Guinn’s gamesmanship gives Gibbons’ control board appointee two terms

Nevada’s newest Gaming Control Board member, Mark Lipparelli, is serving the shortest term in the board’s history — a mere 25 days. Lipparelli’s quirky term began Jan. 1 and ends Jan. 25.

So, is the new guy the shortest of short-timers?

Probably not. He’s more a two-termer than a short-timer.

Gov. Jim Gibbons will reappoint him to a four-year term starting Jan. 26.

Lipparelli’s term is the first one up since a law passed in 2007 changing the date the control board members’ terms begin. Instead of starting Jan. 1, they’ll begin the first Monday in January after they’re appointed. We can thank former Gov. Kenny Guinn’s head-butting with Gibbons for that, along with students at the Boyd Law School.

Guinn decided one way he’d leave his mark on Nevada was to use the time before Gibbons’ swearing in on Jan. 1, 2007, to name two control board members. One was not controversial and acceptable to Gibbons — naming Chairman Dennis Neilander to another term. The second choice was not acceptable to Gibbons. Guinn named his then-Chief of Staff Keith Munro, thereby taking away Gibbons’ right to choose. (If you recall, the two Republican governors are not bosom buddies.)

Gibbons countered by getting sworn in just after midnight New Year’s Eve in a private and unannounced ceremony, proving Guinn wasn’t the only game-playing governor in Carson City. (Gibbons ended up having three swearing-in ceremonies as governor and, with his pitiful popularity ratings, many Nevadans are wishing he’d never had even one.)

Gibbons said the midnight swearing in was necessary for security reasons so he could immediately appoint two people to top security jobs. Guess he feared terrorists might march through Washoe Valley if his own guys weren’t in office. It was not widely accepted as believable, but that was his story and he stuck with it.

More plausible was that if he were governor right at midnight, it would block Guinn’s appointment of Munro.

The flap dominated Gibbons’ first week in office and ended only when Munro accepted a job as chief of staff for Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. What was amusing about the governors trying to outdo each other is that, in the end, Gov. Gibbons selected the second person Gov. Guinn thought would be a good choice, Randy Sayre, chief of investigations at the control board.

Lipparelli said Tuesday he knew he’d be appointed twice, once for 25 days and once for four years, but said he hadn’t thought much about it because he was too busy preparing for his first Gaming Control Board meeting on Wednesday and today.

Did he follow the flap between Guinn and Gibbons two years ago? “Only a little bit,” Lipparelli said.

The newest member of the control board said he’s pretty serious. The 43-year-old has experience with technology, marketing and finance, which should stand him in good stead.

Gibbons did not seek the change in the law leading to Lipparelli’s diminutive term. Six students of the 2007 Gaming Law Policy Seminar at the Boyd School of Law argued for its passage — Lauren Pena, William Devine, Charles Rainey, Michelle L’Hommedieu, Quinton Singleton and Brandon McDonald, the gaming law legislative team.

Their instructor, attorney Bob Faiss, said they were inspired by a column by Jeff Simpson, business editor of the Las Vegas Sun, who suggested changing the terms of the control board members so the conflicting appointments by criss-crossing governors wouldn’t occur again.

The terms of Neilander and Sayre will expire Dec. 31, 2010, so their seats will also have a double-appointment process. The constitution limited the terms to four years, so it wasn’t possible to just change the dates and extend the outgoing members’ terms by a month.

Guinn wasn’t the only governor to try to undercut his successor by saddling the next governor with unwanted appointees. Gov. Grant Sawyer did it 40 years earlier; he just didn’t have the audacity to try it for such a major appointment as a gaming regulator, one of the key appointments for any governor.

No future governor, including Gibbons, can try to extend his influence past his term by foisting his choice for the control board on the next governor.

In fairness, that’s not a bad thing.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/