{"id":17,"date":"2018-11-25T03:34:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T03:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadabrothelassociation.com\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2018-12-01T22:49:19","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T22:49:19","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nevadabrothelassociation.com\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(L-R) Ruby Rae, Alice Little, Chuck Muth & Air Force Amy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the retirement of long-time, highly-respected brothel lobbyist George Flint in 2015, the Nevada Brothel Association (NBA) \u2013 established to protect the legal brothel industry in the state – withered on the vine and died.<\/p>\n

Filling the gap in legislative defense of the legal industry was Dennis Hof, owner of the world-famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch outside of Carson City, who had already been very active politically before the demise of the NBA.<\/p>\n

For over two decades, Hof had been the leading spokesperson for the legal brothel industry in Nevada; devoting time, attention and money to promoting the virtues and social benefits of making \u201cthe world\u2019s oldest profession\u201d both lawful and acceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn early 2009,\u201d reports Wikipedia, \u201cdue to the recession, State Senator Bob Coffin proposed legalizing prostitution statewide for tax purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHof was prominently featured in a number of media reports saying he would expand into Las Vegas given the opportunity, and was already eying some closed casinos as property. However, the Nevada lawmakers refused to consider the proposal of statewide legal prostitution during that legislative session.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps the industry\u2019s greatest recent threat came in 2011, when then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid led an effort outlaw prostitution statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment – not as the last place where prostitution is still legal,\u201d he said in a speech to the Nevada Legislature.\u00a0 “If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To counter Sen. Reid\u2019s shot across the bow, Hof showed up at the Legislature prior to Reid\u2019s speech with eight legal sex workers and declared to the media, \u201cHarry Reid will have to pry the cat house keys from my cold dead hands.”<\/p>\n

Legislators and other elected officials were also cool to the idea, especially the notion that legal brothels were an impediment to economic development efforts to attract new businesses to the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never been approached by any prospective business or had an inquiry as to that industry,\u201d Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki, chairman of the state’s economic development commission, said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun.\u00a0 \u201cI suspect it would present a challenge to certain individuals bringing in a company but it has never been a topic of conservation.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other officials – including Gov. Brian Sandoval, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness \u2013 all took the position that legal brothels were a local issue that should be determined by the various counties in which they were allowed by state law.<\/p>\n

Hof significantly increased his political activism in 2016 when he ran for the Nevada State Assembly seat in District 36, which encompassed Nye County \u2013 home to four legal brothels, two of which he owned \u2013 and some mostly rural parts of Clark and Lincoln counties.<\/p>\n

Hof\u2019s initial bid as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2016 came up short.\u00a0 As expected, his opponent, then-Assemblyman James Oscarson, ran a brutal and dirty campaign, not only against Hof as a \u201cpimp,\u201d but the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, Hof re-registered as a Republican and again sought the seat in 2018.\u00a0 He won the GOP primary that June, then went on to win the seat outright in the November general election with an overwhelming 68 percent of the vote – despite his untimely death just three weeks before Election Day.<\/p>\n

But Hof\u2019s candidacy wasn\u2019t the only brothel-related issue on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the year, two politically-motivated efforts to ban brothels via a ballot initiative – one in Nye County, where Hof owned two brothels, and the other in Lyon County, where Hof owned all four brothels \u2013 were launched.<\/p>\n

Opponents were unable to gather enough signatures to put the issue on the 2018 general election ballot in Nye; however, the Lyon County Commission voted to place an \u201cadvisory question\u201d on outlawing legal brothels on its ballot.<\/p>\n

With Hof\u2019s passing, two legal sex workers from the Bunny Ranch brothel – Alice Little and Ruby Rae – and Hof\u2019s campaign manager, Chuck Muth, picked up the torch and waged a \u201cSave Our Brothels\u201d campaign in Lyon County.\u00a0 And on Election Day, the anti-brothel initiative was crushed, 80 percent to 20 percent.<\/p>\n

But the fight was clearly not over.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange starts when people of conscience and conviction take action,\u201d tweeted Jason Guinasso, the Reno lawyer behind the anti-brothel initiatives and founder of a state PAC dedicated to shuttering them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTuesday’s result was not the end, but rather part of a process that will lead to change,\u201d Guinasso continued.\u00a0 \u201cWe aren’t done yet.\u00a0 We began an important conversation that will continue beyond this election cycle.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And indeed, at the time of the election Nevada State Sen. Joe Hardy of Las Vegas had already introduced a \u201cBill Draft Request\u201d seeking legislation in 2019, as Reid pushed for in 2011, to ban prostitution statewide.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the threats weren\u2019t going away, and that the industry\u2019s most powerful and influential defender was no longer able to protect them, Little and Rae \u2013 along with Hof\u2019s business general manager, Suzette Cole \u2013 resurrected the Nevada Brothel Association, with Muth serving as its registered agent, in November 2018.<\/p>\n

The original founding members included all five Hof-owned properties \u2013 the Bunny Ranch, Kit Kat Ranch, Love Ranch North, Love Ranch South and Sagebrush Ranch.\u00a0 The founders will invite other operators to join the association in the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the retirement of long-time, highly-respected brothel lobbyist George Flint in 2015, the Nevada Brothel Association (NBA) \u2013 established to protect the legal brothel industry in the state – withered on the vine and died. 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