Tourism board sends governor three names to lead agency

By Richard N. Velotta (contact), In Business reporter

Fri, Mar 6, 2009 (2 a.m.)

With the outlook a little brighter of keeping the Nevada Tourism Commission and the Nevada Economic Development Commission separate, the tourism board voted March 2 to submit three names for a prospective director to Gov. Jim Gibbons.

The finalists are Pasquale Barone, former managing director for global sales, Eos Airlines in Purchase, N.Y.; Dann H. Lewis, former project manager for the Transportation and Tourism Research Initiative with the Maine Transportation Department; and Tom Jensen, a real estate professional at Windermere Real Estate, South Whidbey Island, Wash., and the former director of marketing for Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Ski Resort.

The three were among five semifinalists interviewed publicly by the commission. Initially, a search committee selected six candidates from a field of about 70 applicants, but one candidate removed herself from consideration when she took another job.

By law, Gibbons must choose from among the selections or reject all three for the opening created when Tim Maland resigned in September.

Commissioners were most impressed with Barone and Lewis, whom they endorsed unanimously, but the nine board members were split on the third finalist. After a brief discussion, Jensen was selected as the third finalist in a 5-4 vote. He beat out Charles Pullen, a Reno-based regional account supervisor for Northern California and Nevada with Zimmerman Advertising, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

At one point, at the suggestion of Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who heads the commission, the board considered submitting Maland’s name with Barone and Lewis to be assured that the governor would pick between the two top candidates. Maland quit after saying he felt he did not have the governor’s backing in his management of the state’s tourism initiatives.

Whether there even will be a Tourism Commission is a matter being debated in the Nevada Legislature.

The governor’s proposed budget considered the possibility of merging the Tourism and Economic Development commissions as a cost-cutting measure, a move being fought by both boards.

Before the Tourism Commission met March 2, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee discussed bill drafts that would merge the commissions, and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley said she was leaning against a merger after learning that the proposal would have a minimal effect on savings.

“It’s not a done deal,” Krolicki said at the tourism meeting, “but at least it’s an encouraging development.”

The five candidates were told of the development in their interviews.

In other business, commissioners were told about the state’s upcoming tourism marketing plans and board members discussed drafting letters to state leaders about a proposal to divert room tax revenue currently earmarked to the commission to the state’s general fund.

Like the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the state is looking to develop a marketing plan that diverts from its existing Nevada branding campaign to one that emphasizes a greater urgency to travel to the state as a getaway. The state’s marketing professionals are expected to develop a plan to be reviewed within a month that would focus on markets along the state’s periphery — California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah — and concentrate on radio, Internet and print ads, abandoning television ads as too expensive.

Historically, the commission received revenue directly from room taxes, but under proposals in bill drafts, the revenue would go to the state general fund and the commission would be funded by the general fund. The change likely would mean less funding for tourism initiatives since the commission would have to compete with other state departments for money. The change in philosophy came, in part, as a result of advisory questions approved by voters in Clark and Washoe counties. The state’s rural counties, which did not have advisory votes, would likely be the hardest hit by the move.

Board members also are considering drafting a letter to the Obama administration asking the president to clarify that his concern is with Trouble Assets Relief Program bailout money being used for frivolous expenses, not with travel to meetings and conventions in places such as Las Vegas.

The matter was raised by commissioners Eric Bello and Chuck Bowling, executives of Las Vegas Sands and MGM Mirage, respectively, who said their companies are getting hammered with meeting cancellations by groups that misinterpreted the president’s remarks about the spending of TARP funds.