Sunday, March 25, 2007 | 9:01 a.m.
Gov. Mark Amodei shook his head and pointed to the computer screen in front of him.
"I haven't been in office two weeks and already it has started again," the accidental governor lamented in a day-after-the-session interview. "Look at it: getridofamodei.com. Where will it end?"
Amodei's comments about what he called the "slash and slash and slash again" tenor of politics came after an extraordinary two months in which the state saw the line of succession tapped twice and both houses of the Legislature hold hearings on the fitness of constitutional officers.
I asked the governor if he thought that this was just the normal course of partisan behavior.
"Normal?" he responded, incredulous. "This is a combination of Washington politics come to Nevada and the fact that anyone with an Internet connection thinks he can speak with authority. Have you seen some of the stuff that's out there? They are already urging Barbara Buckley to hold hearings on me because of the allegations on getridofamodei.com. But there's no way the speaker would do that."
Amodei paused, that wry smile creasing his face, and then added, "Although she is next in line "
Hard to imagine Buckley or anyone else would want the job after the past couple of months. A quick recap:
First there were those Assembly Judiciary Committee hearings on then-Gov. Jim Gibbons, which began with questions about his secret slush fund. On that infamous May day - when Chairman Bernie Anderson, pointing to inconsistencies in the governor's story, thundered his disgust and let slip the word "impeachment" - the die was cast. Gibbons' abrupt resignation came as a shock to the political world, but his 18 percent approval rating may have made his departure inevitable.
The fact that several Democrats quietly had been setting up organizations to fund a recall surely played a role, too. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, state Senate Minority leader Dina Titus, Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid and even state Sen. John Lee had been telling people they were going to run in a recall election later this year.
Gibbons' valedictory, with its bitter view of the partisan carping and headhunting, still resonates today. "At least now that I am no longer in office," Gibbons ruefully concluded, "I can set up a legal defense fund and not tell anyone about it. You won't have Jim Gibbons to kick around anymore."
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki's swift ascension to the chief executive's job was outpaced only by the alacrity with which he moved in his own furniture and knocked down a wall to give him more space. "Some may think I relish this," Krolicki said, clearly relishing the moment. "But I wanted to become governor another way."
It took the Assembly only a week to reconvene hearings on Krolicki as legislative auditors released damaging findings about his handling of the College Savings Plan. Krolicki insisted he did "everything by the book." But Anderson was having none of it and fulminated for a second time about drawing up articles of impeachment. A killkrolicki.com Web site sprouted .
Krolicki initially balked at leaving and began running ads with him playing with schoolchildren and with the slogan, "If they make me go, what will happen to them?" When Treasurer Kate Marshall raised questions about the funding of those commercials, some GOP officials privately convinced Krolicki that it was time to go.
But he did not leave before state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio and Amodei managed to orchestrate upper house hearings on Marshall and Secretary of State Ross Miller for their conduct in office.
"And where are we now?" Amodei asked. "The Senate killed all-day kindergarten. The Assembly killed empowerment. The Senate killed the Assembly's health care plan. The Assembly killed ours. We had to adjourn with a bare-bones budget and we still haven't done anything about roads. But, hey, at least we are having hearings."
I walked over to the speaker's office unannounced to get her take and caught her smiling at her computer screen, which was tuned to getridofamodei.com.
"Just getting ready for the special session," she said with a grin. "We may hold hearings on Amodei if the Senate continues with Ross and Kate. I may have to recuse myself, though, because of my obvious conflict."
Then she paused and added, "I should have said the first special session , seeing how the first 120 days went, I doubt we'll get much done."
I can hardly wait. I mean , how depressing.
It's not as if we in the media are enjoying any of this.
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