Within minutes after the presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as his running mate on Saturday morning, an enthusiastic crowd of local Republicans celebrated with the opening of Romney’s campaign headquarters in Mesquite.
Dubbed the “Mesquite Victory Office” by local volunteers, it will house facilities for telephone banks, campaign literature and voter registration. Managing the office is Blake Garfield of “Team Nevada” for the GOP. He came here recently from Minnesota to work for the Romney campaign. The “Mesquite Victory Office” also will provide information on upcoming events, absentee ballots, early voting information and as a base for volunteer activities.
Event coordinator, Kathy Williams said she was excited by the turnout.
“We couldn’t have asked for more and we signed up a lot of volunteer campaign workers to help us knock on doors and man the telephones during the coming months,” she said. Meanwhile, Paula Ferrell, of the Nevada Republican Party and past president of the Mesquite Republican Women’s organization reported that, “We are very fortunate that virtually everything in the office from desks, phone banks, and refrigerators has been donated by the citizens of Mesquite.”
The energized crowd mingled and ate doughnuts, hamburgers and hot dogs while awaiting the arrival of several speakers. Mike and Debbie Gleeson, representing the Mesquite Firefighters Association, grilled the burgers and dogs. Adding to the festivities was patriotic and American music played by local DJ Larry Agan.
“While the Mesquite Republican Women support and assist the Victory Office, we are all Team Nevada when we are here,” Williams emphasized
First among the slate of guests was Ryan Toone, Mesquite Deputy City Attorney, who is running for the office of Justice of the Peace as a non-partisan candidate. He was accompanied by his wife Kena and two of his five children, Ebia and Daxon. “I have pursued a dream of public service,” said Toone, “and when the Justice of the Peace position became available, I felt my experience in both civil and criminal law will help me serve well in that position.” Toone’s says his interest in public service was strongly influenced by the events of 9-11.
Crescent Hardy, Assemblyman (R-District 20) and local business man commented that he was very pleased with Romney’s choice of Ryan as a running mate, citing that, “as a small business person I have invested every dollar back into this community. I’m a job creator and proud of it.” He credited small businesses as being the primary job creators in this country and that government should allow them to do that with less burdensome policies. Hardy’s primary focus in the Nevada legislative session will be on education programs.
Next to speak was Joe Hardy, Republican State Senator, who echoed approval of Romney’s pick saying, “I believe the Romney-Ryan ticket will bring principles to policies.” He then quoted an earlier remark by Ryan that, “we believe in equal opportunity but not necessarily equal outcomes,” as he supported the concept of rewarding effort and hard work. He then introduced congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash) who was acting as a surrogate for the Romney campaign in attending the opening of Romney’s campaign headquarters (victory office) in Mesquite.
Rodgers is a senior member of congress and chairperson for the Romney campaign in Washington state.
She opened her remarks by quoting former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. “You know, Eisenhower once said that government should be the part time job of everyone and the fulltime job of no one.” She went on to say that “while the Romney campaign would be out raising money for television ads, there is no substitute for the work of volunteers like you, knocking on doors and working the phone lines to achieving success on November 6.” Rodgers cited several examples of Democrats who were going to change their vote to Romney in November because of his leadership skills and his past successes in business and at the Salt Lake City Olympics.
She went on to blast Obama’s policies, saying, “We now have 42 months of unemployment over 8 percent and $5 trillion of additional debt since Obama took office.” She then paraphrased the famous Reagan quote, “You know the difference between a recession and a depression? A recession is when your neighbor is out of work, a depression is when you are out of work.” She went on to exhort the crowd to “put Obama out of work.”
The Romney “Victory Office” is located in the Brickyard Plaza, 355 W. Mesquite Blvd., unit C-80. Office hours are daily from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Williams at 315-796-1387 or Garfield at 245-4126.