[The Las Vegas Sun]
Vegas, Baby! Let's Go!
Gibbons criticizes Obama over denied meeting request
By Sun Staff (contact)
Mon, May 18, 2009 (2:02 p.m.)
Gov. Jim Gibbons said today that President Obama has denied his request to meet
with him in Las Vegas later this month.
The governor had sent the president a letter last month saying he wanted to
discuss the economic difficulties facing the state's tourism industry. Gibbons
said today that he was notified Obama won't meet with him while the president
is in Las Vegas on May 26 for a fundraiser for Sen. Harry Reid.
"I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this administration," Gibbons said
in a prepared statement. "President Obama is coming to Las Vegas later this
month for a political fundraiser, but he will not help the struggling families
in Las Vegas and Nevada who are out of work because of his reckless comments."
Gibbons is referring to comments Obama made earlier this year regarding
business trips to Las Vegas by companies receiving federal bailout money.
Earlier this year, the President told an audience in Elkhart, Indiana, "You
can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to
the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime." That quote was seen by many as an
insult to Las Vegas and as a message to companies across the Nation to stay
away from Las Vegas for corporate meetings and conventions.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports over 400 conventions
and business meetings scheduled to take place in Las Vegas recently have
cancelled. These cancelled events translate into 111,800 guests in Las Vegas
and over 250,000 "room-nights". The cancelled conventions and meetings have
cost the Las Vegas economy over $100-million, not including gaming revenue.
"This is politics, pure and simple, President Obama stood for change, but all
he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada," Gibbons said.
