Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
View more of the Sun's opinion section
The safe approach would have been to stay quiet, cast a vote and let what happened at the polls stay at the polls.
Jim Murren, to his credit, didn’t play it safe.
Instead, he offered a strong and very public opinion about the 2016 presidential election, writing a column in USA Today explaining why he was jumping over party lines and voting for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
Good for Murren, good for Las Vegas and good for the nation.
Murren, as he has done for years on the Strip as the CEO of MGM Resorts International, showed exceptional leadership by making a well-reasoned, fact-based, business-oriented case for Clinton.
Among his points:
• Clinton has pledged to support trade agreements, while Trump “seems determined to needlessly antagonize our allies and trading partners” with his promises to tear up trade pacts.
• Clinton’s support for immigration reform and gender equality will help maintain growth of the workforce nationally and in Southern Nevada, where 45 percent of gaming sector employees are minorities and 48 percent are women.
• Clinton’s commitment to expanding the use of renewable energy will benefit industry and the environment.
Finally, Murren offered a personal note about Clinton based on several conversations he’d had with her on business-related topics.
“Each time I have met with her to discuss complicated matters such as trade and energy policy, I have been incredibly impressed by her knowledge, command of the facts and solution-oriented approach,” he said.
Murren, a Republican, noted that he’d rarely voted for Democrats at any level and never for president. But this year, he said, “it’s an easy choice.”
He’s right, of course. Clinton is so far superior to her hate-mongering opponent, they shouldn’t be on the same ballot. Trump is unqualified and unfit, and he proves it every time he opens his carnival-barker mouth and does something like express admiration for strongman Russian President Vladimir Putin or encourage his supporters to monitor voting sites to ensure there’s no ID fraud. By the way, if you interpreted that poll remark as a call for his largely white group of followers to go to polls in areas with heavy minority populations and intimidate or harass the voters there, you’re not alone.
But the subject here isn’t Trump. It’s Murren and the sense of social responsibility he displayed in writing the column.
As a leader of some 60,000 Nevada employees and their families — perhaps as many as 300,000 Nevadans — he takes his responsibility seriously. That means he, like many Republican leaders who have given their lives and time to move our country forward and keep it safe, have felt the need to speak out at times. This is one of those crucial times.
Murren could have stayed silently on the sidelines. He’s a private citizen with a right not to divulge his preference, after all, and it’s in his interest, business-wise, not to reveal a political opinion that might alienate customers or employees.
In fact, a check with spokespeople from several Las Vegas resort companies showed that most of the city’s hospitality CEOs are keeping their opinions to themselves, at least for now. An exception is Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin, who’s endorsing Trump. No surprise there; Ruffin is Trump’s partner in the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
But by joining an expanding group of Republicans who are publicly throwing their support to Clinton, Murren set himself apart.
No wonder MGM has been doing such remarkable, groundbreaking things on the Strip lately — including construction of T-Mobile Arena, the Park, Monte Carlo renovation and more. As Murren showed with his column, he’s a principled and open-minded leader with the strength of confidence and character not to always take a conservative approach.
This election year, more than ever, the nation needs all the Jim Murrens it can get.
