Lobbyist Penne fired by Guinn

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 11:21 a.m.

Leo Penne, longtime director for Nevada's lobbying office in Washington, D.C., has been fired by Gov. Kenny Guinn.

"We are reorganizing that office," Jack Finn, spokesman for Guinn, confirmed today. Penne, who has been the Nevada lobbyist for 13 years, is to leave his post on June 30, the day his contract expires.

"Mr. Penne's contract is not being renewed," Finn said, noting that Penne has been informed of that decision.

The state lobbying office, which operates on a nearly $250,000-a-year budget, will remain in operation.

Finn said interviews are under way for a new director for the office that also has one full-time employee and one part-time worker.

"The office will play a very important role on Capitol Hill, especially in the areas of economic development, tourism and (the proposed nuclear dump at) Yucca Mountain," Finn said.

He declined to discuss further reconstruction plans for the office or what its proposed budget and number of employees will be.

That information likely will be discussed Wednesday when the matter comes before the Assembly Ways and Means Committee in Carson City.

Efforts to reach Penne for comment were unsuccessful.

His office came under legislative scrutiny in March 1997 for being a potential -- and expensive -- duplication of services.

Penne appeared before committees in both houses of the Nevada Legislature to answer questions, some of which were embarrassing.

For example, Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Nev., who has called for the elimination of Nevada's lobbying office in Washington, D.C., asked Penne if he is just a "greeter" who welcomes Nevada officials to the nation's capital.

Penne said he acts as a facilitator, coordinating Nevada's effort to get federal funds or heading off programs that might hurt the state. He cited work that helped raise the state's share of federal highway construction funds from $84 million in 1990 to about $130 million in 1997.

Assemblyman David Goldwater, D-Las Vegas, said Nevada's congressional delegation and its staff members, as well as lobbyists hired by local interest groups, possibly render Penne's office unnecessary.

Penne, who appeared that day before the Senate Finance Committee as well as Assembly Ways and Means, was seeking a $239,000 budget for fiscal-year 1998 and $246,000 for fiscal-year 1999.

Penne also had his supporters that day.

"I appreciate the Washington office," said Assemblyman Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas. "I do not go to Washington without calling on it to check what is happening."

Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, said: "You will never know how valuable it is until you use it."

Price and Jacobsen, like Giunchigliani and Goldwater, are members of the current Legislature and again will wrestle with the proposed budget for the Nevada lobbying office.