Gibbons continues spat with panel

RENO -- Gov. Jim Gibbons reignited his criticism of the Nevada Commission on Tourism over its rejection of his pick for its executive director and said the agency is wasting money by targeting the Asian tourist market.

In a statement issued after business hours on New Year's Eve, Gibbons essentially said the office of Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who is chairman of the tourism board, was lying when it said the application of Kirk Montero was received too late to be considered.

Krolicki, reached by telephone Thursday, said he was dismayed by the governor's statements.

"I'm disappointed with the governor's tone and I find it unfortunate," Krolicki said.

Gibbons criticized the commission for targeting Asia "and other parts of the world" that he said are outside Nevada's primary tourist markets.

"In light of our current worldwide recession, I believe strongly that these efforts are a waste of taxpayers' money," Gibbons said.

He did not elaborate where he thought marketing should be directed, and his spokesman, Dan Burns, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

In 2004, Nevada became the first non-nation to win approval from the Chinese government to open a tourism office there and advertise directly to the Chinese public.

"The Chinese economy remains one of the more vibrant in the world," Krolicki said, adding that with a population of 1.3 billion, the Asian market is important to Nevada's tourism-fueled economy.

"The more Asian tourists we can bring to fill our rooms, fill our dinner tables, see our shows ... the quicker we will recover from our slowdown," Krolicki said.

Krolicki also questioned Gibbons' defense of Montero to lead the tourism agency and his push to fill the post quickly, given the uncertain fate of the director's post.

"It's somewhat confusing, the instructions we're receiving from the governor's office," Krolicki said.

He said the governor's budget office informed staff Wednesday afternoon that the tourism director's job is targeted for elimination under a Gibbons proposal to merge the tourism commission and Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

Gibbons announced the appointment of Montero on Christmas Eve to replace Tim Maland, who resigned in September.

Montero, 60, is station manager for US Airways at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Before that, he was reservations manager for Reno Air.

But the tourism commission rejected Montero's appointment on Monday. Under state law, the governor must appoint a new director from three finalists recommended by the commission.

Krolicki said Montero's application was received after the deadline, and that to consider him would require reopening the process, something commissioners were unwilling to do.

Instead, the commission voted 9-0 to continue its own search, and said it would narrow its list of candidates for the $117,000-a-year job by mid-January.

Gibbons, in his press release Wednesday night, disputed the statement that Montero's application was tardy, saying his deputy chief of staff, Mendy Elliott, "personally hand-delivered Montero's application" to the lieutenant governor's office "long before the application deadline."

"I believe Kirk is uniquely qualified for this position because he has intimate knowledge of visitor travel patterns into our state and we need someone to head the (commission) that can hit the ground running, we need someone for that position that has hands-on experience, not a Harvard MBA," the governor said.

Krolicki denied receiving Montero's application, adding that the job announcement indicated applications should be addressed to a personnel representative at the commission's office, not the lieutenant governor.

"We had 67 applicants who managed to understand the process," he said.