It’s Goodman V. Obama: Here’s the Mayor’s letter to the President

Never let it be said Mayor Oscar Goodman chooses to fight opponents only in his weight class.

Goodman is stepping up his criticism of President Barack Obama. In an interview early this afternoon, Goodman told me his office has already received contacts from people whose companies have canceled planned Las Vegas meetings due to the controversy associated with Obama’s comment, “

"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.”

Obama was clearly talking about companies that accept federal bailout billions, but Goodman says the public isn’t drawing the distinction.

“This is worrisome business,” Goodman said. “This has a real effect here. When the President of the United States says something flippantly, perhaps not with any malevolence, it gets people listening. If we keep losing meetings and conventions it will have a real impact on our community. This is a real thing here.”

I think Goodman is dreaming if he seriously expects to get an apology from President Obama. Maybe he'd accept a few million for the Mob Museum as a way of letting bygones be bygones.

Here's Goodman’s letter (which reads surprisingly like a well-tuned sales pitch for Las Vegas and the LVCVA): http://media.lvrj.com/documents/goodman_letter.pdf