Topless bar money Gingrich spurned goes to dogs

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dawn Rizos could have been bitter when former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich returned her $5,000 donation and rescinded an entrepreneurship award offered to her Dallas strip club.

But Rizos found a new way to honor her favorite conservative statesman.

She used the donation returned from Gingrich’s political think tank, American Solutions, to build a recovery shelter for injured pit bulls at an animal shelter outside Dallas.

"Newt's Nook," a climate-controlled facility at Dallas' Animal Guardians sanctuary, was opened in Gingrich's name to provide a safe, healthy place where the injured rescue can recuperate until they're adopted.

"We're thrilled to help such a worthy project," said Rizos, who owns The Lodge gentlemen’s club. "I wish Newt were here to see these wonderful dogs and know that we're giving them a chance for happier lives."

Neither Gingrich, a former congressman from Georgia, nor his spokesman Rick Tyler could be reached immediately for comment early Wednesday evening.

The nook features a cartoon caricature of Gingrich smiling next to a friendly pit bull.

Rizos said The Lodge would donate $100 to Animal Guardians for every dog adopted through Valentine's Day 2010. And she said she would give each adopter gift certificates to a popular Dallas Greek restaurant, and to The Lodge.

Gingrich and Rizos crossed paths earlier this year when the former speaker's American Solutions selected The Lodge parent company DCG, Inc. as one of its "entrepreneurs of the year."

Rizos was invited to the group's Oct. 7 banquet in Washington, D.C., but saw the invitation rescinded weeks before the event was scheduled.

"We weren't surprised to get the award, and we were disappointed to suddenly be rejected," Rizos said. "But instead of holding a grudge, we decided to make something positive out of his bad manners."

Annett Lambert, director of the dog sanctuary 40 miles north of Dallas, said she is pleased to be the beneficiary of Gingrich's apparent mishap.

"I can't tell you how much this new building means to us," Lambert said. "Dawn didn't deserve to be treated like that, but this will do so much for these loving dogs until we find them good homes."