Columnist Jeff German: Reading the official Guinn line

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

If you follow government for any length of time, you learn to be skeptical of what public officials tell us.

Word got out this week that Gov. Kenny Guinn decided not to reappoint Gaming Commission member Augie Gurrola to a fourth term.

The official line from the governor's office was that Gurrola, whose third term expired at the end of April, graciously agreed to remain on the five-member commission a couple of extra months so that the governor could take his time finding a replacement.

What the governor's office didn't tell us was that Gurrola, a commission member since 1992, asked to stay on until the end of June so that he could qualify for a small pension under the Public Employees Retirement System.

In 1999 the Legislature passed a bill allowing part-time gaming commissioners, who earn $40,000 a year, into the retirement system. The bill became law in July 1999, which means that on July 1, if Gurrola holds onto his job a little longer, he'll qualify for a $5,200 state-paid annual pension.

If the governor appoints Gurrola's replacement before the end of June, however, Gurrola loses the pension.

Guinn aides said the governor made no deal with Gurrola, but is aware of the commissioner's pension situation.

And so it is no coincidence that the governor's people are telling reporters that Guinn may not settle on a successor until -- you guessed it -- the end of June.

Elsewhere on his appointment agenda, Guinn is resurrecting the public career of Carolyn Sparks, who served on the Board of Regents from 1984 to 1996.

Sparks was named today to the fifth seat on the state Taxicab Authority, which has been slow to take action to protect Las Vegas cabbies.

To appreciate the irony of her appointment, you need a history lesson.

As interim UNLV president in 1994, Guinn exposed the under-the-table dealings of his predecessor, Bob Maxson, in hiring Rollie Massimino to succeed the legendary Jerry Tarkanian as basketball coach.

Maxson had put together a secret supplemental contract for Massimino in 1992 with the help of influential UNLV donors. The agreement promised the coach an extra $375,000 a year for five years on top of his $511,000 public salary.

Maxson informed Sparks, who chaired the regents at the time, of the secret deal, but asked her to keep it confidential. She obliged and never informed her fellow regents, as they approved the $511,000 salary package without the benefit of knowing that Massimino was going to be getting a whole lot more money.

It was one of the most underhanded deals of all time involving public officials in Nevada.

When Guinn discovered the contract in 1994, he went public with it, which created an outcry in the community against Maxson and Sparks and forced Massimino to resign.

Eventually, the state Ethics Commission found that ethics laws prohibiting public employees from accepting private money for their duties were violated, and it criticized the regents for failing to safeguard that process.

The ethics panel, however, had no authority to issue any penalties.

But that was 10 years ago -- which Guinn apparently believes is enough time for Sparks to have learned from her mistakes.