European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse . Presidency has no Appeal for likable Guy every few years in order to Slop being hounded by reporters i have to announce my intention not to run for the presidency so i d like to make a statement. I am Only going to say this once and there will be no questions afterwards. I am not now and have no intentions of Ever becoming a candidate for the presidency. A lot of nuts Are announcing their intentions of running against George Bush but i am not one of them. I have other ways of making a fool of myself. I want to express my gratitude to All of you who have urged me to do so. But my decision is irreversible. I am unequivocal. It in t that i m incompetent a incompetence never stopped Antonc from being president a it s just that 1 done to want to give up the Best Job in the world to take on the worst. There Are other reasons. To begin with i never know whether to capitalize the word a the Quot when i write a the United do you want a president who can to make a decision like that i do capitalize a president Quot when it s of the United slates. And then 1 Don t want to be disliked by As Many people As a president always is. When Thev announced that president Bush s popularity was at an All time High something like 62 percent approved of the Way he was handling the Job. That Means 38 percent did t approve and that a a lot of americans to have hating you. No ones Neutral about the president. They love you or they Hale you. On the average week i get maybe 10 letters from people who hate me. Ten 1 can handle but 38 percent of 250 million would be More Hale than i could take week alter week without becoming depressed. The Campaign Money bothers me. I m basically an honest person but a Campaign involves raising huge sums and its a very vague kind of Money. If 1 had several million dollars lying around that had been thrown in a pile by people trying to get in Good with me in Case i got elected. I d find it hard not to help myself to a Little of it the Way candidates often do. 1 Don t want to be Temple. The living conditions Are not to my liking. It s a Nice House you get but we be lived in ours since 1951. Wed have to move to Washington temporarily and i done to want our House sitting empty for eight years. A Good example of what can happen to a president s House that s left empty while the owner is away being president is what happened to or. Bush s Home in Kennebunkport during the storm. And anyway. 1 would t like living in a House with a Fence round it and guards at the Gate. 1 done to even like those Rich communities that put bumps in the Road so people can to go very fast. I Don t know How Many bedrooms there Are in the White House but 1 know Margie would end up making a lot More Beds than she does now a which is one. There s a lot of help at the White House but even so the first lady ends up doing some Grubby work. To Tell you the truth. I m probably temperamentally better equipped to be president than Margie is to be first lady. She would t Lake to that waving slip d be expected to do at the top of the Steps when Thuv re getting on air Force one. And we done to even have a dog. 1 know darn Well our kids like me being president it s bad enough i m on <�0 a i i tits As far As they re concerned. None of them work for Shady savings and Loans or anything like that but 1 know they would t care for the publicity. So please Don t draft me to run Lor the presidency. You could search the world Over without finding someone who a do a worse Job in the worst Job in the world than 1 would. Tribune Media Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes Las vegas owes existence to bugs a a dreamy Robert Macy the associated press in the 1940s-, mobster Benjamin a Bug syn Siegel came to Las vegas seeking to buy some respectability with dreams and Dol a a. History was on his Side time was not. When Siegel opened his glitzy Flamingo resort in 1946, Complete with Hollywood hoopla no one dreamed his desert jewel would someday evolve into the ribbon of hotels and casinos known As the Las vegas strip. His assassination six months later in his girlfriends Beverly Hills mansion proved the mob Wasny to buying bugs a a vision of a new Las vegas. This months release of the movie bugs starring Warren Beatty in the title role brings Back memories to old timers dredging up ghosts of mobsters past who helped make the City the capital of gaming and Glitz. A Las vegas he what it is today without bugs Siegel 1 says Louis Wiener a Las vegas attorney who became siegels Legal counsel in 1945 after heating him in a court Case. A i think he really wanted to he an on the Square businessman. He thought this was going to be a great place and lie was after world War ii Siegel bought a Patch of desert on the old los Angeles Highway South of los vegas for the site of a luxury hotel and gaming resort. Mob associates thought he had lost his senses plunking millions into a hotel in the Middle of the desert. Tri Stor pictures Warren Beatty and Annette Bening Star in a new movie about a Bug syn Siegel. Locals agreed. They referred to bugs s new place As being a outta town because it was Miles from downtown. Las vegas was a Dusty desert town of 8,500. No one dreamed it would grow a Hundredfold in the next 45 years. Siegel was reputed to be the West coast Boss for the infamous murder inc. And was indicted in California several times on murder charges hut never convicted. He was reported to hold the organized crime rights to Southern California Nevada and Arizona. He had a Tough time Selling associates on spending $1 million for a desert resort. Mob Bosses were irate As the Cost soared past 56 million. A the got ripped off pretty Good a Wiener said of inflated prices and Cost overruns at bugs s Flamingo. A contractors overcharged him. They claimed they put material in and they did with the inflated costs Siegel found himself turning to mob associates for $3 million. Siegel did t have enough Money for the gaming License and had to ask Wiener to come up with the $8,000 until he got a new infusion of Cash. The Long awaited opening of siegels resort came Dee. 26, 1946, with the mobster chartering a plane to bring stars and friends from Hollywood. The plane was grounded but stars Jimmy Durante and Xavier Cugal arrived by train and went on As scheduled. During a two week opening hash the Casino lost heavily and Siegel s problems multiplied. If Luck had been on his Side it could have changed the bugs Siegel Story. A it was so crowded you could t get in the joint a Wiener recalled Oft he opening. A they could have won the Cost of the hotel if they d dealt Lucky. If they d have taken the Edge taken better Odds for the House they a have won three train loads of the casinos loss in the first two weeks was reported at $300,000 a a staggering sum in those Days. A Siegol shaken by the losses closed the resort until the hotels rooms were opened on March 27. The fact the hotel rooms weren to ready when the Casino opened meant gamblers had to leave the properly and seek lodging Miles from the Remote resort. With Only one airline serving the town los Angeles twice the driving time it is today and a tiny local population base from which to draw business was limited to weekends Wiener recalled. Bugs a a desert dream became a Nightmare As he scrambled to pay for a property saturated in debt. On june 20, 1947, gunmen shot and killed Siegel As he sat in the living room of Girlfriend Virginia Hills Beverly Hills Home. Within minutes two associates took control of the Flamingo which was sold years later to billionaire Kirk scr Korian then to the Hilton hotel corporation. The Flamingo has grown from the original 105 rooms to 3,530 today making it one of the worlds 29, 1991 sunday a Page 7
