New Nevada tourism chief defended

CARSON CITY " Politics that figured in Nevada's new tourism chief leaving a similar post in Maine in 2007 were "irrelevant and immaterial" in considering his many qualifications, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki said Wednesday.

Krolicki, who oversees the state's tourism and economic development programs, added that Dann Lewis, who starts his Nevada job next week, "can't start soon enough. Our economy needs all the care that it can get."

Lewis, a veteran of more than 40 years in the tourism-hospitality business, was picked by Gov. Jim Gibbons from a list of three finalists for the $117,000-a-year Nevada job. Others included Pasquale Barone, who has been managing director of global sales for Eos Airlines in Purchase, N.Y.; and Tom Jensen with Windermere Real Estate in Washington state.

Krolicki said that in Maine, Lewis faced "a change of administration and he did not successfully make that crossover."

Lewis, a Republican, was replaced as Maine's tourism director by a veteran Democratic Party activist, Patricia Eltman. The decision was made by that state's commissioner of economic and community development, former Democratic House Speaker John Richardson.

Eltman, an adviser to Gov. John Baldacci in his 2006 re-election campaign, also had served in the House Majority Office under House Speakers Libby Mitchell and John Martin.

Maine Republican Party Chairman Joe Bruno, a former House GOP leader, said Eltman's appointment was an "absolutely outrageous" political payback.