Gov. Jim Gibbons lashed out at Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki last month after the Nevada Tourism Commission rejected the governor’s attempt to prematurely appoint its executive director.
The commission, headed by Krolicki, was on solid ground.
The governor is required by state law to appoint the executive director from among three names the commission submits to him. Although the commission had not yet submitted this list, Gibbons tried to appoint Kirk Montero, a US Airways employee in Reno.
After the commission’s rejection of Montero, Gibbons’ temper flared. He issued news releases and made statements bashing Krolicki and the commission. He complained about how long the commission was taking to give him a list, he questioned Krolicki’s integrity and he demanded an accounting of how the commission spends taxpayer money.
Last week he tried to deny his role in the mess. The Reno Gazette-Journal quoted Gibbons as saying, “I did not engage Mr. Krolicki in this fight.” The record is clear, however, that not only did Gibbons pick the fight, but he also picked the wrong fight because he is to blame in this situation.
His administration pushed out a competent, well-respected tourism chief last year to make way for Montero, who the commission decided did not stack up well against other candidates for the job.
The commission, which has narrowed its candidates to six, had been slow to compile a list of three partly because the governor has been promoting the idea of combining the Tourism Commission with the Economic Development Commission.
Gibbons spoke of this again Thursday in his State of the State speech, saying, “We eliminate redundancy and provide better services .. by combining
government agencies such as Tourism with Economic Development”
Gibbons says his motive in all of this has been to help attract tourists to Nevada. If that really is the case, he should stay out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs.
Source: Las Vegas Sun
