The convention boycott

What do "Reno, Orlando and Las Vegas have in common? To some pockets of the federal government, they just seem like too much fun."

So reported The Wall Street Journal, in a major feature story Wednesday.

In case anyone thought it was an isolated ad lib by an inexperienced politician when President Obama earlier this year commented that officers of private corporations receiving federal bailouts had better not travel to Las Vegas, it now turns out employees at some big federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, are being formally instructed to host meetings in such certified duller towns as St. Louis, Milwaukee or Denver -- not Las Vegas -- the Journal reports

When a conference planner for the New York-New York Hotel & Casino tried to book a conference of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she received a polite refusal.

The Department of Justice "decided conference[s] are not to be held in cities that are vacation destinations/spa/resort/gambling," according to a May e-mail from an FBI employee viewed by The Journal. "Las Vegas and Orland[o] are the first 2 on the chopping block."

A Department of Justice spokeswoman confirmed, "We do have guidance that says avoid locations and accommodations that give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations."

Travel industry lobbyists say the government policies essentially blacklist destinations in travel-dependent states, such as Nevada and Florida, despite the fact those destinations, with tens of thousands of hotel rooms and millions of square feet of conference space, often offer the best deals on meetings and conferences.

Earlier this month, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid expressed concern to the White House about the prohibition. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel wrote back saying that government travel "is not focused on specific destinations," but on cost and efficiency.

Right.

While Vegas and Orlando are banned, an Agriculture Department employee told The Journal that agency issued internal travel guidelines in the spring that encourage employees to hold meetings in "non-resort locations" including Denver, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and ... Chicago.

Now, in these times, some cutbacks to government junkets and conventions are fully appropriate. But demonizing individual cities as "too much fun"?

Thanks for the compliment, but there are other reasons conventions come to Nevada, as The Journal notes. Concentrated locations, no hailing taxis in the snow, no flights diverted by storms to charming Cincinnati.

And as for cost -- does anyone really believe that Chicago is cheaper than Las Vegas? How odd that President Obama's home town is still on the "please visit" list, while Sen. Reid -- despite all the supposed clout of his congressional leadership position -- runs into the White House equivalent of Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman.