Welcome to ACE :: Association of Club Executives

Many Americans still question whether or not we are safe at home after 9/11. The conquest of Iraq was completed, we were told, but there has lately been overwhelming concern that this “war” is costing billions of dollars, requiring thousands of troops and several years to be successful.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., many citizens also find themselves struggling with unemployment, debt, soaring health care, home mortgage foreclosures, inflation, profit loss and a lackluster presidential pick.

Despite such serious issues, what was the most popular trend for state and local politicians to legislate this year? Strippers. But that wasn’t all…we were also subjected to more federal obscenity investigations.

Whether it is at your local, state or federal level, the war against adult entertainment has upstaged more paramount issues due to the strategic planning initiatives of Christian conservatives. But restricting the rights of Americans to the type of adult entertainment they are permitted to enjoy and eliminating “local control”, is only one part of the battle. The other is a calculated and massive campaign of disinformation, lies and propaganda.

For example, the CCV Citizens Courier recently published an editorial by its president Phil Burress. He claimed that Dr. Jeffery Satinover’s (Yale University)“research” proved that when “normal” people are exposed to strippers in strip bars, brain chemicals change and cause humans to lose control, which in turn leads to depravity, abuse, broken marriages, blighted property and sexual addiction.

The war against adult entertainment is a censorship campaign run by a small minority of individuals carrying hefty political clout. Hear us: In their minds, they have a calling from God to put you out of business. They will tell the general public that they want to lower crime and protect women and that they only hope to “restrict” adult business, not eradicate. Yet they do not have the courage of their convictions to state the true motive behind their censorship war: Spiritual snobbery and hypocrisy. You see, it wouldn’t be palatable to the masses for groups like the CCV to admit that they are on a quest to interfere with American freedom and choice. It is not popular to proclaim that their true hope is some Utopian idea of mass Christian conversion back to the “Beaver Cleaver” era of the 1950’s.

When organizations such as the CCV speak out against adult entertainment they rarely mention the millions of consumers who enjoy our clubs. Instead they focus on and describe adult operators and first amendment lawyers as smut peddlers and porn protectors who abuse women and keep our ladies plied with drugs so they will continue to act as our slaves. The women in our industry who work as dancers, actors or features are portrayed as drug-induced whores who spread sexual diseases and wreck marriages.

This is all accomplished under the ruse of Negative Secondary Effects “Studies” that are waved before legislatures like a pin-pulled grenade; Studies that would never pass scientific scrutiny or appear in a reputable journal. The studies which have been peer reviewed and published by reputable professionals are omitted or dismissed as quack material, in favor of “opinions” by individuals who are touted as “experts” by the CCV, but aren’t really.

And then there are two other big issues: 1. a few club owners give the CCV exactly what they need to persecute the rest of us legitimate operators and 2. Some of the women in this industry lap up the “I’m a victim” milk in some vain attempt to garner extra dollars or sympathy, not realizing that everything they say against the work they do and love is being noted and used against them by the CCV to destroy their choices.

Members of the CCV and the 24 other like-minded organizations who engage in censorship use fear, money, and political influence to coerce politicians into proclaiming that adult entertainment is a poison worse than a weapon of mass destruction. It seemed to be working for them until something happened.

The people pushed back.

When the CCV finally passed its “Community Defense Act” against adult entertainment in Ohio, the people there didn’t blindly capitulate. They began to question the veracity of the CCV’s claims and also the character of the CCV’s self-annointed “morality police”.

Astute Ohioans smelled the stench of brimstone bigotry and launched their own google searches to discover that Ohio’s leader of virtue, Phil Burress, was a thrice married, twice bankrupt, self-admitted porn lover and adulterer who carried on an affair with his third wife while still in Christian marriage counseling with his second! They also uncovered that he had his divorce records sealed in Brown County, Ohio because his ex wife had threatened to go public regarding some questionable financial practices within the CCV.

The measure to restrict clubs in Ohio did pass…in a watered-down format. Still…the questions posed by the people have resulted in an ongoing investigation by the Ohio Secretary of state into the CCV finances and a push for a referendum to repeal the law. This would not have happened had it not been due to the stellar efforts of people like media consultant Sandy Theis, lobbyists Neil Clark, William Fitzgibbons and Denny Larr, BACE president and treasurer Luke Liakos and Jim Everett and outstanding testimony against the measure by attorney Raymond Vasvari and dancer Charity Feickesen.

As the Ohio Chapter of ACE collects signatures for a referendum they hope to get on the November 2007 ballot to repeal the law, the CCV games have continued. Citizens for Community Standards (CCS) is a PAC created for the referendum. It was recently the target of a cease and desist letter from CCV lawyers, who claimed trademark infringement on the CCV’s name.

Their letter was answered by attorney Michael Murray who refused the cease and desist and filed a CCV trademark cancellation suit instead.

As our industry evolves, so too, does the collective intelligence of the American people. They have grown ever more suspicious of fundamental groups like the CCV and their propaganda. For the first time we can remember, many people are defending this industry on business, local control, privacy and free speech grounds, even if they don’t necessarily find the industry appealing.

Since the year 1999, when ACE National was formed we’ve seen several court cases involving our industry move all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, notably the 2000 PAPS AM v. City of Erie case which served as the fire to light the formation of ACE…but as Dave Manack of ED Publications stated in his May editorial… “We’ve never seen anything like this!”

He’s right. We’ve never seen local and state governments take such a broad swipe against the industry using the sword of legislation given to them by CCV attorney Scott Bertghold. “The Community Defense Act” is the “Trojan Horse” of the theocrats being given to every state that will open its gates to receive this specious “gift”.

We have been blinded by the smoke and mirrors and Trojan horses of these socially conservative organizations and the fact that groups like the CCV have been militant in political influence, placement, fundraising, voter registration and propaganda. We have been ignorant of the fact that their PR firms are capable of spinning better webs of twisted context than an episode of Harry Potter. With our success still come the labels that need to be changed: we are too often portrayed in the media as “X-rated” businesses while the CCV is still seriously mislabeled as possessing “family values”.

However, the smoke clears once in a while and we do experience moments of victory on our fields of battle.

Three huge victories were scored this year when L.A., Seattle and Scottsdale voters repealed restrictive adult legislation and basically told groups like the CCV to butt out of their bedrooms, privacy, lives and choices. These victories have prompted ACE National to research the referendum process in detail under the man who played a big part in all three victories, Mr. John Weston. The result is a published advocacy booklet on the process designed to help the industry do battle using this very valuable alternative.

Moving on, the entire state of Texas woke up one morning to the news that two female senators had introduced state wide legislation that levied a $5 per head tax on every customer who entered a gentlemen’s club. Get this: The money would be used to fund sexual assault and response programs. Freshman representative Ellen Cohen who introduced the passed measure said of the clubs, “We are talking about a service that does objectify women and this seems like a good place to raise those kinds of dollars.”

Then there was Houston…where we had a problem…and then we didn’t…but we may again…a three judge panel of the 5th circuit court of appeals in New Orleans issued a stay of enforcement in May that allows some clubs to remain operational…at least for the moment, pending a hearing possibly in August. The city had prepared an aggressive campaign, spearheaded by Mayor Bill White against 130 adult businesses, that was stopped dead in its tracks thanks to the efforts of ACE advisory attorney John Weston and his partner Randy Garrou. Weston hopes to move forward and prevail on the appeal.

Meanwhile, adult operators in El Paso were also subjected to legislation. El Paso leaders who passed adult entertainment restrictions requiring dancers to remain six feet away from patrons are now being sued by club owners seeking a temporary injunction to keep the law from taking effect in August. Thankfully, the state of Oregon still has some sense when it comes to the rights of adults. The state Supreme Court there upheld lap dancing as protected speech under their Constitution, but the opposing attorneys are still considering an appeal.

The New Jersey Cabaret Association led by Mr. Jeff Levy led one of the most frightening battles against the adult industry. AVN’s Mark Kernes reported that New Jersey adult entertainment was fighting three bills, all loaded with onerous restrictions. One was tabled but two sailed out of their committees. Even the League of Cities opposed some of the measures in the introduced legislation! It was through the tireless efforts of the NJ adult cabaret and retail community that garnered this chapter some support in terms of positive studies, testimony, and attorney intervention by Daniel Aaronson.

In Alabama, latex was the key to a compromise struck in January by ACE Advisory Attorney Luke Lirot and the state of Alabama regarding dancer nudity restrictions. Evidently, applying more latex means the dancers can remain on the right side of the law to prevent provoking the anti-nudity ordinance there.

We have just heard from ACE of Alaska where Carol Hartman, who heads the chapter there, has been incommunicado for months as she and her sister Cathy continue to battle in Anchorage where elected officials seem to be able to arbitratily change the laws in an effort to keep hindering clubs there from doing business. Stay tuned for a future feature article in ED regarding the fight on the tundra.

Many of us were surprised to turn on the history channel on a cold evening in January to see some familiar faces of ACE National highlighted in an A& E special entitled: Gentlemen’s Clubs Revealed. The American public met some of our club owners, lawyers and industry providers in a documentary that positively reflected the change and growth in our industry and offered viewers an accurate portrayal of adult clubs as legitimate and healthy businesses.

Florida saw the February 2007 formation of the Sunshine Entertainment Association after Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms met with CCV attorney Scott Bertghold to pass her nonbinding adult entertainment referendum. She then went on to become a state senator. The state of Florida was suddenly saddled with approximately 12 bills aimed against the industry, including the especially onerous “prostitution bill” which would have given disgruntled dancers club ownership if they cooperated with law enforcement by bringing allegations against the clubs. All of the introduced bills in Florida were killed thanks to the lobbyists and lawyers put in place ahead of the legislation. But the future of this fledgling organization remains precarious for next session if more adult businesses fail to join the fight.

In Missouri, club owners like Dick Snow and their executive director Ann Michael saw senator Matt Bartle try to resurrect his anti-adult legislation to no avail. Just when they thought they had cleared the 2007 legislative session, they learned that social conservative crusader Phil Cosby had set up camp in Missouri to convince politicians to launch investigations and levy charges against adult businesses. It remains to be seen whether or not his efforts will reap anything except rolled eyes.

On a charitable note, club owners Jerry Reid Jr. of Pure Gold in South Carolina and Jim Halbach of Diamond Jim’s in Wisconsin showed their altruism in 2007 by donating thousands of dollars to a help a local children’s hospital and to pay for a town fireworks display respectively.

We have battled this year all over the U.S. We have field operations in 27 states. Our attorneys stand ready in all 50 states.

The time has come to connect these camps into one formidable enemy against the purveyors of censorship. It is not up to one club owner, lawyer, lobbyist or club chain to fund all of the challenges we face. It is not realistic to expect ACE National to ride in like the cavalry if a state industry has failed to prepare for battle.

However, we will continue to train new soldiers of free speech. We will continue to fight to uphold our forefather’s idea of a Republic run as a democracy. We will continue to honor those soldiers unable to enjoy our clubs due to war duty, by fighting for the same rights in which they give their lives: the freedom to pursue the dream of opportunity and enterprise we all share as Americans.