On Friday, July 20 famed Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his wife Carol will be heading to the Pahrump Valley to take part in an Independent American Party-sponsored dinner, where residents will have the chance to meet the couple and hear Cliven speak during the event.
Open to all persons regardless of political party, the IAP dinner is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Nevada Treasure RV Resort, 301 W. Leslie St.
“The IAP has been in Nye County, to the best of my knowledge, for three years but the state party has been in existence for much longer than that,” Nye County IAP Chairman Andy Alberti explained in an interview on July 16. “Of the parties in the county, we are the third largest.” According to the most recent report from the Nevada secretary of state, the Nye County IAP has 1,941 members, following the Democratic Party with 7,126 and the Republican Party with the largest representation in Nye County at 13,321 members.
Alberti said the event is not a fundraiser for the IAP, but rather an activity to bring people of all political parties together to find issues they can all rally around.
“Even though the IAP is putting it on, we have encouraged anyone and everyone to attend, because this is an issue about freedom in our country and about our government living up to its responsibility to our citizens. We do have people coming to the dinner who are Republican, Democrat, nonpartisan, IAP,” Alberti stated.
“I said in the past and will continue to say, there may be multiple political parties and two major ones, but we should be looking for the things that we can all agree on and work to make lives better by working on those things. We can fight about the other stuff, or debate it, but I think there has got to be some common ground that we can all work on.”
The IAP dinner will include an array of candidates taking part in the 2018 general election, including the four IAP contenders who are seeking Nye County offices. Of the four, Alberti is running for Nye County assessor against incumbent Republican Sheree Stringer.
IAP candidate Sheila Winn is hoping to unseat Republican Sam Merlino for Nye County clerk, Michael Noyes is running against Republican Deborah Beatty for Nye County recorder and Lance Schaus is representing the Independent American Party in the race against sitting Nye County Treasurer Pam Webster, also a Republican. All candidates in attendance Friday evening will be introduced during the event. However, there will be no formal speeches by those running for office.
Alberti said he was prompted to ask Cliven and Carol Bundy to visit Pahrump after having had the pleasure of listening to Cliven speak in February at the IAP state convention, where Alberti said he felt inspired by the man’s words.
“I was at the IAP state convention and I heard Cliven speak there,” Alberti detailed. “I had hoped to do an interview with him for my radio show but we ran out of time so when I came back home, I talked to some of our IAP members and said it would be interesting to have him come to Pahrump.”
“I look at Pahrump as the last free American town. We talked of our freedom, we are engaged in our government here … Nye County was the site of the Sagebrush Rebellion and the story of Cliven Bundy is not much different. And we are interested in the freedom of the land, the ability to protect the lands and yet have the state in control of the lands within its borders. Cliven Bundy said he was willing to pay his grazing fees but not to the feds. He wanted to pay them to the state. I can’t wait to hear Cliven Friday night.”
The IAP dinner will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 20 at the Nevada Treasure RV Resort. Tickets are $30 per person, $50 for a couple or $200 for a table of eight. Dinner will include ziti, meatballs, salad and a beverage.
For ticket reservations call Alberti at 775-727-8771, Winn at 702-683-1211, Noyes at 951-852-2008 or Schaus at 562-644-3880.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com