By Dana Gentry

Published Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | 3:21 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.

You've heard the one about arguing the facts or the law - whichever is on your side. The principle is illustrated clearly on tonight's program by Governor Jim Gibbons' attorney in the Elko affair, John E. Marvel.

Nevada administrative code says those seeking agricultural tax deferments must provide proof of income from the previous calendar year. I'm no accountant, as my bank will attest, but it seems to me that if Governor Gibbons received $5700 in lease income on his Elko land for the fiscal year beginning July 2007, but didn't purchase the land until August 2007, wouldn't he be entitled to claim less than half of that fiscal year payment for the calendar year 2007, and therefore not clear the $5000 threshold?

Gibbons' attorney abandoned the facts at hand in favor of the law during a phone interview on today's program and said the governor doesn't have to show one nickel of income to qualify for the break because he purchased part of a larger parcel from former District Judge Jerry Whitehead, who already received the deferment.

Elko County Assessor Joe Aguirre says the legislative intent of the deferment was to help Nevadans eking out a living from the land. The deferment, he says, can mean the difference between a meager existence and folding. Should Nevada taxpayers be subsidizing the sideline businesses/hobbies of professionals like John E. Marvel, his secretary (for whom Marvel also sought the deferment) and Governor Gibbons, who as we know, is a fighter pilot, an attorney, a geologist and a hydrologist, but as far as I know, not a rancher?

Of course, Gibbons could quiet the masses by just showing us the schedule from his 2007 federal tax return showing he declared the income from his lease. So far he's refusing.

A side note - Julie Tousa of the Nevada Center for Ethics was supposed to join us on the program but cancelled. She says she's not comfortable with the topic because she doesn't know if the governor legally obtained the deferment. Ms. Tousa told me, as she's told other media, that the onus was on Assessor Aguirre to deny the claim. So, if it's the responsibility of citizens and low-level officials to withstand pressure from those in power, who needs ethics laws, or for that matter, the Nevada Center for Ethics?