It doesn’t suck to be Bob Lucey
Picon stumbled upon an interesting email from Rick Murdock, the Vice President for Sales and Marketing for Eldorado Hotel and Casino. The email, from June 2017, was sent from Murdock to Bob Lucey, inviting Mr. Lucey to a dinner with an executive from Alaska Airlines and a consultant for the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority. The email came as part of a prior story we posted about his wife, Megan and her award of a large grant. Initially the email was one of many “interesting” reveals from our Public Records asks, however it’s context would only come into focus five years later, when the Air Races came before the Board to ask for money.
In the email, Rick Murdock invites Bob to dinner and cocktails and calls the event the “Alaska Airlines Dinner.” Mr. Lucey responds as the County Commissioner and states he and his wife will be in attendance. On the surface, one might consider this normal business for a commissioner, and in some instances it sure might be. We would however be remiss if we did not check Bob Lucey’s mandatory Financial Disclosure Statement, a required submission for all political candidates and office holders. According to his filing, he did not partake in a meeting such as this nor did he list the dinner as a gift. Based on Nevada Revised Statute and the Secretary of States website, we believe he is and was required to disclose such meetings and comped meals.
In July 2022, during a Board of County Commissioners meeting, Bob Lucey provided comment from the dais regarding his business acumen and the importance of his meetings with CEO’s and COO’s of companies, and specifically Alaskan Airlines. To hear Bob tell the story in 2022, makes it sound like he arranged for Alaska Air to meet and that the meeting somehow led to more flights to the Reno area and a boost in local revenues. We know from the email that Bob was invited to a meeting arranged and funded by someone else, a someone who has a massive stake in increased flights to Reno. What casino does not want to increase traffic into their city from areas where casinos just do not exist? And lets not forget, the casinos need leverage with the commission, at one time Bob chaired the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, so his loyalty and friendship is and was important. When votes happen that impact casinos; such as matters related to taxes, laws and ordinances, it is always nice to have a chip in your pocket that can be played.
As we listened to Mr. Lucey go on for several minutes in support of expending $100,000.00 of Covid Relief to help the Stihl National Air Races, we could not help but to pause and ponder how business development is somehow benefitted by his dinner with Mr. Murdock. The Reno Tahoe Airport Authority is very active in soliciting airlines to increase their footprint, how else does the airport sustain without a variety of flights? Additionally, the Eldorado is not even in the district in which he represents. Wonder if he told the commissioner for that district about the meeting? So while citizens are limited to three minutes of one-way dialogue, the executives at Alaska Air can have a commissioner for hours, over fine food and cocktails, all comped by the Eldorado. Lastly, the comments from Lucey indicating businesses are developed by such interactions, seems at odds with the Air Races model.
Picon will do a follow-up story later in the year, however consider that JP Pinocchio, owner of Pinocchio’s restaurants, oversees all food and alcohol vendors at the Air Races, just as he does for Reno Rodeo. He chooses the vendors and not one beer, nor one hot dog is sold that doesn’t have a cut going to JP. Is that business development or would it develop more businesses to have a lottery system for food and beverage vendors at the Air Races? How much money, that could be used by the Air Races for other matters, is paid to JP, by the vendors, for his oversight? So while cavalierly offering our Covid relief tax dollars to support the Air Races, Mr. Lucey said, “We do without any reason, other than selflessness,” as he referred to his role in local governance. Sometimes, it doesn’t suck to be Bob Lucey.
2019-880093380-202003169349305075-9 by Picon Press Media LLC on Scribd