The state of the state

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 2:06 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons wants Nevadans to know one simple fact: He’s the governor. He has made this clear throughout his term in office with his frequent quoting of the Nevada Constitution, which declares the governor to be “the supreme executive power in this state.” Gibbons uses the phrase as a cudgel, particularly in the fight he has picked with the Legislature.

Gibbons and his staff have shown no shortage of contempt for lawmakers. The latest example is his policy limiting information to the Legislature.

In a memo this month, the governor told state agencies that any requests for information from the Legislature must go through his office. He said his office would determine which requests to answer and would prioritize them because the Legislature’s queries “are hampering state government’s ability to provide timely services.” He also said that if the Legislature wanted anyone in the executive branch to testify, it had go through his office.

In a news release sent Friday to several newspapers, Gibbons denied that he had “banned state agencies from communicating with legislators or their staff.” Then he reiterated his de facto ban and claimed that the Legislature’s oversight and “micromanagement” had “become so cumbersome that services are denied to Nevadans.”

Neither Gibbons nor his administration have provided any concrete examples of how legislative requests have hampered state government. Instead, they accused lawmakers of trying to usurp the executive branch’s constitutional power. That is ironic given their own power grab aimed at limiting the Legislature’s role by denying requests for information and dismissing lawmakers’ attempts to provide oversight.

The governor’s chief of staff, Robin Reedy, said that by expanding its oversight the Legislature had taken “encroaching actions” that appeared to have created a “fourth branch of government.”

A fourth branch? No wonder the state is in such a mess. The Gibbons administration apparently doesn’t understand the basics of American democracy.

To refresh the administration: The Legislature is one of the three branches of government, and it has the authority to pass laws and approve state spending. It also has the responsibility to check and balance the other branches — or at least it did in the Founding Fathers’ eyes.

Gibbons is trying to bully lawmakers by rallying public support with empty rhetoric and false posturing to cast the Legislature in a bad light. What is lost in this battle is the fact that if Gibbons gets his way he will continue to work behind closed doors and keep lawmakers, and the citizens they represent, in the dark.

By callously disregarding lawmakers, the governor is shunning the people of Nevada who elected them. It is beyond time Gibbons got off his high horse and started working with lawmakers and for Nevadans — instead of against them.