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Opinion
Mar. 27, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ERIN NEFF: Gibbons just lacks it

ERIN NEFF
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What is the deal with the turtlenecks?

I'm not sure who is providing Gov. Jim Gibbons his fashion advice lately, but Nevada sure could use a leader who knows how to fill a suit.


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    • On Monday, the governor of the people came to Las Vegas from Carson City to be a part of the big, televised, share-your-pain hearing about the valley's health care crisis. The meeting has been the community's only real release in the weeks since public health officials announced that six patients of an endoscopy clinic run by Dr. Dipak Desai had contracted hepatitis during routine preventive care.

    There are tens of thousands of stories of personal anguish. Beyond those infected, which is nearly impossible to get beyond, people are scared, confused and justifiably angry.

    They have yet to find comfort. They call journalists, they vent to legislators and they wait on hold at more agencies than you can find in the phone book.

    When the governor comes down here to be seen (at grand openings and county conventions and, yes, painful community meetings), he is supposed to instill confidence and bring credibility to the function.

    Yet there he was late Monday afternoon, with temperatures approaching 80 degrees in the valley, wearing a turtleneck.

    At least when Jimmy Carter put on a cardigan he was trying to send a message about international policy.

    When Gibbons trots out the turtlenecks (or, more regularly, the mock turtle) he looks like he's trying to poke out of a shell. But nothing ever emerges -- not warmth, not life, not heart.

    Critics have called the governor insensitive and clueless. I prefer soulless.

    This is a man who told me that across-the-board budget cuts of 6 percent helped equalize the pain for a variety of agencies.

    I asked if it made sense to subject some chronically understaffed and underserved social service areas to the same cuts as, say, the department that buys fax machine toner, pointing out that some government services grow faster than others.

    "In some you have 100 percent growth," he answered.

    Of course he's right. If it's a new program that never existed, it would "grow" 100 percent. But the answer showed he's more comfortable arguing numbers than policy considerations.

    There is no guiding philosophical reason why Gibbons cuts health services at the same rate as the motor pool, because he has no driving philosophy beyond no new taxes.

    Even if you advocate no new taxes, you can still get there without slicing mental health or prenatal care, if, in fact, you care about something.

    It's much easier, of course, to paint politicians as insensitive when you have Sen. Pantsuit dodging imagined bullets, or Mr. 100-Year-War inculcating us about real ones.

    After Gibbons gave his "I swear I won't raise your taxes" speech to the Clark County Republican Convention a few weeks ago, he strode off the dais in his mock turtleneck and blazer and tried to work the crowd. Gibbons would reach over awkwardly into the rows, sometimes grabbing left hands. These voters were not exactly swooning, and it didn't help that Mr. Mock Turtle was making a mockery of the rope line.

    Some politicians are just no good at glib or grab. And that works if they are good at, say, governing.

    But Gibbons is not exactly a wonk.

    And his upcoming Boots and Rhinestones Ball notwithstanding, he doesn't exactly look comfortable outside of a flight suit. Maybe Gibbons, a former commercial and military pilot, just feels trapped by the monotony of state problems. What could be more boring to a top gunner than "only six" people contracting hepatitis?

    When you're an Operation Desert Shield hero, it must be really mundane to see your own desert filled with "for sale" signs.

    In "The Simpsons Movie," the animated President Arnold Schwarzenegger is confronted with an environmental tragedy. "Everything is crisis this and end-of-the-world that," he bemoans in the Oval Office. "No one opens with a joke. I miss Danny DeVito."

    I'm not sure what Gibbons misses, but it's clear he's not preoccupied with the budget crisis or the foreclosure mess or the unfathomable hepatitis disaster. Maybe he's just biding his time, hoping a MiG pilot goes nuts one year during Red Flag exercises at Nellis and fires on the still-under-construction Sawyer Building. That would be a real international situation, not some drab bureaucratic budgeting scenario.

    At least when he was in Washington, D.C., as a Nevada congressman, he got to take exciting junkets into the heart of the Colombian drug war to offset the boring legislative calendar.

    Now he's stuck in a real state with real problems.

    No matter if Gibbons wears a suit or a sweater. It's clear his heart isn't in it.

    Contact Erin Neff at eneff@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2906.

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    A Public Servant Forever wrote on March 27, 2008 06:59 PM: That's Funny, A turtleneck. Boy, I did not even notice. That is hilarious. To tell you the truth, I was just so happy that the Governor was in attendance at the Legislative Meeting on Healthcare, I could have really cared less what he was wearing. I just wanted him to be there, and just listen.


    Steve wrote on March 27, 2008 06:02 PM: Too much salt, Dave L? Ummm... no. I for one am happy to read critiques of our president or our governor or our mayor as long as they are germane to the issues at hand today.

    Just like most of your posts - the constant barrage of anti-Gibbons and anti-Bush rhetoric is predictable since EVERYTHING is their fault, down to the cracks in the pavement.

    I read this opinions for varied opinions. While I do agree with you Dave L, there does seem to be a conservative bias, but this counterbalances the liberal bias on NBC/CBS/CNN etc. With all that being said, the lone local liberal opinion writer for this paper has opportunity to discuss important matters within the Democratic Party Race, yet consistently spends one to two columns a week bashing Gibbons. I know that may not be enough for you, but for me, let's move on to other issues... Bush and Gibbons have been beaten like the dead horse they rode in on...


    beamer wrote on March 27, 2008 01:25 PM: "I'm not sure who is providing Gov. Jim Gibbons his fashion advice lately..."


    Was it your hairdresser?

    So out of all those 40,000 violated patients, how many of them are "big gun" nuts? Why aren't we hearing about all of the hoardes of armed citizens running amok terrorizing the masses, or worse (better) yet, aiming them at a politician?


    br wrote on March 27, 2008 11:37 AM: Hey Neff, it could be a lot worse. Titus was the alternative candidate.


    William wrote on March 27, 2008 11:19 AM: Hey Erin,
    How dare you ruin everyones blissful ignorance about people suffering from lack of mental health care or babies dying because of cutbacks in prenatal care or 40,000 people worried if their healthcare provider infected them with a fatal disease because the state spend more on politico junkets than Health Dept.inspectors working for the well-being of the average citizen.

    Lighten up! All is sunshine and flowers in the Gulag.


    2zero wrote on March 27, 2008 08:49 AM: It's a new "DAWN"" day.


    Dave L wrote on March 27, 2008 08:46 AM: Neff;

    Too much salt! Steve, Chris, YM and ZZZZZ do not care to have it rubbed in their awkward fourteen month old and unhealing, yet still getting deeper, wounds!

    Gibs is SOOOO much like Bush.

    Gosh, maybe Gibs should not cut funding across the board. I'd suggest that his duty as chief executive is to provide for ministerial obligations first and if and then those requirements are fully funded, Gibbons could then turn his attention to allowing discretionary spending.


    dosboot wrote on March 27, 2008 07:41 AM: Erin Neff, another reason why I won't subscribe to LVRJ


    David Johann wrote on March 27, 2008 07:34 AM: Steve,

    It's not just Erin Neff who's shining a light on the Governor. Why, the darling messenger of the right-wing, the "Wall Street Journal" is right up there at the top:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gibbons_%28United_States_politician%29#Scandals

    Here's my favorite: "A speech given in February 2005 by Rep. Gibbons in Elko, Nevada was actually plagiarized from a copyrighted speech delivered in 2003 by then Alabama State Auditor Beth Chapman at a 'Stand up America' rally."

    And Gibbons has made Kieth Olberman's "Worst Person in the World" twice:

    "Mr. Gibbons was featured twice in Countdown with Keith Olbermann as the "Worst Person in the World." The first was on October 24th, 2006[12] for escorting a woman to her car after drinking with her, and then allegedly assaulting her. The second time was on April 12th, 2007[13] because he has been under FBI investigation for a no-bid contract to a long-time friend and campaign contributor."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gibbons_%28United_States_politician%29

    Believe me, there's more. Much more.


    David Johann wrote on March 27, 2008 07:25 AM: Children,

    The article is not about turtle-necks per se, but the turtle neck provides a theme for the piece:

    "When Gibbons trots out the turtlenecks he looks like he's trying to poke out of a shell. But nothing ever emerges -- not warmth, not life, not heart."

    Got it?


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