Jon Ralston notices another governor who’s extending his term

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

When Bob Miller wanted to serve more than the constitutionally limited term as governor, he obtained a favorable opinion from his attorney general that changed the definition of the word "days" to accommodate his wishes.

Kenny Guinn has a different, easier way. And he can be governor without even being there for the extra two years.

I still recall that wry smile on the face of Grant Sawyer, another governor emeritus, as he asked me what I thought of then-Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's opinion that allowed Miller to run and win in 1994, thus becoming the only governor to serve 10 years. The wily Sawyer, who marveled at Del Papa's justifiable term limiticide, surely would appreciate the route Guinn is taking to surmount the eight-year bar and be the de facto governor through 2008.

What's ironic about what Guinn has neatly executed is that he despises the man who will inherit his title, so it must provide him immense pleasure to give Jim Gibbons a cross between a long-overdue one-finger salute and a valedictory pat on the head.

More than three years after Gibbons made Guinn's difficult life more difficult by criticizing the governor for proposing the largest tax increase in history, the man leaving the mansion has executed the perfect revenge.

On the day before the election (!) - balloting he probably calculated Gibbons would win - Guinn proposed a two-year budget as an unwelcome gift to the victor. The greatest power any governor has is the biennial spending plan, which generally is little altered by a compliant Gang of 63.

Now, Gibbons must decide whether he wants to acquiesce to his predecessor's priorities, some that are extraordinarily popular and others that have powerful constituencies. Guinn could not have stuck the knife in more beautifully or ruthlessly. Frankly, I didn't think the apolitical governor had it in him.

This is quite the conundrum for the governor-elect.

On the one hand, Guinn refused to endorse Gibbons, couldn't even utter his name in public. (Privately, my guess is Guinn said his name a lot, with epithets aplenty.) The incoming governor also can't be happy that Guinn, whom I'm sure he perceives as arrogant in so doing, had the gall to stick him with a budget plan that includes all-day kindergarten and a huge boost for the university system's capital projects.

All-day kindergarten is expensive but also popular in most polls, and the university system is run by an influential guy (Jim Rogers) who once said the new governor wasn't fit to be governor.

It's too good to be true - for Guinn, that is.

On the other hand, Gibbons knows little about the state budget (name one specific he talked about during his campaign) and has few people around him who know much about it, either - an exception is his adviser Scott Craigie, who was chief of staff to the last three-term governor.

Perhaps Gibbons should thank Guinn for giving him a template to work with, the contours of a plan for the next two years. Yes, I am sure he will include that in the Christmas card he sends the Guinn family.

If Gibbons actually wanted to set an independent tone for his administration, he could display courage and send a message that he doesn't care what Guinn wants - that Guinn is, in a word the current governor once aimed at the Gang of 63, irrelevant. That is, Guinn has no right to impose his priorities on the new governor, who should be given free rein to impose his imprint on the state he has been elected to lead.

After all, Gibbons' entire public career has been as a maverick, from Carson City to Capitol Hill. He has never been a team player, and surely his tenure as governor will be no different. Now is his time to show his bona fides and toss the Guinn budget blueprint in the mansion trash.

If he doesn't, Kenny Guinn will join Bob Miller as the only men to serve 10 years as governor - even if the history books won't say so.