Jon Ralston lays out the thickening plot of the Board of Regents, the County Commission and the drama at UMC

Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

So will this spectacle fizzle after 48 hours, or is this Out-of-a-Job vaudeville show destined to run awhile?

Jim Rogers had a brief run before he thought better of it and gave the performance of a lifetime by pretending to like Regent James Dean Leavitt for a time - about the time it took him to pen an un-Rogers-like suck-up missive about Leavitt. So now he's the chancellor again after a vignette of the Regent Follies that will make the Python crew about to bivouac at Wynn Las Vegas quite jealous.

"Spamalot" is one of the funniest shows I have seen. But the university system self-parody, Loonyalot, is much more uproarious and surely will run longer than The Mousetrap.

Then came word of Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' resignation, which had been rumored for many months even as she was telling people that she was running again next year. The timing also was unfortunate as she made the announcement on the same day that UMC boss Lacy Thomas, whom she has privately been defending, was fired as a criminal probe into the county hospital became public. Insiders will wonder if there is a connection but none is yet apparent.

What's true about both of these comedy/dramas is that while their stagecraft is showing, the suspense is nonetheless palpable, as if a ticking time bomb can be heard in the background.

The Rogers plot is simple. Strong-willed, mercurial chancellor, with money to burn and nothing to lose, butts heads with ambitious regent who wants to rein him in. Rogers sends confidential memo with his usual no-nonsense, sometimes brutish language to board chairman (Bret Whipple). Whipple interprets "confidential" as meaning he must share (he says by law) with other regents. Leavitt has conniption at Rogers' obloquy, calls for offender's resignation. Rogers wants to say two words to Leavitt but opts for another two in a hilarious tour de force resignation letter - "I quit."

Chaos ensues. Whipple and Leavitt bond. Rogers goes to football game. Inside and outside forces panic. Peacemaker Steve Sisolak emerges as regent's voice of reason, which is a little like being Jack Nicholson in the cuckoo's nest - and Sisolak may yet volunteer for a lobotomy. Sisolak, with help of state Sen. Bernice Mathews and ex-County Manager Thom Reilly, broker dinner at Mayflower, where the food is always good and where Monday night so was the deal-making.

So now Rogers, who had essentially called Leavitt an idiot, now says it was a communication problem and Leavitt actually is "ethical, professional and highly competent "

That's believable. Almost as credible as when the chancellor essentially had the same verbiage for then-candidate Jim Gibbons - and later, when it became clear Gibbons would win, was much more solicitous of the governor-in-waiting.

So to not expect a repeat performance of Rogers vs. the regents is foolhardy. And who wouldn't want to keep watching this - so long, that is, as it doesn't interfere with the relatively minor job of improving the university system.

Meanwhile, down on Grand Central Parkway, Gates' surprising but not shocking exit was followed a few hours later by Thomas' surprising but not shocking departure.

Gates has been absent a lot and there had been much speculation that her business - she builds houses - was more important to her than her elected job. And it could have become - if it was not already - quite the conflict of interest. There also was the issue of where she really lives because she has a spectacular house outside of her district.

It is impossible to believe Gates did not know about Thomas' imminent firing - it was so obviously choreographed and preordained Tuesday - and she likely knew, as did others at the county building, about the mushrooming criminal probe of the UMC chief. So those who believe that the two departures are somehow connected attribute to her either a monumental stupidity or a blind arrogance - why would she announce it on the same day Thomas was cashiered and thus start the chattering?

The commissioners, for their part, must be petrified that this comes back to them, no matter how shocked, shocked they continue to act about what is happening at the hospital. As with the airport, when things are going well, they want the credit and act as if they were there; when there is scandal, they had nothing to do with it and the agency is treated as if it were a remote outpost.

To play this role, you have to know when to clap for yourself and know when to pose with your hands off. If you don't master that talent, you, too, may be out of a job.