Jeff Simpson applauds Guinn appointee Munro’s decision to do right thing, step aside

Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

Kudos to Gaming Control Board pick Keith Munro for doing the right thing and resigning his appointment rather than put the panel through a legal battle to determine who would be allowed to occupy the Control Board's third seat.

That fight could have been bloody.

While Munro's appointment by former Gov. Kenny Guinn may have been found to have been legally made, the state and the Control Board will be better served by having Gov. Jim Gibbons' excellent appointment, Control Board Investigations Chief Randy Sayre, take the job.

Not only will Sayre enjoy the confidence of the new governor, but the longtime Control Board employee brings enough experience to the position that he'll be able to hit the ground running.

Speaking of the Control Board, former member Bobby Siller - the man Sayre replaced - recently made a public comment that is cause for concern.

I covered Siller's work on the Control Board for seven years, and think he was an outstanding regulator. Tough, fair, smart and personable, Siller used his considerable talents and experience as an FBI agent to the great benefit of the panel, which polices and collects taxes from the state's gaming industry.

In a recent interview in Phil Hevener's Gaming Hotline newsletter, Siller said he'd like to change the two-tier process of Nevada gaming regulation and reduce the role of the Nevada Gaming Commission, the part-time administrative body which is the final authority on determining the suitability of licensees and awarding licenses.

"I would take a look at the two-tier process," Siller told Hevener. "I think it is inefficient to duplicate presentations before the board and commission. I do not think it is cost-effective to the state, the staff or to the licensees. If there is a situation where the board denies someone, they should have the right to be heard before the commission. If there is a split vote at the board, then a hearing before the commission should be at its discretion."

While I understand Siller's desire for efficiency and cost saving, I believe the two-tiered system works well. I like having two independent panels considering each license applicant, and think it would be a mistake to make the commission, in effect, merely an appeals panel to give denied applicants a second chance at a gaming license.

Currently the Control Board votes whether or not to recommend license approval to the commission, and the latter five-member panel makes the final decision. I don't mind having the Control Board, the policing authority, serve as the prosecutor on licensing decisions - as long as there remains an independent judge at the end of the process. Having the Control Board serve as policeman, prosecutor and judge is just too much authority for one panel.

I have followed with interest the ongoing contract dispute between Service Employees International Union-represented nurses at Desert Springs and Valley hospitals and the company which runs the hospitals.

It is encouraging that state and local government officials were able to enlist former Harrah's Entertainment boss Phil Satre to mediate contract talks between the SEIU and the Valley Health System, which operates the two hospitals in question.

Satre is highly respected and tough - he played football for Stanford along with Jim Plunkett on a team that beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

He is going to need some of that toughness to mediate the Valley-SEIU talks. Valley's group director, David Bussone, has taken an unreasonably hard line in negotiations to date, refusing to concede any of the hospitals' power to set nurse staffing levels.

Competing hospital chains have already made concessions on staffing levels in their agreements with SEIU nurses at other Las Vegas hospitals, and they should have. Adequate nurse staffing clearly has an impact on health care quality. Staffing requirements would do more than make hospitals hire more union nurses - they would help keep Nevadans healthy.