Titus sees safety systems as way to boost Vegas’ image

By Lisa Mascaro

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.

As one Nevada lawmaker after another has decried the sullying of Las Vegas’ image by its use as a symbol of the country’s excesses, Rep. Dina Titus is trying a different approach.

Titus wants to get her colleagues to consider another side of Vegas. Call it the back lot tour.

Titus wants to dazzle her colleagues with the sophisticated machinery at work to keep Las Vegas safe.

From her seat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Titus hopes to draw her fellow lawmakers to a field hearing in Las Vegas, a show-and-tell session about the public and private operators that protect the bling.

Lawmakers could take a back-of-the-house tour of casinos and see the security systems at work. They could visit Hoover Dam to see the cooperation between local and federal authorities, and they could talk to law enforcement officials about how they keep watch over millions of visitors partying on the Strip.

“There’s more to Las Vegas than showgirls and martinis and a mob museum,” Titus said recently. “This is really good stuff — serious stuff.”

Nevada’s lawmakers have been on a campaign to burnish the region’s image after the battering it has taken.

The city’s recent image problems began when President Barack Obama said in a speech that companies that accept taxpayer bailout money shouldn’t use it for meetings in Vegas. Republican lawmakers seized on the notion that Las Vegas could be a symbol of all that is excessive in Washington spending.

Speeches ensued that badmouthed the town and any money it may — or may not — be getting from the federal government through the economic recovery package.

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley got angry and told her colleagues to knock it off. Sen. John Ensign did the same, albeit more discreetly, as he pulled a fellow Republican senator aside and urged him to dial it down. Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, defended the city following the president’s remarks.

Titus says that’s all well and good, and in fact, she passed along some words to Obama’s people on the Hill.

But she also says it’s time to change the subject.

“I think we need to focus on getting some good publicity for Las Vegas,” Titus said.