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| TUESDAY October 1, 1996 |  |  |
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| Campaign Staffer Fired Over Topless Bar Flap | |||||
By NAVY BLUE Staff Writer LOS ANGELES Max Dorling, Democratic Congressional candidate from the 53rd District (Orange County) has fired his long-time staffer, Frank Allers, over a misguided attempt to embarrass Dorling's political rival, Republican Congressman Stan Nielsohn. Promising "a story you won't want to miss," Allers assembled twenty members of the press corp., including this reporter, at Dorling's Tustin headquarters at 8 PM Sunday. He loaded the reporters on a chartered coach, and drove them to a West Hollywood topless bar called The Watering Hole. Allers announced that the campaign had learned that Nielsohn held meetings with his campaign manager there every Sunday night. Allers assured the assembled press that, at 11 PM they would have the opportunity to see Nielsohn leaving the bar. It did not happen as promised. After waiting an hour, the reporters pressured a visibly-shaken Allers to drive them back to Orange County. Blaming Allers for acting on a specious rumor, campaign manager Gibson A. Jones fired Allers the next day. The incident, quickly dubbed Nipplegate, has proven to be a embarrassment to Dorling. |
The candidate attempted to distance himself from the event. "Allers acted on a rumor that he had presented to me as a fact. I'm not trying to run a dirty campaign, here. That's not how I do politics. Of course, it would not have been surprising if Mr. Nielsohn did have meetings at a nudie bar. It is part of the record that he has opposed measures imposing added restrictions on adult entertainment venues, and has received extensive contributions from the adult entertainment industry." A Daily Chronicle poll has shown that despite the outcome, the Nielsohn campaign may experience some negative fallout from the incident. Of those polled, 12.6% said that they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who visits topless bars, and only 49.3% agreed with the statement, "Stan Nielsohn is a strong defender of family values" down from 71% last month. Frank Allers was not available for comment. |
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