Airport official back in homeland security post despite payback

Until quite recently, there was a four-year hiatus where no one from McCarran International Airport was represented on Nevada's Homeland Security Commission, which seems exceptionally dumb.

Apparently that was a decision made by former Gov. Jim Gibbons for an ignoble reason: Payback.

Gov. Brian Sandoval remedied that on Sept. 8 when he reappointed Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director of the Clark County Aviation Department.

She had been appointed by Gov. Kenny Guinn in 2004; then Gibbons tossed her off in July 2007 without any explanation. Even worse, he didn't replace her with anyone from the airport.

Now, as any fool knows, aviation is the first likely target of terrorists.

"I was absolutely perplexed, kind of shocked. I thought I was a good member. I went to every meeting. I took it very seriously and, with my background in finance, I was able to help with grants, not for the airport, but for other agencies," Vassiliadis told me last week.

Of course, it had nothing to do with her or her qualifications. It had to do with her husband, political consultant Billy Vassiliadis, who had been open about his criticism of the GOP governor.

"Apparently the name Vassiliadis was not far from the governor's mind. In my parlance, I'd call it payback," he said.

Earlier that year, during the Legislature, Gibbons pushed an effort to raid the $325 million five-year contract with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the biggest marketing client of Vassiliadis' R&R Partners, and divert it to transportation.

Gibbons was trying to get back at Billy Vassiliadis two ways: by insulting his wife and hurting him financially.

It had nothing to do with Rosemary Vassiliadis' capability.

Did you know that when Sept. 11 occurred and planes were grounded in the United States, McCarran was the first airport the Federal Aviation Administration allowed to return planes to the air, because of the savvy efforts of Vassiliadis and her team?

"We started the certification process while we were closed, and that's why we were ready to go. We had to scour every inch of the airport and make sure it was completely clean, there was not anybody there who shouldn't be there. Every garbage can was emptied," Rosemary Vassiliadis said.

"When they told us we were the very first ones (to get certified), I said: 'What was everyone else doing?' "

The airport closed at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, and reopened 2½ days later, on Sept. 13, testament to her goal-oriented personality and skills.

Then Vassiliadis and her team faced dealing with 10,000 people wanting to go home at once. All this was her responsibility because Aviation Director Randall Walker, attending a conference in Montreal, also was grounded.

Since that day, there have been no terrorism incidents involving McCarran, she said. "We get information that appears to be credible, but it never rises to the top where it's obstructed operations."

That's no reason to ignore the airport when appointing Homeland Security commissioners. The cooperative effort is to make sure one agency isn't conflicting with another, she said. "Why would you not have such a key element (the airport) on such a key commission?"

Sandoval made himself chairman of the commission, showing how important he considers it. He also serves on the National Governors Association committee dealing with homeland security.

The governor removed the Department of Public Safety head from the committee because there was an appearance of impropriety to have someone who oversees the distribution of state grant money voting on where Homeland Security grants should go, Sandoval spokeswoman Mary-Sarah Kinner said.

Notice Sandoval made that change to avoid conflicts. He didn't do it for spite, or to insult someone's spouse.

(More in my blog about the falling out this caused between PR titans Billy Vassiliadis and Sig Rogich in 2007.)

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison.