Clinton to visit LV to speak at vitamin convention

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

Former President Bill Clinton will be in Las Vegas next week to address a convention of 8,000 women sales representatives from a Japanese company that manufactures vitamins and a supplement made from prune extract.

The company, called the MIKI group, sells its products like Amway, using person-to-person sales and eliminating retail outlets. It rewards top sales representatives every year with a trip to the United States, but the trips are usually to San Francisco or New York, said Richard Ho, marketing and reservation manager for the Japan Travel Bureau, which arranged the visit.

Clinton will be addressing the women in three groups of about 2,700 each Aug. 20-22 at the Cox Pavilion at UNLV.

The topic or topics of the former president's speeches have not been announced. He will be introduced each day by a different local figure, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera.

Clinton also will do what he never could in his numerous prior visits to the city during his presidency -- be a tourist.

"He hopes to enjoy Las Vegas like 50 million other people do -- see some shows, go to some of our restaurants, get in some golf," said Brian Greenspun, president and editor of the Sun and a personal friend of Clinton.

"He has been looking forward to this trip for a long time."

This will be Clinton's second visit to Las Vegas since he left the White House-- he was here in April with his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and spent most of his time resting, Greenspun said.

While he was president, he visited the city more than any other president in history.

The Las Vegas meeting is unusual for the MIKI Group, which normally arranges its trips to San Francisco because the firm has prune farms about 120 miles east of the city in Yuba City, Calif.

Ho said Clinton's speaking engagement wasn't confirmed until June, though the company decided on Las Vegas in April.

"The women still don't know that the former president is speaking," Ho said.

"But the Japanese people see him as a legend, and admire him for holding on despite all his personal difficulties. This will be some surprise."