Gibbons rings in a new GCB member

What’s up with Gov. Jim Gibbons, New Year’s Eve and the Gaming Control Board?

Twice now, Gibbons has waited until the last day of the year to name a new member to the three-person Gaming Control Board.

On Wednesday, the governor’s office announced that Mark Lipparelli, a former gaming equipment manufacturing executive, would fill an open seat on the three-member regulatory panel, replacing Mark Clayton who didn’t seek reappointment.

The appointment was revealed a little after 4:30 p.m. Most of the state’s media had either gone home, were on vacation, or handling New Year’s Eve coverage.

A position on the Control Board is one of the state’s most important governor-appointed positions, since the agency regulates Nevada’s chief industry that is responsible for nearly half of the state’s budget.

By announcing the appointment late on a day when no one is paying attention sends a signal that the governor’s office has something to hide. Coming a week after Gibbons may have botched the appointment of an executive director for the Nevada Commission on Tourism might seemingly taint Lipparelli.

By all accounts, Lipparelli, 43, comes to the control board with solid credentials and a strong gaming background, having held high-level executive positions with Bally Technologies and Shuffle Master. He also spent time as research and securities analyst for the control board.

Still, the appointment was much cleaner than the last time Gibbons filled a control board position.

Former Gov. Kenny Guinn, before he left office in December 2006, appointed his chief of staff, Keith Munro, to a vacant control board seat. However, Gibbons, moments after a midnight swearing-in ceremony on New Year’s Eve, named the control board’s chief of investigations, Randy Sayre to the position, saying his appointment superseded the former governor’s selection.

For several weeks it was unclear which appointment would stick. The control board’s January 2007 meeting was held with just two members, Clayton and Chairman Dennis Neilander. The controversy was resolved when Munro accepted a position in the attorney general’s office and Sayre was seated on the board.

Neilander said today that Lipparelli plans to participate in next week’s control board hearing, which will include the proposed buyout of Cannery Casinos by Crown Casinos of Australia, and the licensing of the $1 billion M Resort, which is scheduled to open in the spring.