Had there been a Daily Glean...

Citing a need to spend more time with his family, your lowly Gleaner walked away from politics altogether early Tuesday. This was followed later in the day by a request from his family on the order of OK, thanks for that, but, uh, jeepers, don't you have work to do or something? And so back to the salt mines...

If we had done a Daily Glean Tuesday, we most assuredly would have mentioned that a) Scandalmonger has compiled the Top Ten Reasons to Vote Gibbons Out, and b) Harry Reid has found himself hip-deep in yet more icky ethics-related headlines, which this time appear to be at least legitimate if of the smallish variety. We subsequently might have drawn a connection between the seemingly unrelated items, suggesting, perhaps, that another reason to Vote Gibbons Out is to Vote Titus In, and thus provide the Nevada Democratic Party with a much-needed alternative center of gravity to the Great and Powerful Harry. And we probably would have predicted, sarcastically (the Glean is unhealthily sarcastic, childish, really) that Harry's troubles are sure to displace the war in Iraq as the issue about which voters care most, especially now that Dick Cheney has declared that the Iraqi government is doing "remarkably well."

Meantime, among less trenchant items, a Daily Glean may have noted the ironic case of former sheriff candidate (and one-time Gleaner advertiser!) Ron Williams, who despite trying and trying and trying couldn't manage to get a headline while he was campaigning (sigh, not even in the Gleaner), but has managed to garner one now.

And oh yeah --  a Glean probably would have mentioned that most of the results are in, and the winners of the 2006 elections can now be announced: TV stations.

But if we had done a Daily Glean -- and we're not saying we would have -- we would have almost certainly led with the Pronouncement from Jon Ralston vis-a-vis Jim Gibbons and that woman Gibbons didn't assault, i.e.: Move along, people, there's nothing to see here.

Much to the relief of all involved, to say nothing of the hapless majority of casual voters who for a minute there thought they might be faced, finally, with a local political story that warrants their attention, Ralston has officially declared the fun story about Jim and Sig's night on the town Not News, "based on a little thing the blogs and FFUJ (Flash Follow-Up Journal, Ralston's pet name for the R-J) often forget - a little thing called reporting." Hey, we resent the insinuation that we often forget about reporting. It implies that we think about it in the first place. Anyway, "talking to law enforcement, McCormick and Schmick employees and others," Ralston pieced together the "real story," grippingly told in Monday's version of Ralston's subscription e-mail Flash newsletter:

...The woman, a 32-year-old cocktail waitress, was tremendously intoxicated and approached a table where Gibbons and his guru, Sig Rogich, were sitting and having a drink to wait out the rain. No one I talked to said Gibbons was intoxicated at all and he has a reputation for being a bit of a stiff – I have never seen or heard of him imbibing to excess. Rogich and Gibbons were sitting with some employees of a law firm in the same nearby building where Rogich works. Several of the restaurant employees, some of whom already have signed affidavits, saw the woman almost falling-down drunk and saw her stumble after Gibbons, who was staying at a nearby hotel.

The real problem for the woman is that she made two calls to police. One, made about 10:15, came from an inn – not where Gibbons was staying – in which she said she had been assaulted by her boyfriend. The other, an hour later, came from the restaurant and that is when she said she was assaulted by Gibbons. Police report she was very drunk and, understanding the sensitivity, they apparently marshaled more than the usual resources to interview everyone they could in the restaurant.

The problem for the conspiracy theorists and the partisans here is that no one has given a contrary report, despite some stories of a waitress calling Team Titus to report that Gibbons was unruly. Even if true, no one else at McCormick and Schmick will back up that account and the restaurant folks are quite embarrassed by the attention.

I have been pretty critical of Gibbons for dodging debates, for avoiding substance and for other misdeeds. But he has my sympathy on this one because this is one of those stories that was overplayed and now is being bandied about in the blog echo chamber, with rumors and falsehoods printed as fact in the hope that someone in the MSM will pick it up.

Not I.

And so there, finally, is the definitive version of events -- complete with a testament to Gibbons' sobriety! As for the those reporters -- and you know who you are -- who are persisting in trying to get on-the-record interviews with witnesses or make Metro release its reports, call it a day, and move on to an issue that people care about, like, say, the ongoing internal review of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board. Or holy Picassos.

Did Gibbons grab a woman's arm, and if so, why? Who cares? Do voters want to see Sig and Jim's bar tab? Big deal. Is there any reason that nobody told the R-J or the AP that the woman filed not one but two complaints that night, and that the stories from both media organizations seemed to confuse events rather than clear them up? Of course there is: Pre-Three Mile Island public relations crisis management (see, after TMI, the PR industry learned that the best way to handle a messy situation is to get as much information as possible out as early as possible. Which is to say the way Siggy handled all of this is so 1978).

Anyway, thank goodness that's all cleared up, and everyone's questions have been answered.

Oh, one other item that might have made it into a Daily Glean had there been one Tuesday ... as if being called a conspiracy theorist (but not in a nice way) were not enough, a highly respected Western writer and journalist has dredged up a 12-year-old allegation that your lowly Gleaner is responsible for the congressional career of a full-on Republican wingnut now seeking her seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Look, the way we remember it, we were not intoxicated at all, and a lot of people saw her stumble after us.

Comments

[Not Gibbons]

Is Ralston's sympathy based on his own personal life? How much of it has to do with how much Siggles has been burning up the phone to suck ass to keep this from mushrooming? And how much of it is typical Gibbonsish behavior?

[lisa]

Ralston's "see, someone told ME what was going on! The rest of you suck" reporting is now different from the other two stories put out there. So was Sig and Gib alone in the bar or with lawyers from the same building? What happened to the donors during dinner? When did Sig decide to return to the picture and see the woman?

And I find it appalling that Ralston writes off the OVERKILL of sending 8 or 9 cops and the SHERIFF to a restaurant over a drunk women in the parking lot. First, if she was drunk inside the restaurant (stumbling over to their table) how'd she get with Gibbons in the parking lot? Second, writing "a 32-year old cocktail waitress" seems a crass and sexist comment... is Ralston buying into this crappy story because a 32 year drunk cocktail waitress brings a visual so easily?

And whose to say that the 2 phone calls (amazing that Ralston gets that info but the R-J nor the Sun does) aren't related. Why can't this woman consider Gibbons her boyfriend?

I'm glad that Ralston can sympathize with poor Gibbons (being approached by drunk women, that is, and it being oh such a bother) and write this off. The connection between Sheriff Young planning to run for Governor, as a Republican, and him showing up at the restaurant, that Gibbons was not interviewed until the next morning. That Sig has been home, in the bathroom, and at the table, and that a woman was allowed to walk out of a restaurant, drunk after drinking there, and not being stopped from driving just blows my mind.

Oh wait! If this story had Oscar Goodman in it Ralston would be different!!

I would suggest that all of you supporters get out and make your predictions. The right is slamming this site.

http://predict06.com/

[Ron Mexico]

George Knapp must be incredibly jealous. He should make something up just to feel included.

[TruthToPower]

Here's what's obvious. First, Rogich hit speed-dial to Young, who's a political whore from the get-go. That was to get Metro on board. Then, Rogich hit speed-dial to Ralston and Ralston is so concerned with being the go-to guy for the powerful that he slobbered all over him.

[Not Bob]

IF she "stumbled after" Gibbons, why did Rogich tell the RJ Saturday that Gibbons "helped her" out of the door? And then tell the AP that the group left together?

Moreover, if she called in a domestic violence dispute at 10:15, why did no police show up until 11:18 -- and at that point, 8 or 9 officers plus the sheriff?

Ralston might have a scoop here but it only adds to rather than clarifies the story.

[dtjr]

Gee Whizz, Hugh, I didn't know you were responsible for giving Wyo. Barbara Cubin. Guess that was one time you shouldn't have been so quick on the draw, huh? haha. Just kidding. It backfired.