Mayor Goodman: Las Vegas shouldn’t be a ‘scapegoat’ in GSA scandal

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, April 6, 2012 | 11:45 a.m.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman has a message for Congress: Don't make Las Vegas a "scapegoat" in the federal employee convention spending scandal.

Also, keep congressional hearings about the matter focused in Washington — and out of Las Vegas, she says.

Goodman has added her voice to the choir of Nevada officials hoping the over-the-top Government Services Administraton spending scandal doesn't create a backlash on the Las Vegas convention and tourism business.

"Personal attacks on Las Vegas serve no purpose and have the potential to impact the 370,000 employees and their families associated with the number one industry in Southern Nevada," the mayor said in a statement released from her office.

The GSA conference in October 2010 at the M Resort in Henderson resulted in the head of the agency resigning after an internal investigation found the agency had dropped $823,000 on the event.

The report found that employees from GSA — the agency that oversees federal office space and supplies, transportation and management tasks — made multiple trips to Las Vegas that culminated in the conference.

At the five-day conference, expenses incurred by the 300 employees included $44 breakfasts, commemorative coins, pricey shrimp dinners and matching vests.

GSA employees stayed in luxury suites, threw semi-private parties catered by room service and spent $75,000 to build 24 bicycles for a charity group in an afternoon team-building exercise.

At one "networking reception," they were treated to beef Wellington, cheese displays and 1,000 sushi rolls priced at $7 each. Reports indicated the conference broke federal contracting regulations and far exceeded the government's meal per diem of $71 a day.

Goodman said she thought President Obama has "acted appropriately and is holding federal officials accountable for any misuse of taxpayer dollars."

She said the focus of congressional investigations should be on fiscal responsibility within the GSA "and by no means on Las Vegas."

"To do otherwise uses Las Vegas as a scapegoat and distracts from the real issue at hand," she said.

Goodman said she had "become concerned about the tone of the dialogue and how Las Vegas is being referenced."

She urged House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, who plans an official inquiry, "to hold any hearing on this matter in Washington and to focus on GSA operations and leave Las Vegas out of the dialogue.

"Failure to do so could cause harm to the Las Vegas tourism industry and jeopardize its ability to lead the economic recovery of Southern Nevada already under way."

Goodman's warnings echo similar concerns raised by Nevada officials, including her husband, former Mayor Oscar Goodman, who lambasted President Obama in 2009 for saying corporations receiving federal bailout money should stop spending the money on Las Vegas trips.

The former mayor sputtered and fumed when Obama made similar remarks a year later when Obama told those in a New Hampshire town hall meeting "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices. It's time your government did the same.""

The former mayor, who refused to meet Obama at a subsequent visit to Las Vegas, claimed that both remarks ended up hurting Las Vegas' economy by focusing a negative light on the city.