Vote Gibbons Out! Jim Gibbons is America's Worst Governor!

Revolution!

Pulling on his Jeffersonian tights, Jon Ralston called for Jim Rogers, the rich guy running the higher ed system, to stop wasting printer cartridges sending love notes to the Gube and start funding the recall of Jim Gibbons. (Sun)

Some of the wingnut lobbyist crowd actually agree, thinking that a recall might unite the Republican party behind Gibbons, but mainly, I suspect, because it will generate money for wingnut lobbyists.

My guess, however, is that Rogers' money would be better spent funding Buckley's Gube election in 2010 when the tax-payer funded Gibbons' recall will do the deed anyway. That gives Gibbons two more years to completely obliterate what's left of the Nevada Republican party and the wingnut lobbyists who feed of its carcass.

Course, that might not necessarily be best for the state in the short term. We'll have to endure two more years of non-leadership from the gube as we head into another legislature--where no long term solutions to Nevada's problems will be forthcoming because the gube will make that impossible. He'll be busy pandering to the 20/30-percenters from his base while struggling to wash the stains out of his latest gaffe.

But, hey, if Rogers wants a recall, well bumper stickers and t-shirts are available in the lobby. Ask me about bulk sales, Mr. Rogers!

Elsewhere: hey, do you remember that guy Richard Mason from the state equalization board who came to the defense of Jimbo and John Marvel after they strong armed an Elko tax assessor to help Jimbo dodge some taxes? Me neither. However, some folks have filed a complaint with the state Ethics commission to the effect that he had a conflict of interest in hearing a case on Incline Village property taxes:

A third member of the board, chairman Richard Mason, recently received a decision from the Nevada Ethics Commission that he might be perceived to have a financial interest in the outcome because he owns property rights in the Incline Village area. (NLTB)

Two others on the board are subjects of a suit by Incline Village residents, so they can't serve, either.

So, irony of beloved ironies, Incline Villagers will have to wait on the indolent work ethic of their own bought-and-paid-for governor Jim Gibbons to select new members of the board before any decision in their case can be made.

Good luck with that, fellers!

No News is, Well, No News

Breaking news! The Associated Press reports there is no new news about the possible pending Gibbons' divorce! Extree, Extree! Read all about...um...nothing.

Best part of the no-new news? No comment from Sig Rogich. Yet.

But there are whispers that the wingnuts from the Gube's own party might push Gibbers off the ticket in 2010. (Sun)

Now, who woulda thunk that the Repugs would end up behind the Recall effort??

Hey, works for me. You'll need some of these, too, guys! And, Recall instructions are over here.

God speed, my friends, God speed!

Whispers of Recall...Again

Ah, hope springs eternal as the new year begins! So do whispers of a recall to rid Nevada of the Nation's Awfulest Governor.

Over in Las Vegas CityLife, we read, among other predictions for the coming year:

Long shot: Frustrated by Gibbons' no-tax pledge and the continuing effects of the economic downturn, a group will launch a recall against Gibbons. It will not succeed. (LVCL)

And over on TV's Nevada Week in Review, Jon Ralston predicted that one of the groups frustrated by the Governor's budget cuts will (December 28 episode, not available on the KLVX site as of this post). That prognostication was reiterated in Sunday's Sun:

The budget cuts will be worse than anticipated. Someone will sue over them. Someone will start a recall of Gibbons. Neither the lawsuit nor the recall will be successful.

Of course, the people most likely to benefit from a Gibbons' recall, successful or not, are media types who would sell newspapers and electronic newsletters and TV time, so these predictions contain just a tad of wishful thinking. As I had to remind a recent correspondent--yes, I really do have some of those--at this time no such movement to recall the Gube exists and in fact, none existed last year, either, beyond a rather pointless Internet petition which in the end signified nothing.

So, whoever that "group" or "someone" is, beyond phantasms in area pundits fevered day-dreams, they seem to live in Narnia or Oz with other imaginary folk.

Of course, if a huge union or two wishes to take up the cause, your humble "Monger waits only to serve. Still, I suspect the money and political energy would be better expended finding a strong candidate for 2009 to insure that Gibbons will never darken our doors again. Anyone who thinks Gibbons will be easily defeated in 2009--assuming he's not serving time in the nearest Club Fed at that point--is living in a fantasy world, too.

Keeping Up with the Cheneys

Gibbons nearly as unpopular as the Vice President, Nevadans say. (RJ) "It's not fair," the Joker/Governor never said. "He's got a idiot president brainwashed to do his bidding."

Ralston reports that Oscar the Mayor is getting offers to run against Gibbons in a recall. (Sun) Well, if it's somebody other than the voices in Oscar's head, let us know if you need somebody to collect signatures.

Carson City educator thinks that the Gube should do the tour-then-throw-money-at thing to schools, not just prisons. (NA)

What Nevada town has crappy roads while subsidizing road work for huge corporations that don't pay their fair share in taxes? Elko! What'd ya think I meant? (EDF)

The Three-Ring Binder

Well, the KNPR "piling on" of the Governor by the Osama-loving, southern Nevada liberal media, was entertaining. Best part came at the end, where we learn that Gibbons' press spinner Subbotin was helping the Gube through the interview with Mitch Fox by pointing out scripted responses in a three-ring binder. On top of that, Neff reported that earlier Gibbons went to a meeting with reporters and the Editorial Bored over at the Review Journal and wanted it kept off the record. An interview with a room full of reporters, and he wanted it kept off the record!

Perhaps what's most amazing is the more Gibbons tries to control the media, the worse he appears. Or rather, the more like Nixon he appears.

Chuck Muth told us that Gibbons will be safe with the Core as long as he keeps his no taxes pledge. However, if the rest of us keep the pressure on, Gibbons will be so politically eviscerated that he will have to make concessions to more sober heads in the Legislature--especially to deal with the roads crisis. If such concessions are in the form of new fees, and the Core turns on Gibbons, so much the better for the rest of us. That will not only be the end of Gibbons, but of that Core as well.

Progressive and moderate Nevadans should not allow their state to be run by the single-issue radicals in the Gibbons Core.

As for Ralston's joke about the online petition--that the 500 signatures leave 149,500 to go--it misses the point. The online petition tells us that 500 people, and counting, who are sophisticated enough to deal with an online petition--that requires some basic computer skills, note--are disgusted with Gibbons and ready to take the admittedly radical step of removing a sitting Governor due to his flagrant incompetence.

Even if there never will be a recall, the petition sends the message to Carson City that the old-style politics of the past is dead, that stuffed-shirts supported by Nevada's corporate interests won't automatically be able to shove their candidate down our throats, again.

Or, at least it can send such a message. If those of you who think Gibbons is America's worst governor will work together to overcome the voter apathy which allows the corporations to run the process, especially in Clark County.

The first step is to sign that petition.

Sign the Online Petition

Donna West has started an online petition to state your support for signing up to recall putative Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons. It is not part of the official recall process, but if a few thousand people sign up, it might convince Rogers Greenspun Culinary somebody rich to pony up for the real recall effort.

Sign up over here. Email your Nevada friends; get them to sign up, too.

[UPDATE: 100 300 500 600 700 and counting. Donna and disreputable blog on KLAS.]

In Search of a Sugar Daddy

That's what the MSM pundits say the "recall effort" needs: a "sugar daddy" to fund the fight. (MM, Ralston) From $500,000 to $750,000 will be needed according to "experts". That's probably right for all I know. After listening to the likes of Sharon Angle and Janine Hanson testify against bills which will change the rules about signature gathering, getting signatures is big business. Why, you have to hire day laborers, pretend their not illegals cuz you're supposedly "english only", train 'em, and then send 'em out where they might get beat up by the opposition. Not only that, you have to keep track of their tax records. Why a fellow testifying for the AFL-CIO at one point mentioned how he had the signatures digitized so as to make it easier to track frauds. Course, he apparently has all the union money to burn through.

Ralston thinks the Higher Ed Chancellor Jim Rogers might just be leaning towards becoming that sugar daddy. After all, the Governor's poised to start stealing bricks from UNR buildings to pay for the shortfall that neither he nor the Legislature has the cajones to fix by seeking out more stable funding sources, like upping the tax on Adelson's empire an extra percentage or two. Let us know, Chancellor, when you're ready to fix the mess you helped get us into.

Coolican tells us the Gube's staff is foundering. Either that or trying to take the bullet for the most incompetent Governor ever. It's hard to tell which.

And who is Fatih Ozmen, the man behind defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation? Jeff German explored that question Sunday. We find that compared to the likes of Lockheed Martin, Sierra Nevada Corp. is  small potatoes. But, as far as we know, Lockheed never hired the wife of a sitting Congressman as possible payback for his helping them to secure government contracts.

Oh, wait. They did hire the son of former House Speaker Hastert. And Jack Abramoff's wife was working for Alexander Strategy Group, which used to do work with hubby. (BG) So, Dawn and Jim will have lots of company at that Federal Minimum Security facility.

Ooo. As mentioned by German, who probably stole it from What!?, Sierra Nevada's reports on fedspending.org are fun.

Double ooo. Michael Green proves scientifically that Gibbons is the worst governor. Of Nevada, anyways. And could Sheldon Adelson be the reincarnation of George Wingfield?

In Nor"Town, State Senator Horsford Hears a "Huh?"

PATRIOTS! UP-TO-DATE RECALL GUIDE IS UP!

Is SoS Miller trying to tell us something? The up-to-date recall guide has been posted on the Secretary of State site. Previously, no guide was available, so I passed around the 2004 guide. But the new one is up. It's in the evil MSWord format, but it's there.

Start reading and plotting, patriots!

Now, anybody know an eccentric left-wing billionaire to finance the thing? We lefties gotta start one of them PAC thingies them rightwing nutsoids use. Hey, if the rightwingers can go after Guinn, we can go after the GIbster.

[UPDATE: from Sebelius:

So, the question of recall is a serious one indeed. Is Gibbons really so bad that we would subject the state to a Gov. Brian Krolicki? Are his scandals (illegal nanny, allegedly assaulting a drunken cocktail waitress, using his congressional office to help a friend get big contracts and accepting travel and contributions in return, lying about a whole long list of stuff, creating a legal defense fund in possible violation of state laws) and his potential to do harm ($60 million on crazy school empowerment pushed by disgruntled citizens who couldn't cow the Clark County School District board, polluting coal-to-jet fuel plant, using resources to study global warming) really bad enough that we'd potentially put Krolicki in the top job instead and pray for new elections in 2010?]

2004 Recall Manual

A reader e-mailed me with a copy of the 2004 Recall Guide from the Secretary of State's office. (pdf, msword) This is not an up-to-date version because the SoS office is in the process of updating the guide. It also appears to be incomplete. But nonetheless it should help true patriots--that'd be people wanting to give the Gibbers the boot, of course--bone up on the subject. According to my old copy of the Sagebrush State by Michael Bowers, no statewide official has ever been successfully recalled, but seven local folks have. Well, there's never been as bad a governor as Gibbons before, either. And it looks like it'll take about 25% of the statewide voter turnout of 586,274 or 146,569 signatures in 90 days to force a recall. Uh, is that a lot?

Speaking of the SoS, that letter of his to Gibbons  questioning the legality of Gibbons' fooling around with his disclosure makes good reading. However, over in the MSM, Miller is soft-balling it:

"The public elected me as a former prosecutor with a pledge, my pledge, that I was going to be tough on campaign violations and election violations and I'm going to do that. I'm going to be fair but aggressive, and I want to make it clear that there isn't any evidence of wrongdoing at this point.  We just want to get some answers and that's why we sent him a letter just seeking clarification." (KLAS)

Whispers of Recall

There are whispers of recall up in Carson as Gibbons stumbles into the third month of his Gubeship with the coppers on his heels.

So whispers the Sun in a report about the Gibbons' legal defense slushfund:

As talk of Gibbons' troubles buzzed around Carson City, a senior Democratic legislator and a high-level Democratic source independently confirmed Tuesday that preliminary discussions have begun about a potential recall of Gibbons. They refused to talk about it publicly, saying the conversations are informal.

Democratic spokeswoman Kirsten Searer acknowledged "casual discussions" about a recall, and added that if allegations against Gibbons prevent him from governing, "then maybe a recall is something Nevadans should consider."

A recall, which would entail removing Gibbons from office in a new election, couldn't happen until the governor has been in office six months.

About 115 days by the countdown clock over to the right. Hmm. Senior Democratic legislator...Dina?

And we learn that the report of contributions to the Gibbons' defense fund is incomplete. Sheldon Adelson, whose generosity to Gibbons is beyond explanation, says he ponied up, but his name was missing form the list somehow. No doubt Gibbons took full advantage of Nevada's crappy financial disclosure laws and told Sheldon to contribute in 2007. That way, Gibbons won't have to report it until early 2008.

A new suit filed by Dennis Montgomery seems to reveal that Gibbons helped Trepp snag a $100 million contract with the Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida. The November 1st story where we first learned of the fun gave the figure at a piddly $30 million. Ex-U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, who had a busy day yesterday, faced some unpleasant accusations, too:

Montgomery's lawyers want the new federal judge just assigned to the case, Philip Pro of Las Vegas, to sign an order turning over all government records that will shed light on the FBI raid, including the results of any internal Justice Department investigations targeting Bogden, as well as records of any secret communications between Bogden and the U.S. attorney's office and Trepp's lawyers.

"Mr, Bogden thrust the power of his office into a patently civil case, violated DOJ (Department of Justice) policy and seized a collection of computer equipment Mr. Montgomery was lawfully in possession of, including 23 hard drives, based on completely concocted false charges," the lawyers wrote. (Sun)

To which the ex-U.S.A. cried "scandalous." Yup. that's what it is.

[UPDATE: Left out the best part: Nevada Republicans would prefer a cover-up:

Last week, [Gibbons' mouthpiece Don] Campbell announced that Gibbons hired Abbe Lowell, one of the country's best known white-collar criminal defense lawyers.

Lowell represented Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has been convicted of fraud and is cooperating with prosecutors in their wide-ranging investigation of congressional bribery. Lowell also represented former California Democratic Rep. Gary Condit, who had been the subject of an investigation after the disappearance in 2001 of an intern, a young woman with whom he eventually admitted having an affair.

Nevada Republicans privately questioned the wisdom of the public announcement of the Lowell hiring, especially given the notoriety of some of his clients. (Sun, emphasis added)]