Nevada Governor Slams Obama's Refusal to Meet With Him
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has been denied a meeting with President Obama when he is in town next week to attend a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Gibbons, a Republican, had demanded a sit-down meeting following Obama's controversial statement that companies shouldn't book trips to Las Vegas if they have received federal bailouts and claims statements he made that were critical to Nevada and have caused economic damage to convention business and tourism business in the Silver State.
"I'm shocked the president would make a remark like that and then do nothing, including meeting with the governor in an attempt to repair the damage that his remarks caused," Gibbons told FOX News' Neil Cavuto Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a statement Gibbons put out Monday, the governor said Obama's quote that "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" 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, translating into 111,800 guests and 250,000 "room-nights," according to a statement from Gibbons. The cancelled events cost the Las Vegas economy over $100 million, not including gaming revenue, the governor said.
"I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this administration," Gibbons said. "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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"President Obama is coming to Las Vegas to raise campaign cash for Senator Harry Reid, apparently our money is good enough for the president, but our tourism, jobs and economic future are not. This is politics, pure and simple, President Obama stood for change, but all he has done is brought negative economic change to Nevada."
Gibbons is calling upon Reid to use any influence he might have to ask Obama to encourage Americans to visit America during their summer vacations this year.
"Sometimes Washington politicians forget that the people of Nevada are Americans," Gibbons said. "This president needs to repair the damage he has done."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Asked by Cavuto why Obama is singling out Vegas, Gibbons said, "Who knows? All I wanted to do was sit down with him and have him correct what he has said so the image isn't that there is something wrong with coming to Las Vegas."