Contact:
Mikel Weisser, 928-234-5633, mikelweisser@gmail.com
Event:
Bullhead City Chamber of Commerce Congressional Candidate Forum
Location: Bullhead Chamber of Commerce, 1251 Arizona 95 Bullhead City,
AZ 86429 (928) 754-4121
Time: Wednesday June 20, 2012 12:00pm
This Wednesday, June 20th, when the
Bullhead City Chamber of Commerce hosts their District Four Congressional Candidate
forum, Democratic hopeful Mikel Weisser will complete a quest that has been two
years in the making: to ask Ron Gould a question. “That’s right, back in 2010, Ron Gould told
me, a private citizen, one of his constituents, in fact, that he was not going
to let me ask him questions unless I was actually running against him. Well, it
took two years but here I am, “Weisser laughs.
Mikel Weisser, a school teacher, poet, political
humorist and activist, launched his run for the Democratic nomination for US
House in January and qualified by May to be on the ballot as a nominee for the
brand new Arizona Congressional District Four, a rural western AZ district that
represents the majority of seven counties and covers more land area than the
state of Illinois. Mohave and Yavapai Counties make up the majority of the
population in the district, highlighting the fact that Mohave County has grown
to become the fourth most populous in the state. All three of the candidates,
In 2010 Weisser’s wife, Beth Weisser, was Gould’s
opponent when he ran for reelection as the state senator for the former LD3
state legislative district. Mikel served as his wife’s right hand man and
helped coordinate many aspects of his wife’s “Clean Elections” state funded campaign.
“That is where I got the idea that I knew enough about the process to launch my
own campaign this round.” Beth Weisser is again running for the newly renamed
LD5 state senate slot. Gould, on the other hand, has “termed out” of his spot
in the state senate and aiming to use his record and name recognition to
advance him to the new Congressional spot. Depending on Gosar’s popularity in a
district that is largely not his territory, Gould is likely to be Mikel Weisser’s
opponent in the general election come November, a rivalry Weisser jokingly
suggests began at a candidate forum in Fort Mohave in the fall of 2010.
“I went along with Beth to listen in and take notes.
To me, Ron Gould was spouting this egregious line of lies and distortions and I
was taking notes, filling up my notebook,” Weisser chuckles at a story he has
told many times to listeners on both sides of the aisle. “When the Q&A came
around, I stuck my hand up all insistent, like the most annoying kid in class,
and just kept it up there while Gould ignored me. Till he finally said, and I quote,
‘I am not going to take your question. You’re the candidate’s spouse. If you
want to question me, you do it like a man, put your name on the dotted line and
run against me.” At the time Weisser did not intend to take Gould up on the challenge;
until the January Democratic State Party meeting when the party’s central
committee intended to let the race go unopposed, having found no candidate to
announce for CD-04, a sprawling seven country Congressional district, Weisser
lovingly calls the ‘Left Coast of Arizona.” “I wasn’t sure it was right for me
at first, but when I realized it was Ron Gould I’d be running against I had to
do it. I hadn’t been telling that story for two years for nothing!”
Wednesday’s candidate forum in Bullhead City will be
held on the shores of that very “coastline,” the state’s western border, when
the candidates meet in Bullhead City’s riverside Chamber of Commerce auditorium
on the banks of the Colorado River. Weisser lived in Bullhead City for several
years and taught junior high social studies there for ten. In addition to the
long awaited Weisser-Gould face-off, the candidate forum will also include Rick
Murphy, a local candidate for the GOP nomination in the upcoming Aug. 28th
primary. Murphy, a longtime Bullhead City media/nightclub/fitness center mogul,
is currently lagging behind Ron Gould and US Rep. Paul Gosar in the race for
the Republican primary. Weisser is facing latecomer Johnnie Robinson from Pinal
County, who is yet to mount a visible campaign and will not be attending. Since launching his campaign, Weisser has
repeatedly reached out to Gould, offering the senator a chance to help fund the
campaign he helped launch, sort of. So far the two had not crossed paths since
election season began though Weisser tried to visit while in Lake Havasu (Gould’s
home) for Presidents’ Day events, had discussed debate terms with Gould’s
campaign staff by phone and even barely missed Gould when the two both appeared
at the Chloride Heritage Days celebration earlier this month. As for that
question Weisser has been waiting so long to ask? “Oh, I forgot that. I guess I
could look it up, but I’ll come up with something.” Weisser grins.
The candidate forum is scheduled to start at twelve noon
at the Bullhead City Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday June 20. The forecast that
day is 113 in the shade, but it will be hotter in the air conditioned offices
of the Chamber of Commerce when these two candidates meet at last. The forum is
open to the public but seating is limited. The Chamber is in Community Park, 1251 Arizona 95 Bullhead City, AZ 86429. Call the
Bullhead Chamber of Commerce (928) 754-4121 for further details about
the candidate forum. For more information about the Weisser campaign, see
below.
###
Mikel
Weisser for US Congress
Mikel Weisser
4490 Sundown Drive
So-Hi, AZ 86413
928-234-5633
Democracy for America:
99% Declaration:
Act Blue:
Campaign Updates:
(6/5/12):
(5/6/12):
Phone-in Talk Show Guest
Appearance:
Interviews:
Video:
Political Humor Archive:
On My Opponent, Paul Gosar:
Positions:
Rebuttals:
LGBT Issues:
Immigration:
Tea Party Rebuttal:
Spoken Word (profile):
Spoken Word (performances)
Coverage:
paid for by mikel weisser for
us congress
