Rogers flays Gibbons’ candidacy

Kirsten Searer

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.

University Chancellor Jim Rogers has voiced concerns about Rep. Jim Gibbons making a run for governor in 2006, but on Wednesday Rogers took his criticisms to a different level.

"I think, and maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't think he's very bright," Rogers said Wednesday night on "Las Vegas ONE" on Cox cable channel 19. "I don't think he's got very many great leadership qualities. I don't think he can handle the job of governor."

Rogers stood by his comments Thursday, saying he doesn't think the Republican congressman , has a strong grasp of the issues he would face as governor.

"He's very narrow-minded, he's very simplistic," Rogers said. "I think he thinks that every problem has a very simple solution and they don't. I would be very afraid of him being overwhelmed in the office."

Gibbons' campaign consultant Robert Uithoven called the comments "a pretty personal thing to say."

He later issued a statement saying: "If Jim Rogers is interested in learning more about the congressman's views on education, rather than in playing politics and engaging in cheap personal attacks, Jim Gibbons will be glad to meet with him to discuss that topic."

Gibbons received a bachelor's degree and master's degree from UNR, according to his Web site.

He graduated from Southwestern University School of Law based in Los Angeles and completed post-graduate work at the University of Southern California.

Gibbons, a pilot in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, also was a vice commander in the Nevada Air Guard. He has worked as a commercial pilot for Western and Delta airlines, a hydrologist and geologist, a mining and water rights attorney and a state assemblyman.

While Gibbons hasn't officially announced his intentions to run for governor in the Republican primary, he has been laying the groundwork for a run.

Uithoven said Gibbons is a product of the state's higher education system, as is his wife and two of his children.

Gibbons worked on most of the recent major federal appropriations and grants that came from Washington, Uithoven said.

"Why in the world would the chancellor believe, looking at Jim's record on education, that he would do anything to harm Nevada's education system?" Uithoven asked.

Several political leaders have encouraged Rogers to run as a Republican, but he says he hasn't made a decision.

Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt have both said they plan to run. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, former lieutenant governor, also has expressed interest in the Republican primary.

Rogers said he won't run for ego -- only if he believes he could do more for the state's education system as governor than in his current job as chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

He has long argued that a strong gubernatorial candidate needs administrative skills more than experience as a legislator.

He argues that each legislator is one of a large group that prescribes policy. But administrators such as CEOs must take input on a problem and implement it, he said. They deal with the daily problems of running a major operation.

"I've been at this for 40 years," Rogers said. "I know how to take input from other people, from many groups, and put it all together and say, 'All right, folks, here is where we're going based on the input I got from you.'th"

Rogers admits he hasn't spent an enormous amount of time with Gibbons, but he said, "It doesn't take much time to know that I haven't seen anything that he's done of a world class nature to build anything.

"I just think he's come up the wrong line with the wrong talent and especially the wrong philosophy to be a governor."

Some political watchers have speculated that Gov. Kenny Guinn agrees, largely because he has talked to both Rogers and Cashell about making a run in the Republican primary.

Guinn counters that he only wants Nevadans to have a choice on the Republican ballot in 2006.

On the Wednesday television appearance, Rogers went on to compliment Beers, saying he had only met him twice but "I have to tell you that he's very smart.

"I think that's criteria number one," Rogers said. "The discussion I've had with him I found were very productive."

Rogers said he is still unsure how his political philosophies would match up with Beers' or whether Beers would support his initiatives to improve the university system.

But Beers said he respects Rogers' vision for the university system, especially his plans to infuse private money into improvements.

"The university system consumes a fair amount of our tax resources and will continue to," Beers said. "But together with our K-12 education system, that's the great social equalizer. It is, in fact, free K-12 education and taxpayer-subsidized university education that allows someone of a modest background to rise above their roots. That's a good thing."