Gaming board appointee Battle concluded

The battle over who is lawfully the third member of the Gaming Control Board was settled Thursday after Keith Munro, who was appointed by outgoing Gov. Kenny Guinn, agreed to step down and take a position with the attorney general's office.

As part of the deal, he will vacate the control board position, clearing the way for Randy Sayre, who was appointed to the same post by Gov. Jim Gibbons, to join the control board.

Munro, according to Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, will become her chief of staff.

"The position of chief of staff is one that I envisioned was already needed in my office and, with the full support of my assistant attorney general, we have been searching for the right candidate," said Masto. "With his prior experience working at the attorney general's office, Keith has excellent knowledge of the functions and duties of the office and will make a good transition to his new position."

But there is no such position in the unclassified pay bill passed by the 2005 Legislature so Munro will actually fill a chief deputy's position which was vacated by Johnathan Andrews when he retired from state service Jan. 2.

The base rate of pay for that position is $105,000 - $20,000 less than the control board post pays.

Masto said Munro will be based in Reno, where Andrews was, and take over the job of managing the attorney general's Reno staff.

He will also serve as legislative liaison, she said.

The deal apparently resolves a crisis created when Gibbons declared Munro's appointment to the board invalid, saying he became governor 12 seconds after midnight on the new year and, therefore, Guinn no longer had the authority to appoint Munro. Gibbons has repeatedly denied that move was political saying he believes Sayre better qualified.

But it was his second attempt to block Munro's appointment.

With two men named to the same post, Dennis Neilander, control board chairman, was forced to ask the attorney general's office for an opinion on whether Guinn had the authority in December to make an appointment effective with the new year.

That opinion is completed and, most likely, follows a 1979 attorney general's opinion in which Attorney General Richard Bryan ruled that outgoing Gov. Mike O'Callaghan had the authority to make appointments effective with the new year - which would declare Gibbons wrong and Munro the legitimate appointee. But with the deal struck, it's unlikely the opinion will be issued now.

That doesn't, however, completely settle the issue because, at the same time Guinn named Munro to the control board, he named Todd Russell to the Carson District Court bench - also effective with the new year.

That raises the question whether Russell's appointment is valid because, if not, every order signed and sentence he handed down in the past two weeks could be legally challenged.