Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.
With Brian Sandoval's term as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission now at an end, speculation is starting in earnest over who his successor will be.
At this point, two names are mentioned most often as possible successors -- Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, and Scott Scherer, a member of the state Gaming Control Board.
But the two Republicans would face difficult decisions if the call comes from Gov. Kenny Guinn. James would be required to give up his state senate seat, while Scherer would have to surrender his control board position.
Jack Finn, spokesman for Guinn, declined to comment on potential nominees for the state's most powerful gaming regulatory position, though he said the governor wants to fill the position as quickly as possible. The commission next meets in Carson City on Aug. 23.
"It's an important appointment, and the governor wants to make sure he looks at all qualified candidates," Finn said.
The commission chairmanship is the state's top gaming regulatory job. It's considered a particularly crucial position now, as the commission has the final authority on whether Internet gaming should be legalized and regulated in Nevada. Other issues that the commission will almost certainly face in the next few years include problem gambling and national efforts to roll back sports betting, said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. That makes political savvy important.
"These are all things the control board and the commission will take a leadership role in," Eadington said. "(The chairman) has to have a perspective that goes beyond good business sense, beyond the operating side of the industry."
The control board and commission are two separate entities. The control board is a law enforcement body, overseen by three full-time members. It makes licensing and disciplinary recommendations to the commission, and is responsible for the collection of gaming taxes from Nevada casinos. The commission is made up of five part-time members, who have the final say on all licensing, regulatory and disciplinary decisions in the state.
James, a Las Vegas attorney, is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is considered one of the senate's rising leaders. There has been speculation James will seek the attorney general's job in 2002; Sandoval, also a Republican, resigned from the commission because he's seriously considering making a run at the same post.
The most high profile legislative effort by James involving gaming recently was Senate Bill 335, introduced by James in the most recent session of the Legislature. The landmark bill would have provided $250,000 in state funds to help support problem gambling initiatives, and would have required the state's public schools to offer educational courses about problem gambling. Nevada is one of the few gambling states that provides no public funds for problem gambling.
But talk of a huge budget deficit stalled most bills with new appropriations. That was the case with James' bill, which died when the legislature failed to vote on it before adjourning.
Still, James showed leadership by bringing up the issue, said Shannon Bybee, executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute.
"James certainly has visibility, and he has an open mind on some of these (gaming) issues," Bybee said. "He's certainly been a friend of the compulsive gambler, and (has) an understanding of the problem."
James said he's heard the speculation that he could be nominated for the commission chairmanship, though he said he hasn't discussed the issue with Guinn. But taking that post would require him to give up his senate seat, and as a result, James doesn't sound enthusiastic about taking the job.
"It would be a change of direction for me, because my focus always has been, and is likely to continue to be, elected office," James said. "I am focused on my elected office, I enjoy serving my constituents."
There is some precedent for the commission chairmanship to be a stepping stone to higher political office. Harry Reid took a break from a rising political career to serve as chairman of the commission from 1977 to 1982; one year after stepping down, he was elected to the U.S. House and was later elected to the U.S. Senate.
However, Bybee said, Reid is really the only modern precedent for using the commission chairmanship as a boost to political aspirations.
"It's not a normal stepping stone, and I think the governor would prefer that it not be," Bybee said. "Then it brings politics too much into the situation."
That was Sandoval's concern. Though he hasn't officially decided whether to run for attorney general, Sandoval said he didn't want to create the appearance that future decisions were linked to politics.
But with Sandoval, "you're moving from one law enforcement position to another, so that's less of a politically charged situation than going from the commission to run for (other) public office."
Scherer, like James, has political experience. Prior to joining the control board in January, Scherer served as Guinn's chief of staff. He also served two terms in the state assembly, and made an unsuccessful run for attorney general against Frankie Sue Del Papa in 1998.
There had been some speculation that Scherer, an attorney by training, would be nominated to succeed Steve DuCharme as chairman of the control board, but that post went to Dennis Neilander, who was a sitting member of the control board.
Scherer would have to give up his seat on the control board to take the commission post. And unlike the control board job, the commission chairmanship is a part-time job, so Scherer would likely have to resume his law practice, but without any gaming clients.
"It's something I'd be willing to consider if it's something the governor wants me to do, but there's a lot of difficult decisions to make in a fairly compressed time frame," Scherer said. "How I'd pay my mortgage, for example."
"I'm sure he could probably get some (law) business," Bybee said. "Most of his experience in the last few years has been in the gaming area. He obviously has a good background for it, with his political experience. There's no question he'd be a very capable chairman."
What's unlikely, observers say, is that Guinn would select one of the four sitting commissioners -- Arthur Marshall, Sue Wagner, Augie Gurrola and Radha Chanderraj -- to succeed Sandoval. None are attorneys, and it's likely Guinn would want an attorney running the commission, Bybee said.
"I don't think that position has been held (by an non-attorney) since at least the late 1960s," Bybee said. "You're having to deal with lawyers, make rulings, that sort of thing."
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