second there that Newt wasn’t a good Christian.


  2. MCMetal says:

    She said she didn’t figure Gingrich had the wrong company because her business has been honored many times and she thought “his intentions were honorable.”

    Like when the moron attempted to impeach a popular sitting president for infidelity while he himself was cheating on his own wife and tried to coerce her into a divorce while cancer-stricken ?

    Yeah , that certainly sounds like the actions of an “honorable man” …………


  3. Fred says:

    was sent at the same time as the other mistake…

    newt makes a lot of mikstakes doesn’t he? I mean a lot!


  4. Briseadh na Faire says:


    “It did not specify what that reason was.”

    Perhaps not every business Gingress does business with “qualifies” for an award – and a solicitation for money (He rescinded [Lodge owner Dawn] Rizos’ invitation to a private dinner and returned the $5,000 donation she made to his group). If they’re not using Gingrich’s credit card statements for their list of award recipients, they should just come out and say so.


  5. nanlichi says:

    “It did not specify what that reason was.”

    Some low level in the office was looking at Gingrich’s credit card statement instead of the Official Christian Entrepeneur (and donor) List.


  6. katy says:

    did you catch this, on rachel:

    Seniors get free flu shots – at topless club

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32985404

    club name: “Rachel’s” !!!

    they’ve been doing that for 6 years!


  7. nanlichi says:

    Jinx Briseadh na Faire.


  8. Zimzone says:

    Some consider Newt ‘the brains’ of the Republic Party.

    I consider him a lying dipshit.

    Republics love them some hookers; just ask Vitter, who is now leading a ‘moral charge’ against prostitutes. Fake prostitutes, not the real ones he sees. FoxSuckers & bloated White Wingers set up the ACORN expose, but Vitter’s name on at least 2 hooker patron lists seems OK with them.

    Are Vitter & Gingrich part of the C Street Choirboy alliance?


  9. zxbe says:

    Did the office accidentally sync up their contacts lists to Newt’s private contacts list?


  10. P.D. says:

    Oh Newt, What is up with you and porn and strippers? If I didn’t know any better I would say you were hypocrit.


  11. Rab says:

    Newt (one whore) to another, “I don’t want your money”, that’s no way to run a business Newtie.


  12. shoeless says:

    A spokesperson for Gingrich’s group American Solutions for Winning the Future said that Newt regrets there is no way to return the lap dances.


  13. The Republic of Stupidity says:

    MCMetal says:

    Yeah , that certainly sounds like the actions of an “honorable man” …………
    ____________

    No… no… Newt is a “man of honor”…


  14. EnnuiDivine says:

    Yes, we all know that the proprietors of topless clubs can’t be good Christians. That designation is reserved for politicians who’ve been married thrice and who divorced a wife recovering from cancer.

    Hypocrisy (and vanity. and windbaggery), Thy Name is Newt.

    As always, my major gripe with pols like Gingrich aren’t their policy views (though that’s a certainly an issue…), it’s the hypocrisy and sanctimonious attitude that makes pols like Gingrich absolute scum.


  15. Badmoodman says:

    Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.

    – - Heh, cheeky headline, Amanda.


  16. P.D. says:

    Why is there so much Media attention on Newt anyway? He’s just another Repug pol who was tossed out of office. Just like Guliani, Santorum, Fred Thompson, the list goes on and on… They are always recycled on MSM. Isn’t there any new fresh faces? (Please! Don’t bring up Palin!!)


  17. ElBruce says:

    Were they not making enough money to qualify? For what business reason was their enrepeneurship lacking? I don’t get it, I thought the award was about business…

    This just goes to prove yet again that social and economic conservatism don’t mix.


  18. Shayne says:

    Seems like Newt is fishing for his next wife.


  19. Aphex242 says:

    The Lodge is a fantastic club, in case anyone’s interested. hehe


  20. P.D. says:

    By the way, how many wives has newt had? Three? I remember during the whole ‘Monica’ debacle, he was divorcing his wife when she had cancer or something. I never got the whole story on that.


  21. Badmoodman says:

    Shayne says:
    Seems like Newt is fishing for his next wife.

    – - Seems like Newt is fishing for his future ex-wife.


  22. Zooey says:

    What is the criteria for Newtie’s prizes? I mean, how do you give an award for being a great entrepreneur, if you don’t know what they’re about?

    **wink wink**


  23. MCMetal says:

    The Republic of Stupidity says:

    ——————————————————————————–

    MCMetal says:

    Yeah , that certainly sounds like the actions of an “honorable man” …………
    ____________

    No… no… Newt is a “man of honor”…

    October 1st, 2009 at 10:13 am

    More like a “man of slobber”……….


  24. dixie blood says:

    P.D. says:

    ——————————————————————————–

    By the way, how many wives has newt had? Three? I remember during the whole ‘Monica’ debacle, he was divorcing his wife when she had cancer or something. I never got the whole story on that.

    That bastard is so cruel he handed her the divorce papers while she was in the hospital. A real a$$h0le.


  25. Zimzone says:

    Can someone named after a reptile even be called a man?


  26. MCMetal says:

    I’m surprised Salamander-boy didn’t bestow this “prestigious honor” on his type of “ENTREPRENEUR” ; namely , Bernie Madoff ………..


  27. P.D. says:

    dixie@24, If a Dem pulled that, the Repugs would denounce him! Unreal how Repugs can get away with this sh*t! Vitter, paying hookers. Sanford, still clinging on in S.C. Ensign, paying off a former lover. And yet, McGreevy and Spitzer were thrown under the bus. WTF?


  28. jakedogman says:

    Newt was lap I mean tap dancing around this issue. Erase that visual from me. Newt lap dancing. Sick.


  29. RWeSafer says:

    You just can’t make this stuff up…


  30. Lunaluz says:

    This whole thing sounds pretty fishy to me. Pink Visual should be wary of any private meetings with Newt to explain his position on this.


  31. Bluestocking says:

    He rescinded [Lodge owner Dawn] Rizos’ invitation to a private dinner and returned the $5,000 donation she made to his group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.

    “It was disappointing,” Rizos said. “We were looking forward to sharing our political views with Newt Gingrich.” … She said she didn’t figure Gingrich had the wrong company because her business has been honored many times and she thought “his intentions were honorable.”

    An spokesperson for Gingrich’s group American Solutions for Winning the Future said that the notice Rizos received “was sent at the same time as the other mistake [to Pink Visual] for the same reason.” CNN adds, “It did not specify what that reason was.”


  32. Bluestocking says:

    This is what *should* have posted!

    A spokesperson for Gingrich’s group American Solutions for Winning the Future said that the notice Rizos received “was sent at the same time as the other mistake [to Pink Visual] for the same reason.” CNN adds, “It did not specify what that reason was.”

    Personally, I’m inclined to think that it should be blatantly obvious to anyone with at least two brain cells to rub together why this happened.

    In a word…SLOPPINESS.

    Why is it that nobody either employed by or affiliated with the Business Defense and Advisory Council team make even a token effort to find out what these “entrepreneurs” actually do? That’s the simplest way to explain why two separate “adult entertainment” business owners managed to be selected as Entrepreneurs of the Year by a group run by a prominent neoconservative Republican political figure. I very much doubt that these companies would have been included on the list if the people involved in making the selection had done their homework, but only because many within the voting bloc which typically supports neoconservative politicians are social conservatives (such as evangelical or fundamentalist Christians) who think that it’s not only possible but vital to legislate their version of morality and who are stridently opposed to the adult entertainment industry in all its forms — at least in the abstract, if not necessarily in practice! It would be interesting to discover exactly what criteria were used in the process of selecting companies for this list — but personally, I strongly suspect that donations to the Republican Party and/or Newt Gingrich may very well have been at least one of the determining factors. How many people here consider it in any way likely that Gingrich would be willing to have someone whose political beliefs conflicted with his own named an Entrepreneur of the Year? I don’t — and the easiest way around that possibility would be to select the names from a list of Gingrich donors.


  33. Virtual Pebble says:

    @ 4. Briseadh na Faire says: “It did not specify what that reason was.” Perhaps not every business Gingress does business with “qualifies” for an award – and a solicitation for money (He rescinded [Lodge owner Dawn] Rizos’ invitation to a private dinner and returned the $5,000 donation she made to his group). If they’re not using Gingrich’s credit card statements for their list of award recipients, they should just come out and say so. October 1st, 2009 at 10:02 am

    You nailed it, BnF, and they won’t come out and just say so either.

    Well, there is the possibility that Newt’s scam is also a publicity machine. You make a big whopping donation to Newt’s “non-profit”, he kicks back most of it to you by stopping by and “spending” money on lap-dances, and you get a tax write-off for the donation and a door prize from Newt’s “Foundation” – free publicity to the “conservative” lap-dance afficianado community.


  34. shoeless says:

    I wonder what sort of business Newt thought Pink Visual was.


  35. Exit Stage Left says:

    Lunaluz says:
    This whole thing sounds pretty fishy to me. Pink Visual should be wary of any private meetings with Newt to explain his position on this.

    I’m pretty sure I don’t wanna know Newt’s “position” on this.


  36. Innocent Bystander says:

    Obviously, a back office clerical error. Most likely the person handling Newt’s expense reimbursements added the companies to the fundraising database. An honest mistake.


  37. Exit Stage Left says:

    shoeless says:
    I wonder what sort of business Newt thought Pink Visual was.

    Perhaps he thought they did research on conjunctivitis :)~


  38. jwmuiyaai says:

    Sandoz76 says:

    ——————————————————————————–

    Oh phew! I was worried for a second there that Newt wasn’t a good Christian.

    Is there a difference?


  39. EugeneDebs says:

    wboyd58 says:

    Ok look we KNOW you are stupid that is obvious to anyone. Just how delusional do you want to be? ANY political operative that made a mistake this stupid would be taken to task. You are an ignorant brainwashed moron who KNOWS he is too stupid to think for himself so you just read something like this then reach into the bag of talking points Rush has programmed you with and regurgitate it on demand like the mindless chatty Kathy doll you are. Do you even get how stupid and pathetic you are?


  40. MapleStreet says:

    33. Bluestocking says, “Why is it that nobody ….even a token effort to find out what these “entrepreneurs” actually do?”

    Simple answer: They made money and gave a wad of it to Newtie.

    That’s all they were really interested in.


  41. Innocent Bystander says:

    wboyd58 says:

    “If this had been the democratic party that had made this mistake there would not be a dang thing in the papers about that.”

    Here’s a hankie and smelling salts – blow it out your ear. Keerist, you people are nothing but a bunch of whiny faux victims. You’re just pissed that Newt “Family Values” Gingrich can’t keep his club receipts separate from his political scamming operation.


  42. Rodeskawler says:

    To my fellow progressives. Take some time to thumbs up comments you agree with, as the trolls are causing many to be voted down.

    As for Gingrich, I wonder if he has considered his award for the website that encourages extra-marital affairs. That one at least stays within his demonstrated moral threshold.


  43. PatrioticLiberalChristian says:

    wboyd58 says: “If this had been the democratic party”

    But it wasn’t, was it?!

    Conservatives (heart) if.


  44. Bluestocking says:

    Bluestocking says, “Why is it that nobody ….even a token effort to find out what these “entrepreneurs” actually do?”

    Simple answer: They made money and gave a wad of it to Newtie.

    That’s all they were really interested in. — Maple Street

    ******************************************************

    That was more or less my conclusion as well, but my point is that had they bothered to do even the most minimal amount of research into what these companies do (which would have taken no more than two or three minutes at the outside in each case), they wouldn’t have egg all over their faces now. On their own heads be it…after all, many neoconservatives like Gingrich seem to love criticizing others for failing to take personal responsibility and facing the consequences of one’s own decisions but they seem to have a bewildering degree of difficulty applying that same standard to themselves. (Yeah, wboyd58…I’m talking to you!)


  45. MapleStreet says:

    Bluestocking, Quite Agreed.

    Plus may I add, expanding on what you said, the reichers don’t seem to exercise even a modicum of vetting. They seem to promote people because of knowing them and as an anti-Peter Principle, fail upwards. Consistent from the “Heck of a job Brownie” (failed Quarterhorse judge) to You-Betcha Palin.


  46. tombaker says:

    isn’t their a politically incorrect term for someone who gives a thing, only to take it back??

    newt’s not boosting his image much with his silly award.

    of course, he’s been obsolete for over a decade, so who cares, really.


  47. tombaker says:

    “we will be slient no more” ???

    hey wingboyd – what’s “slient”??

    does the righty edition not come with spellcheck?


  48. nofltwlt says:

    Another F-kUP for the state amphibian of Georgia.

    He must have been in charge of vetting Palin too.


  49. S.D. says:

    Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.


    Ms. Terkel, That headline was pure gold and I laughed out loud.
    ;)


  50. fergus says:

    returned the $5,000 “, personally, one tucked dollar at a time. There, I fixed it.


  51. SP Biloxi says:

    “Gingrich strips his Entrepreneur of the Year award from Dallas topless club.”

    lol Priceless. Stay classy Newt.


  52. dasm says:

    she thought “his intentions were honorable.”

    Apparently she doesn’t know Gingrich very well.


  53. Wiz says:

    The “Entrepreneur of the Year” is a fund raising scam by Newt. If you give his PAC a few bucks you can get a “Certificate” that says you are Entrepreneur of the Year too. Newt has a marketing phone bank out there that he contracted for to call people to be one of his “advisers” and get an invite to some conference down in Washington to advise Newt.



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