During the past several weeks, I have followed the ongoing Nevada Appeal news stories about a Brad Quilici of Lovelock with a great deal of personal interest.
Quilici is a recent Governor's appointee to represent Sportsmen's Interests on the Nevada State Board of Wildlife Commissioners.
Let me begin by very clearly stating that I am not related to Brad Quilici.
I do not know him.
I have never met him.
Most importantly, regardless of whether his last name is Jones, Smith, Quilici or whatever, he should not be a Nevada wildlife commissioner.
I normally write my columns in a light-hearted manner about outdoor things, activities, individuals or groups that I think the readers of the Outdoor Page will find interesting or entertaining.
However, once in a great while, I get fired up, rant and rave, wave my arms and raise my voice about something that really bothers me.
This is one of those columns.
Here's some recent "Don Q" comments:
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Geez, that's unbelievable!"
"What in the heck is going on?"
All of those comments were in reference to Quilici's appointment to the Wildlife Commission.
As you may recall, the Governor recently appointed several individuals to that wildlife commission and that's the basis for this column.
By way of background, as is quite common with any incoming governor, he/she appoints a large number of individuals to the various boards, commissions, committees, etc. of the State of Nevada. And particularly so when the incoming governor (Gov. Guinn) is of a different party that the outgoing governor (Gov. Miller).
For whatever reason, the most highly-sought-after appointments are those to the State Board of Wildlife Commissioners. Many people seek a seat on that particular commission. Many seek but few are chosen. And when they are chosen, I, for one, expect them to have impeccable qualifications. Brad Quilici does not have impeccable qualifications.
Gov. Guinn recently replaced Merv Matorian of Carson City who represented Sportsmen's Interests and Bill Frade of Yerington who represented Farming and Ranching Interests.
Sounds pretty simple and straight forward doesn't it?
Well, it was....for a while.
Then it began to get complicated.
For you see, Frade was initially replaced by Jim Ornellas of Douglas County to represent Farming and Ranching Interests on the commission. However, there was one small problem. It seems that after Ornellas' appointment, someone belatedly discovered that Mr. Ornellas was not a farmer or rancher. He had to be subsequently replaced by a Eric Olsen of Fallon.
Geez, how hard is it to check on someone's credentials and background?
With a little bit of effort, a lot of embarrassment for everyone could have been avoided. Most particularly for poor Ornellas who is probably still wondering what happened. One day he was a brand new, wildlife commissioner, the next day he was gone!
Then there is Matorian's replacement.
Quilici was appointed to take Matorian's seat on the commission.
There is a major-sized problem with that particular appointment.
Some years ago, Quilici was charged with seven fish and game violations for activities associated with trapping. A judge then found him guilty on five of those seven charges and he was convicted and fined.
Four violations involved leaving trap bait exposed, which is prohibited primarily to prevent eagles and other protected raptors from seeing the bait and becoming trapped. The fifth was for not visiting and checking his trap line in the American Canyon area of Pershing County.
Again, how hard is it to check on someone's credentials and background?
Why appoint someone with a total of SEVEN fish and game citations and FIVE convictions to represent the state's sportsmen?
That doesn't make any sense to me.
He sure as heck doesn't represent what I believe in and stand for.
There are far too many highly-qualified individuals in Nevada with NO convictions who could be appointed to that sportsman's seat.
Then in a follow-up news story, it was reported that Quilici had been terminated from his job as a maintenance technician at the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT). "Terminated" is a polite way of saying "being fired." Inside sources told me that what Quilici did certainly warranted getting terminated (fired).
So in summary, we have an individual appointed to represent Sportsmen's Interests who has a record of five convictions for fish and game violations and who did something serious enough to get fired from his job at NDOT.
Press Secretary Jack Finn in the Governor's office was recently reported to have said, "We still look forward to him doing a fine job."
Excuse me!
Get real!
As a sportsman, I want my wildlife commissioners to be "Squeaky" clean.
Brad Quilici is not squeaky clean.
He should resign.
- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you what happens if you are a member of the Ormsby Sportsmen's Association of Carson City and get convicted for any fish and game violation.
He will be absolutely correct if he says, "That person is automatically expelled from that sportsmen's club."