Sandoval appoints retired judge to fill Mulroy’s seat on Gaming Commission

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro moderates his Law and Crime class Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, during the Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Click to enlarge photo

Pat Mulroy

Gov. Brian Sandoval has named a retired federal judge to fill a recently vacated seat on the Nevada Gaming Commission, his office announced today.

Sandoval’s office said he has appointed Philip Pro, a former U.S. District Court judge, to the post that former Southern Nevada water chief Pat Mulroy left this month in order to join the board of a major casino company. Pro’s term on the five-member commission, which is the state’s top regulatory body for the casino industry, takes effect Dec. 1 and lasts until April 2019.

In a statement, Sandoval described Pro as a “well-respected member of our community” with a lengthy legal career in Nevada.

“His 35 years of experience on the bench demonstrates his ability to make well-reasoned and fair decisions,” Sandoval said. “I know he will serve with integrity, and we are fortunate that he has accepted this new position.”

Pro joined the district court in Nevada in 1987 after he was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan. He was chief judge for the district of Nevada from 2002 to 2007. Before becoming a district court judge, he served as U.S. magistrate judge from 1980 to 1987.

Pro was also co-chairman of the advisory board for founding UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law, according to the governor’s office.

His gaming commission predecessor, Mulroy, gave up her spot on the commission Oct. 15 to join the board of Wynn Resorts Ltd.

The move raised some eyebrows given that state law requires former gaming regulators to wait one year before going to work for a casino company. However, Mulroy wrote in a letter to the governor that she received guidance from the state Commission on Ethics “because preserving the high ethical standard of the Gaming Commission was of utmost importance to me.”

State Sen. Tick Segerblom, a Las Vegas Democrat, recently told KNPR that he thought Mulroy’s transition from gaming regulator to casino company board member was inappropriate and that the ethics commission did not fulfill its duty.

Yet Las Vegas attorney Peter Bernhard told KNPR that the ethics commission acted properly in allowing Mulroy’s appointment to the Wynn board. Bernhard, who represented Mulroy before the ethics commission and is himself a former gaming regulator, also said she won’t participate in any Nevada gaming issues for one year.

Gaming

Share