Columnist Dean Juipe: Governor(s) misusing commission

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

If you need your car fixed you go to a mechanic, not a carpenter.

If it's your sink that's backed up you call a plumber, not an electrician.

You want someone familiar with the problem at hand. You want an expert, not a novice or a flunky.

As easy as this is to comprehend, it's a lesson that nonetheless has escaped recent Nevada governors as they continue to make nonsensical appointments to the state's athletic commission.

What was once a relatively harmless annoyance has escalated to where there isn't any way to disguise it: Due to the governor's habit of using it as a means of returning political favors, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has become inept.

Not corrupt, but inept.

And to anyone paying attention to it, it's embarrassing. The NSAC oversees boxing in the state without having a boxing person on it.

As it is presently comprised, the NSAC has one wealthy doctor, three wealthy casino executives and, as of Monday, one political consultant. With the exception of the board's chairman, Dr. Elias Ghanem, the NSAC is sadly lacking in boxing expertise and is, at least as far as the last 15 years are concerned, at an all-time low in terms of credibility.

It would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic.

As Gov. Kenny Guinn (and his predecessors, for that matter) apparently see it, the NSAC is a plum there for the distributing and he's going to limit its members to those who give generously to his party or who have the proper political connections. A background in boxing is nowhere on the list of requirements.

The result of this malfeasance was demonstrated again last Friday when the commission convened to discuss releasing Mike Tyson's $8 million purse from his aborted Oct. 23 fight with Orlin Norris at the MGM Grand Garden. It seems to have been lost on the NSAC but the meeting was totally unnecessary in that Tyson was not disqualified and his purse shouldn't have been subjected to review.

That point aside, the commission once again failed to distinguish itself during a ho-hum meeting that saw Tyson's attorney, Jim Jimmerson, manipulate the tenor of the proceedings (by placing the focus on referee Richard Steele). By the end there were hopelessly naive threats -- "Tyson's toughest fight will be with me," commissioner Lorenzo Fertitta said of the possibility he may not vote to relicense the former heavyweight champion next year -- and sloppily contrived well wishes for departing member Dr. James Nave.

The NSAC came across as juvenile and prone to posturing, and maybe even vindictive as it pertains to Tyson. If the commission wanted to question a fighter's ethics it should have addressed Norris, who, under the guise of a knee injury, quit under suspicious circumstances after one round.

This version of the NSAC is so lacking in boxing savvy that a gentleman in the audience one-upped it by offering the day's most insightful commentary during a post-meeting session reserved for public opinion. He said he believes Tyson gets so caught up in a fight that he may not hear the bell to end a round, and he wondered what could be done to correct it.

It was a legitimate concern but these commission members weren't interested. They had casinos to run and no time for the intricacies of boxing.

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