A $16 artifact rich with significance

By David McGrath Schwartz

Thursday, June 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons’ tenure has, for better or worse, been memorable.

Now a piece of it is museum-worthy.

The hardest-working veto stamp in Nevada history, which Gibbons’ deployed a record 48 times, will be sent to the Nevada State Museum.

Mike Fischer, director of the Cultural Affairs Department, said Gibbons’ staff reached out to the museum to offer the stamp. The museum will collect the Trodat Printy 4911 self-inking stamp later this week or early next week, once the proper paperwork is completed.

Critics and supporters of the administration agree the stamp belongs in a museum. The reasons though, differ.

Dan Burns, Gibbons’ spokesman, said it’s a symbol of the governor’s willingness to take principled stands. Until Gibbons, no governor had ever vetoed a state budget, he noted.

“The stamp represents Gov. Gibbons’ pledge to stand up for what he believes in, and that’s what he did,” Burns said.

But Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said the vetoes “are hardly something to be proud of.”

“It’s better to be part of the solution than just stand on your principles, knowing you’re going to get overridden,” she said. “Is that stamp really what you want to be the symbol of your legacy to the state?”

Last session, Gibbons wrote by hand the word “veto” on the bills he rejected.

But in early May, when it became clear that there would be plenty of bills Gibbons wouldn’t agree to, his office ordered a stamp, outgoing Chief of Staff Josh Hicks said.

The black and gray plastic piece stands about 3 inches high and is 2 1/2 inches wide. It’s more Staples product — Selfstamps.com lists the model at $15.95, plus shipping and handling — than grand museum antique.

While it looks mundane, Gibbons wielded it to some effect, stopping legislation on a forced savings account for education, collective bargaining for state workers and a bill that would have made it illegal to take more than 10 copies of a free newspaper.

His vetoes were overridden a record 25 times by the Legislature, including the session’s highest-profile legislation — the bills that made up the two-year spending and tax plan hammered out by lawmakers.

Nevada’s first governor, Henry Blasdel, held the previous mark for vetoes with 38, set during the 1864-65 Legislature.

State Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, owned an antique bookstore for years and describes himself as an inveterate collector of Nevada history who has appraised historic materials. With a statement of authenticity and a photograph of Gibbons using the stamp, it would be worth at least $1,000.

“That’s how he’s going to be remembered, that’s what he chose to be known for,” Coffin said. “It was a political effort to establish at least some ground to run on.”

Few Nevada governors have donated pieces of their administration to the Nevada State Museum.

Bob Nylen, curator of history for the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, pointed to a chair donated by former Gov. John Sparks. Made of elk horns, it was sat on by President Teddy Roosevelt when he visited Nevada in 1903.

The Gibbons stamp will be housed at the Nevada State Museum for now.

Fischer said it could travel to museums across the state, including Las Vegas.

“Artifacts that are fragile or sensitive can’t do that,” Fischer said. “But this veto stamp held up, so I’m sure it could go to other museums.”