Agriculture board to weigh director’s axing

CARSON CITY -- The state Board of Agriculture will hold a special meeting this week to respond to Nevada Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval's mandate to get rid of its director, a move some members said they will oppose.

Sandoval, who takes office today , has told the board he would not support the reappointment of Tony Lesperance.

"We don't want to go into the legislative session with a conversation about the director," Dale Erquiaga, a senior adviser to Sandoval, said during a press briefing last month. "We want to go into the legislative session with a conversation about agriculture."

While the board hires the director of the Department of Agriculture, state law says the choice must be approved by the governor.

The board, currently with 10 members, meets Wednesday in Reno.

Chairman Alan Perazzo, a Fallon dairy farmer, said he doesn't expect a vote defying the incoming governor.

"This is no different than any other administration coming in," he said. "He wants to make a change.

But others said Lesperance should stay at least through the legislative session that begins in February to defend the agency's budget and any attempt by the administration to fold it into another department.

They said Sandoval's transition team didn't raise any objections when they met with the board and agriculture groups .

"How can we as a board have any trust in this incoming administration that they aren't going to throw us all under the bus?" said Hank Vogler, a Eureka sheep rancher and board member.