Columnist Jon Ralston: Pondering a regent, a gubernatorial candidate — and one egomaniac defending another

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 | 2:57 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face with Jon Ralston on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the daily e-mail newsletter RalstonFlash.com. His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or through e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

Not Miller time here: Regent Steve Sisolak says he's thinking of running for secretary of state for one simple reason: He doesn't like how Ross Miller, the twentysomething son of ex-Gov. Bob Miller, has been crowned with the job before the race can begin.

Sisolak, who says he is serious about getting in, may be even more so after he received calls trying to discourage him from trying to take on Miller the Younger. Sisolak has some money and has some ambition, so it just might happen.

Now why would she say that? Gubernatorial hopeful Dina Titus sent out a release Thursday urging Nevada's senators to oppose Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court. So why would a candidate for governor issue a statement about a Supreme Court nominee, whom most senators say they will not judge until after hearings are completed?

Some possible answers:

1. Titus is so upset about Alito's 1985 abortion memo, in which he said no such right can be found in the Constitution, that she felt compelled to speak out.

2. Titus thinks she can influence the votes of Harry Reid and John Ensign because both are equally supportive of her and care equally about what she thinks.

3. Titus wants to raise the abortion issue again and make sure people remember she is in favor of abortion rights and her primary opponent, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, is anti-abortion.

I know this is a difficult political IQ test, folks, but try your best. Perhaps the Titus quote in the release is a hint:

"A woman's right to choose will be imperiled if Judge Alito is seated. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, then individual states will decide if a woman has a right to privacy and choice. When my opponent in the Democratic primary, Jim Gibson, recently stated that as governor he would work to make Nevada an anti-choice state, I realized the seriousness of the conservative effort to turn back the clock on choice," Titus said.

Such an epiphany that must have been for Titus.

The Donald is all for dethumbing: Count Donald Trump among those who defends Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's call for cutting off thumbs on TV of those who would spray graffiti on public edifices. That's according to MSNBC gossipist Jeannette Walls, who ran this item Thursday, headlined "Two thumbs down for graffiti artists":

"Donald Trump isn't quite saying it, but it sounds a lot like 'The Apprentice' star thinks graffiti artists should have their thumbs cut off.

"Trump recently praised Oscar Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas, after Goodman went on a local TV show and suggested the de-thumbing of people who deface freeways with graffiti.

'I know (Goodman) well. He's a special guy,' Trump said. 'The interesting thing was that the mayor was strongly criticized (for his comments about cutting off thumbs). One man actually went on television and reprimanded Mayor Goodman only to tell me when he wasn't on the air that he thinks it's a great idea. And a lot of people think his idea is a good idea. They just don't want to say so on radio or television. Therefore, I have no comment.' "

Birds of a feather could de-thumb on TV together.

Mayor Oscar Goodman quote of the week: "I don't see a sweetheart deal," His Honor said one day after he had to bow to the attorney general's office and move to rescind the city's transaction with Billy Walters. This also came one day after he met with his friend and former client in his City Hall office to talk about the deal that allowed the developer to do whatever he wanted on land valued at six, seven or eight times as much as the city was willing to accept.

Goodman said he still thinks it's a great deal for the city. Yes, it's about as fair a deal for the city as it is to chop off a teenager's thumb for the horrible crime of spraying graffiti.