Gibbons' Divorce

I must be hopelessly "old-school," but I felt strangely uncomfortable discussing the subject of Jim Gibbons' divorce last week on "Nevada Week in Review." Most Nevada journalists have no qualms whatsoever speculating about the reasons behind Jim and Dawn's marital discord and I can understand their interest to a certain extent.  After all, the state's chief executive is supposed to reside in Carson City (it's not called the "First Lady's mansion"). In addition, the public certainly has a right to know about divorce trial evidence which corroborates long-standing Jim Gibbons' allegations (e.g. the Warren Trepp association, the nanny in the basement, Chrissy Mazzio incident etc.) We also have a right to know if an elected person's domestic issues impede their ability to govern.  The divorce trial of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey has been played out in the national press. Both he and his wife have fanned the media frenzy by giving sordid details about their breakup.  It may be too soon to tell but  Dawn Gibbons  seems to  have a similar propensity for publicity which has helped drive the story onto the pages of the New York Times and Washington Post. After covering politics in this state for almost 30 years you hear a lot of marital rumors about politicians.  Most of those rumors have not been reported because the electeds have deftly swept details under the proverbial rug. As you know, this administration is not known for its messaging skills.  The governor's chief of staff's first comments about the couple's domestic troubles practically invited media scrutiny so it's no surprise that the divorce has become the talk of the state.  On one hand you've got to have sympathy for the couple and at the same time wonder if they turned this unwanted spotlight on themselves.

At Least They're Talking

My colleague Jon Ralston has been reporting  that teachers and gamers are negotiating a plan  that would scuttle a ballot measure calling for a 3% hike in the gaming tax to pay for education. As an alternative, several resort owners apparently would be willing to accept an increase in the room tax.  After meeting with the plans' chief proponent, Steve Wynn, Governor Jim Gibbons said he'd go along with the compromise if voters approve the tax increase as an advisory measure.  The proposal  is already encountering fierce opposition. Gibbons' newly flexible position on "revenue enhancements" provoked a savage drubbing by conservative blogger Chuck Muth, who took the governor to task for breaking his "no new taxes" pledge. Las Vegas Sands mogul Sheldon Adelson (ironically one of Gibbons' big supporters) quickly excoriated the plan. Adelson has his own room tax ballot measure that diverts money away from the LVCVA.  Additionally, there's still a lot of bad blood left over from an attempt by the teacher's union  to block the Culinary's at-large, strip caucus sites, so it will  be interesting to see how the union responds to a "kumbaya" event.   Nonetheless, in a state that's looking at an $800 million budget shortfall  over the next biennium, it's important that people are talking about solutions to the chronically underfunded state public education system. Let's hope that the right people are listening as well.

She's Not Going Quietly Into the Night

Former Senator George McGovern has switched his allegiance to Barack Obama. He says it's time for Hillary Clinton to throw in the towel. I don't know if I'd be taking political advice from  the man who lost to Richard Nixon in the second biggest landslide in American history. Nonetheless most of the national pundits are echoing the same refrain. Former Clinton crony George Stephanopoulos has indicated that HRC would accept a VP slot if Obama made the offer. It may be irrelevant. She was crushed in North Carolina and eked out a nominal win in Indiana. She has no money and her superdelegate support is starting to hemorrhage. Even Chelsea looked like she was close to tears during her mother's "victory speech" in Indiana.  Politico.com is reporting that after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.  The Clinton campaign will  dispute Obama's assertion  by protesting the exclusion of primary results in  Florida and Michigan.  What else can she do? The New York senator must be hoping against hope for another Reverend Wright incident. I believe HRC's supporters are more passionate about their candidate than Obama's and they will be devastated when she withdraws but for the good of the party she might have to start listening to a handful of close advisors who already see the writing on the wall.

No Nevada Holiday

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been barnstorming the country, brandishing a short-term economic band-aid, first proposed by Senator John McCain: suspend the 18.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This transparent political pandering has apparently arrived just in time to tip the scales a bit in today's crucial North Carolina primary, where polls show the race tightening between Clinton and Obama. Let's forget for a moment that no economist in the nation supports the deficit-exacerbating scheme and that the average consumer may only save $30. Motorists in  Nevada, California and Oklahoma wouldn't save anything at all.  Those states enacted laws that  increase state fuel taxes whenever there's a  drop in the federal tax. I enjoy saving a buck or two as much as the next guy but this proposal leads me to wonder when the candidates are going to come up with a meaningful, detailed plan to jump start this faltering economy, without bloating the federal deficit.

Where is John Edwards?

On the eve of North Carolina's pivotal Democratic primary, where is its most famous native son? Former Senator John Edwards  finished a distant third in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes and has so far refused to endorse a candidate. I would imagine that his cell phone has enough voice mails from Clinton and Obama that he's probably thinking about swapping it out for a beeper. The sad truth is that an Edwards' endorsement would carry almost zero clout in his home state. North Carolinans witnessed a meteoric rise to the U.S. Senate by a guy who served a single term and was not guaranteed re-election in 2004. He has virtually no standing with the N.C. Democratic party and no organization to mobilize on behalf of a candidate. Obama is probably going to win next Tuesday's  primary and John Edwards' silence may be prompted by the fact that he realizes he is a non-factor.