Goodman vs. Sisolak, III; Good news for Virgin Hotel

It’s a good thing that stupidity is not contagious or the mayor of Las Vegas would be Patient Zero. Has Carolyn Goodman (I) been sneaking sips of her husband’s martinis? A seemingly inebriated mayor of Sin City took to the airwaves yesterday for an extended interview that went deep into ‘survival of the fittest’ territory. At the end of the day, the Carolyn Goodmans, Brian Kemps and Barry Sternlichts of the world can say, ‘Get back to work!’ because they’re the beneficiaries of the velvet-rope economy. They’ll have their medical concierges and private hospital suites (and subsidized insurance), unlike the working people they want to put at risk. Interestingly, the major casino companies appear to be in no rush. Wynn Resorts has proposed a two- to four-week delay in reopening the Strip, while MGM Resorts International has told Wall Street it’s predicating upon a June resumption.

Goodman’s remarks didn’t play well. Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones (D) called her “an embarrassment,” while Rep. Dina Titus (D) said she neither “literally or figuratively” represents the Vegas Valley. “Workplaces need to be safe and healthy—not a petri dish,” blasted Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline, calling the Cooper interview “outrageous considering essential frontline workers have been dealing with the consequences of this crisis firsthand.” (If you’ve lost the Culinary, you’ve lost Nevada.) “I will not allow the citizens of Nevada, our Nevadans, to be used as a control group, as a placebo, whatever she wants to call it,” added Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), who has the last word on the subject, literally and figuratively, as Titus would say. Even condo exec—and ‘george’ Dem donor Stephen Cloobeck could take no more, erupting with “She has nothing to do with the Strip, and we’re sick and tired of hearing this.” He called Goodman’s comments “bullshit,” which may be putting it nicely.

* Speaking of Wynncore, it has extended its closing to May 22. Reservations for dates before that will be automatically canceled and refunded. Meanwhile, Treasure Island has started taking reservations for May 15 and later, which would make it the first Las Vegas Strip casino to reopen.

* Vital Vegas author Scott Roeben has been following our coverage of Sir Richard Branson‘s troubles and thinks we’re overplaying it: re Virgin Hotel Las Vegas. “It hasn’t really been put out there, but Branson/Virgin have a minority piece of the project, and it will have zero impact even if the company or Branson go south for some reason. It’s not just a licensing deal, but not far from it, so there’s no threat of anything going awry with Virgin Vegas. Thought I’d pass that along, as your assumption is a logical one, it’s just not the reality with this project, thankfully. We don’t need anything else falling through at the moment.” Ain’t that the truth! (R.I.P. The Drew.)

* To end on an upbeat note, former Jersey Boys musical director Keith Thompson has assembled a veritable army of Las Vegas-based musical talents (Clint Holmes is probably the best-known) to record a let’s-get-through-this anthem. So many performers were enlisted that Las Vegas Philharmonic premier violinist DeAnn LeTourneau had to switch to viola. Here’s the video, to provide a few precious moments of uplift in these difficult times. Yes, it’s schmaltzy as all get-out but don’t say we never offered anything positive …