Jon Ralston observes Jim Gibbons’ smooth performance on TV

Friday, Aug. 25, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

You won't see Rep. Jim Gibbons in too many unstructured environments before Nov. 7. So when you have a chance to see Gibbons sit down for 15 minutes with a journalist, as he did this week with "NewsONE at Nine's" Jeff Gillan, it's worth a look.

This will come as unwelcome news to his opponent, state Sen. Dina Titus, and Democrats who would portray the congressman as a bumbling backbencher, but Gibbons did not drool or stumble during the interview.

He was smooth and at times even gubernatorial, although he did display a disturbing ignorance of how state government works. He also gave a scathing but oblique criticism of Gov. Kenny Guinn's fiscal policies and a preview of his campaign against Titus:

Whose budgets were those, anyway? When asked about his philosophy of government, Gibbons gave the rote stuff about shrinking the state leviathan, and then unleashed this Bob Beers-like rant:

"I think we've been growing government a little too robustly over the last 10 years ... We were vastly exceeding the growth of Nevada ... We have to make sure that growth reflects the needs, the essential services, rather than just growing government to produce another program ... Are we growing government to grow government?"

Why doesn't he ask Guinn that question? Or the overwhelming majority of state lawmakers, including Republicans, who have approved the Guinn budgets?

The wrong TASC? When Gibbons was asked about Tax and Spending Control, he said it is a "bad way to do government" and then he repeated a scenario he first put forth during a primary debate:

"If (a) wildfire has not been budgeted in the state budget, and you have to go back and look at the rainy day fund to find the dollars to pay for defending those communities, those citizens, their lives and their property, you would have to call the legislative session back into a special session and get a three-quarters vote of both houses before you could expend those dollars on that wildfire or a flood coming through Las Vegas."

The Gang of 63 already must be called back to tap the rainy day fund - the only difference under TASC is that the majority required increases to three-fourths. But Gibbons also appears not to understand that he has the wrong fund, as tax maven Carole Vilardo pointed out Thursday on "Face to Face" when I played the clip of Gibbons' remarks.

"First of all, I don't think you'd be using the emergency fund," Vilardo said. " I think you'd be using one of the disaster or contingency funds we have, which the governor can do ... He (Gibbons) had mixed two of the different funds..."

Better start doing some research, Congressman, and find a better reason to be against TASC.

And thank you, Jim Gibson: The Henderson mayor ran that one ad tallying up the hundreds of millions in Titus tax votes during her tenure. Gibbons indicated that there "clearly is a pattern" of Titus voting for taxes, "whether they are justified or not justified." Love to hear him parse which are which, but that mantra will resonate.

He also criticized Titus for being part of the evil Democratic cabal of 2003 that "held our kids' education hostage" for the largest tax increase in history, an echo of the GOP spin at that time.

That gave Gibbons the opportunity to promote his Education First initiative, which would mandate that the education budget be "adequately" funded before any other but does not preclude additional funds being dumped into that pot late in the session.

And what, Gillan asked, would Gibbons have done differently from Guinn? "I wouldn't have passed the other four budgets ... and left education empty," he said. "I would never allow them to do that." In other words, I suppose, he would have vetoed those other budgets?

And when he was quickly overridden, what then?

Debates: Gibbons brazenly accused Titus of employing "a campaign strategy" to ask for six debates (he wants three and at least one may not be televised statewide).

The Gibbons campaign strategy, meanwhile, is clear after that interview: Titus will raise your taxes and hold kids for ransom while I will be fiscally conservative and put education first.

Let the erudite discussion commence.