Editorial: The imperial governor

Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 | 7:25 a.m.

In a further assault on open government, Gov. Jim Gibbons' administration is brazenly trying to stop public participation in state government.

The governor and his staff have made secrecy a virtue and have gone to extraordinary lengths to work behind closed doors. The most recent example is their steadfast refusal to let the public see any plans to cut the state budget. The Reno Gazette-Journal recently filed a lawsuit to obtain the plans.

The attorney general's office, in court papers filed Wednesday in Carson City, responded to the lawsuit on behalf of the Gibbons administration. The governor and his staff made it clear the public has no place in the discussion, claiming there is "no meaningful benefit for the public in viewing pre-decisional recommendations." Releasing those proposed budget cuts would allow "the uninvited" - the public - and the other branches of state government to "offer opinions during ongoing executive deliberation." Imagine that.

State law was changed this year to bolster the Public Records Act. In the words of the bill's author, Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, the intent was to boost "the policy of openness." The public, which the governor supposedly represents, has a vital interest in how tax dollars are - or aren't - being spent, but Gibbons sees no "meaningful benefit" in hearing from the public.

He is apparently above all that. His administration laughably claims that Gibbons is akin to the president and has executive privilege. To support that argument, the administration cited Richard Nixon's claim to that privilege during Watergate.

Nixon is an example of the need for more open government, considering the actions he was authorizing behind closed doors. But Gibbons and his staff are following in the steps of President Bush, who has enveloped his dealings - including decisions on torture and wiretaps - in secrecy.

Gibbons' administration even goes so far as to argue that he has a constitutional right to lock the public out of policy decisions. The administration claims that because Nevada was "forged during the Civil War" there was an assumption by the framers of the state constitution that "numerous matters of secrecy would be within the sole discretion of the governor as the Supreme Executive Power ... and Commander in Chief of the military forces of this state."

The governor should realize that President Lincoln, who ushered Nevada into statehood during the Civil War, said the war was being fought to preserve "government by the people, of the people and for the people."

Gibbons' actions and need for secrecy are insulting. It is time to let the people take part in their government.