Control Board member Scherer withdraws from AG prospects

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 10:48 a.m.

Outgoing state Gaming Control Board member Scott Scherer has ended speculation about whether he would consider an appointment to attorney general, announcing Tuesday that he would enter private practice.

Scherer, whose four-year term on the board ends Dec. 31, said he would continue to serve through the January meeting, but then would accept an appointment to the statewide law firm of Hale Lane Peek Dennison & Howard.

Scherer will help build a regulatory gaming practice for Hale Lane as well as work in legislative affairs and government relations.

"Strategically, Hale Lane has targeted a regulatory gaming practice and Scott comes to us with the right mix of knowledge and experience to enable Hale Lane to expand successfully into this area," said Kristin McMillan, managing shareholder of Hale Lane in a statement issued Tuesday.

Scherer, appointed to the three-member Gaming Control Board by Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2001, was considered to be one of the prospective candidates to succeed Brian Sandoval as Nevada's attorney general. Sandoval awaits Senate confirmation of a federal judicial appointment resulting in the opening.

But Scherer said Tuesday that the rigors of mounting a political campaign to continue serving in that position after the appointment didn't appeal to him and the Hale Lane position would enable him to use his gaming-industry experience.

As the Republican nominee Scherer lost a bid for attorney general in 1998 to Democrat Frankie Sue Del Papa.

"The opportunity to help build a new gaming regulatory practice at Hale Lane was too good to pass up," Scherer said Tuesday. "The firm doesn't have a gaming regulatory practice at the present time, so there were no conflicts (of interest) created for me."

Scherer said he also would be comfortable in the government relations positions, since he served as the governor's chief of staff and was twice elected to the Nevada Assembly in the early 1990s. In 1994, he chose not to seek re-election to spend more time with his family.

Scherer spent seven years as associate general counsel and executive director of corporate development for Reno-based International Game Technology. He also assisted the Mississippi Legislature in drafting its Gaming Control Act and that state's first gaming regulations at the request of Mississippi's attorney general.

Scherer asked the governor to withdraw his name from consideration for the attorney general's vacancy, citing family and financial matters as his reasons for turning down a possible appointment.

"To meet the governor's condition of running for the office in 2006, I would need to begin a campaign in late 2005," Scherer said in a statement issued Tuesday. "I have a son who is 13 years old and I don't want to be gone for large parts of these critical years in his life. People say that I may never have another chance to be appointed to a statewide office, but my son will never be this age again either."

Scherer also said the financial considerations also were part of the decision.

"For our family, my salary has also become more important because -- although our home was spared -- our property suffered a great deal of damage during the Waterfall Fire this past summer," he said. "While insurance proceeds will cover some of the damage, our family is going to incur substantial expenses to restore the property's condition."

Meanwhile, Guinn's office said an appointment to succeed Scherer probably wouldn't be made until mid-January at the earliest.

Guinn spokesman Greg Bortolin said Tuesday that after the holidays, the governor's staff would review several recommendations for the Control Board slot.

"Scott Scherer has been very gracious through this whole process," said Bortolin. "He has agreed to continue on next month after his term expires."

Bortolin said the governor's office receives hundreds of recommendations and volunteers to serve on the dozens of state boards and commissions. He said there are no clear front-runners for the upcoming Gaming Control Board vacancy.

He also said because Scherer would attend his last meeting as a member of the board next month, the search for a successor would intensify in January.

Bortolin did not disclose any names of candidates under consideration.

Industry insiders say that among the possible successors are two Control Board officials, Gregg Gale, chief of the unit's audit division and Todd Westergard, a hearing officer who handles work permits and patron dispute hearings. Another name being floated as a possible replacement is Don Soderberg, chairman of the state Public Utilities Commission.

Soderberg said today it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the speculation. Gale and Westergard could not be reached for comment.