Sandoval Displaying ‘Hands-On’ Approach As Governor In First Eight Months On The Job

CARSON CITY – Brian Sandoval has made it clear in his first eight months on the job that he is going to be a “hands on” chief executive, as evidenced by decisions he has made to be personally involved on issues ranging from economic development to homeland security.
From personally making telephone calls to lure businesses to the state to deciding to serve as chairman of the Homeland Security Commission, Sandoval is not a governor who is stepping back to rely on staff or his cabinet to run the state.
“These are the times we’re in,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “And I am absolutely committed to spending all the time it takes to serve the people of the state of Nevada. And as I said it is a time to be engaged, to be working side-by-side with local governments and local elected officials.”

Gov. Brian Sandoval. / Nevada News Bureau file photo.

Many previous governors have opted to have their representatives serve on various panels, but Sandoval has gone the other way, choosing as well to serve as chairman of the newly constituted Board of Economic Development which will work to bring businesses and jobs to Nevada.
Sandoval said job creation and economic development was a campaign issue and a focus of his State of the State address and so serving as chairman of the new economic development board makes sense.
The governor is required to serve on the state Board of Transportation, but at its last meeting, Sandoval voted with other members to greatly expand oversight by the panel of the agency, moving to monthly meetings instead of quarterly and opting for much greater review of its activities.
Sandoval is busy in the public realm as well, for example attending multiple events on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. He has also made it a point to attend Nevada National Guard deployments and the return of the troops from overseas at every opportunity.
Sandoval said his approach to the governorship is the same he has used in his many other positions, from his two terms in the Assembly in the 1990s, to his time as Nevada Attorney General, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and as a U.S. District judge in Reno.
Retired state archivist and Carson City resident Guy Rocha said he has not been following Sandoval’s every move as governor, but noted that his style may be hearkening back to the late Gov. Mike O’Callaghan, another chief executive who was intimately involved in the day-to-day running of state government.
The governors in-between, from Bob List to Jim Gibbons, exhibited varying levels of involvement, he said.
“I haven’t been tracking Brian; I’ve heard a few things, that on the Board of Examiners he’s asking good questions – involved, that type of thing” Rocha said. “So if that’s the direction he’s going, then the template for that is Mike O’Callaghan, arguably.”
Sandoval said there are specific reasons for the actions he has taken to be involved in various areas of state government.
The decision by the Transportation Board is in no way a suggestion of a lack of confidence in the agency staff, but a realization the department authorizes millions of dollars in contracts and that more oversight was appropriate, he said.
“The board agreed with me that if we’re going to be a part of the management of that department then certainly we should have a say and the opportunity to review the contracts that are being entered into on behalf of the state,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said he has always had an interest in homeland security issues dating back to his time as attorney general, and that the opportunity to interact with the sheriffs of Washoe and Clark counties, as well as other emergency response officials, makes his participation on the commission worthwhile.
“I thought it was incumbent on me as the governor to personally serve as the chairman so that again I have a first-hand knowledge of what is happening with regard to our homeland security efforts in the state of Nevada,” he said.
Bob Fisher, president and CEO of the Nevada Broadcasters Association and a member of the commission, in August praised Sandoval’s decision to serve on the panel, calling it “the best thing to happen to homeland security in the state of Nevada.”
Not everyone agrees.
Former Nevada Department of Public Safety Director Jerry Hafen under Gov. Jim Gibbons, who served on the commission, in a Sept. 9 interview on the Face to Face television program, said Sandoval took bad advice by serving as chairman.
“I think it was a mistake,” he said. “As the director of public safety I was a member of that commission. The current director of public safety doesn’t sit on the commission, the governor does. That’s bizarre.”
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Audio clips:
Gov. Brian Sandoval says it is a time to be engaged on critical issues facing the state:
091611Sandoval1 :15 local government officials.”
Sandoval says the Transportation Board agreed it needed more review over the agency:
091611Sandoval2 :11 of the state.”
Sandoval says it is important for him to serve as chairman of the Homeland Security Commission:
091611Sandoval3 :12 state of Nevada.”
Former state archivist Guy Rocha says the late Gov. Mike O’Callahgan was one of the most hands on governors in modern Nevada history:
091611Rocha1 :19 modern Nevada history.”
Rocha says O’Callaghan is the template for a hand’s on governor:
091611Rocha2 :22 Mike O’Callaghan, arguably.”