Jon Ralston on Gov. Jim Gibbons’ low status as the Legislature starts

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY - It has begun much like all Legislatures begin - slowly and friendly (mostly). So many smiles, so much togetherness, so much civility.

Sincerity never flows through the Legislative Building in great abundance, but the sweetness quotient during the first couple of days is enough to cause serious blood sugar problems. But this year something is different here.

I refer not to the much-celebrated (because there is nothing else to celebrate) vote against the state's first female speaker by freshman Assemblyman Ty "I just killed all my bills" Cobb, or the predictably high-horse reactions lamenting the rookie's uncivil behavior. We are civil here in Nevada, they huffed and puffed; this is just not done.

First, Cobb's pointless faux pas notwithstanding, civility is highly overrated in politics. There is a middle ground between the hollow blandishments of the first 48 hours of Session '07 and the caning of Charles Sumner on the U.S. Senate floor a century and a half ago.

Yes, the public wants legislators and executives to show comity more than ever before, to produce accomplishments, not accusations. But what about a good political fight, whether it is over all-day kindergarten or empowerment schools or transportation funding or health care for the uninsured?

The problem I have witnessed for two decades in Carson City is not too much civility but too little ideology. Too many in the Gang of 63 either don't have a set of core principles or are afraid to show them.

Maybe that will change this session as the new speaker, Barbara Buckley, should have more impact - not so much because she is a woman but because she is a leader who has worn her passions on her legislation. She has openly fought for the poor, the uninsured, the disenfranchised - conservatives will call her an unreconstructed liberal, but at least Buckley has stood for something, whether it is anathema or manna.

She may have to temper herself in her new role, but liberals will hope not too much. And my guess is that true conservatives should hope for the same because it could cause the kind of debates that are long overdue.

The second difference this session is that never has anyone here seen a governor, in a state known for a strong executive branch, look so weak going into the Legislature. The Gang of 63 can really only cause problems for a governor every other year and only for 120 days. And the governor's budget is rarely altered much in any session, so his control is almost unbreakable.

And, yet, unless Gov. Jim Gibbons makes some adjustments early on, this could be the greatest shift in the legislative-executive dynamic that the state has ever seen. Beyond Buckley's power and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio's mastery, Gibbons is weak because of the end of his campaign, where he was hemorrhaging support daily, and the first month of his administration, when he became the head of Gaffe Central.

The problem is that no one in the building is even talking much about the governor (who?), as if he is not a player in his own budget, his own agenda. That will be fatal if it is allowed to snowball and only he can stop it.

Gibbons must develop a formidable presence in the building, as other governors have done, with staffers who are respected, lobbyists who are his allies and legislators who will carry his water. Right now, he is a bystander who doesn't seem to understand his own programs.

The potential is there. As much as she is lampooned, first lady Dawn Gibbons has relationships in the building and could help. So, too, could veteran (Steve Robinson) and impressive young (Josh Hicks) staffers. Gibbons also could build bridges with the assistance of lobbyists such as Greg Ferraro and Scott Craigie, who were involved in his campaign and have relationships with lawmakers. And, of course, no one can bolster him more than Raggio, whose agenda might not be the same but whose loyalty to any GOP governor is unquestioned.

If the governor doesn't start behaving like a governor, the slowness and the friendliness will dissipate faster than they will anyhow. And as the pace quickens and these 63 vultures begin to smell a corpse across the courtyard, Gibbons could find himself written out of the 120-day script in the first act.