Las Vegas Sun

June 3, 2012

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Nevada’s diminished governor

By (contact)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

One man is responsible for the state’s budget devastation being averted, for domestic partnerships being legalized, for F Street in West Las Vegas being reopened, for the most backward of the country’s 50 states looking progressive after the 75th session of the Nevada Legislature.

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

With all due respect to the caucus discipline remarkably enforced by Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and the elevating leadership precociously displayed by Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, the unifying force in the state capital in the 120 days of bathos was The Man Formerly Known as Governor.

This will be Ø’s legacy as he plays out the string of one of the most undistinguished yet eventful gubernatorial terms in Nevada history — the man who brandished his veto stamp like a wildly swinging swordsman, cutting only himself and solidifying a legislative coalition that held together the state’s fragile foundation.

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

This oxymoronic man was so irrelevant that he was relevant, making policy, political and rhetorical gaffes that cemented support against him. His inability to collaborate, which could have been foretold from his decade on Capitol Hill, enabled lawmakers to perform the functions of the legislative and executive branches.

State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio’s instincts are to respect the institutions of government to a fault — and he might have led his caucus to stand by Gibbons if The Man Formerly Known as Governor had relationships. But he did not try — or, perhaps, he simply is incapable of forming bonds.

Gibbons, a loner in Congress, failed to develop any important partnerships, and that cost him any chance of advancement within the House. Similarly, when he became governor, his method of reaching out was the same as it was in D.C. — issue a news release — and that cost him any chance to advance his legislative agenda.

Indeed, one wonders if he even cared about his supposed agenda. What is so striking here is that amid his claims that he kept his promise — no new taxes — is that in one of the country’s strongest executive branch states, he did not lift a finger to go beyond his rhetoric. He came, he spoke, he receded.

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

There is not a shred of evidence, his staff’s equivocations aside, that The Man Formerly Known as Governor lobbied strongly for any key piece of legislation or against the tax package he has said will destroy the Nevada economy. If he indeed believes that lunacy, he could have followed through his words with deeds.

He rarely picked up the phone to talk to legislative leaders — not any of them said they had talked to him more than a handful of times. And the only lawmakers who trundled over to his office to flank him during any of his media stunts were members of the Just Say No to Anything Caucus, about a half-dozen assemblymen who will eventually be remembered as accidents of history. They were already with him; Ø moved no votes.

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

This was the Session of Few Surprises, one in which the lofty goals of the Democratic leaders, complete with Churchillian “never again” pronouncements, a hard and fast timeline and promises of openness and vision, gave way to economic and political realities. They did what they have always done and, in some ways, what they had to do: just enough.

But compared with the budget presented by the executive branch — a thoughtless, meat-headed manifesto that even conservative think tanks and editorial boards eviscerated — they accomplished a prodigious feat. They shredded the executive budget and produced their own — and that truly was bipartisan, even if many of the Republicans later tried to have it both ways by voting for spending and voting against the taxes to provide it.

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

The Man Formerly Known as Governor provided the perfect, emblematic ending to his governorship with his 40-plus vetoes, about 60 percent of which were overridden. Only a governor so bereft of any relationships with either party could have such a wide array of vetoes — some of the bills were supported unanimously or nearly so, some were backed by groups that normally support him.

Republicans who fear a 2010 tsunami reminiscent of the 2008 tidal wave soon will pay a visit to The Man Formerly Known as Governor to persuade him to retire. They know that he has Ø chance of reelection but that he could, potentially, survive a GOP primary.

And if that happens, once again he will become a unifying force, this time for the state Democratic Party. And from Harry Reid on down, Democrats will be chanting a familiar chorus:

Thank goodness for Jim Gibbons.

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