Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

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Las Vegas can’t afford to pick a fight with Obama

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Las Vegas is going to have to learn how to take its licks, stop whining and move on.

That much is clear after Mayor Oscar Goodman criticized President Barack Obama for Obama's assertion that companies shouldn't use taxpayer money to "take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl."

While Obama's choice of words was poor, his meaning was clear and resonated with taxpayers.

Working-class Americans are tired of seeing their tax dollars line the pockets of Wall Street executives and, with justification, would complain if these bigwigs showed up in a luxury suite on the Strip and ordered champagne and caviar — all on the taxpayers' dime.

Goodman's demand that Obama apologize has done nothing but overheat this situation and has led to more national news coverage of the issue — news coverage Las Vegas can do without.

Lost in most of this coverage was the elaboration by the White House that Obama didn't mean to single out any particular city or event.

As Sen. Harry Reid noted, "The president knows that Las Vegas is America's premier destination to do business."

Las Vegas, its biggest hotels — think Bellagio, Caesars Palace, the Venetian and Wynn Las Vegas — and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority must now overcome this problem not by picking a fight with Obama, but by quietly reassuring Congress and corporate America that Las Vegas is a great place to have legitimate business meetings and conventions that are not financed by taxpayers.

Las Vegas has a compelling story to sell: We have the nation's largest hotels and convention centers, affordable prices, easy access through McCarran International Airport and plenty of entertainment and dining to occupy meeting-goers and conventioneers at the end of the business day.

And we have plenty of satisfied customers who return year after year who can vouch for Las Vegas as a serious place to sell their products and engage in serious public policy and business discussions. They range from the massive Consumer Electronics Show to the prestigious National Association of Broadcasters convention.

"They're not holding these meetings simply because they're all boondoggles," Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson told Bloomberg News. "How does an automobile company introduce their new car to thousands of dealers? How do tech companies introduce their new products and explain how they work to their dealer network?"

Adelson has thousands and thousands of employees and shareholders banking on his ability to continue attracting business meetings and conventions to his Venetian and Palazzo resorts and his Sands Expo Center. These properties have 7,100 suites and together have more than 2.25 million square feet of meeting space — more than in the entire cities of San Francisco, San Diego and Phoenix.

Goodman and the casino resort industry must be sensitive to the concerns of taxpayers while driving home the point that this is the nation's convention capital for sound business reasons — reasons that have nothing to do with taxpayers subsidizing irresponsible spending and junkets.

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