Las Vegas Gleaner

Titus offers glimpse of what Gibson could expect if he were the party's nominee

Running for mayor of Henderson was never quite like this.

Friday afternoon, Dina Titus unleashed a piece blasting Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson for taking $10,000 from Triple Five Development -- the outfit that Erin Kenny named as one of her bribers during her G-Sting court testimony this week. And within two months of taking the money, Gibson voted for a zoning change Triple Five wanted, Titus said.

Cross-referencing Gibson's campaign finance reports with Henderson City Council minutes, Titus also counted up "$248,500 in contributions in October-December last year from 13 development interests whose projects he voted to approve between October 2005 and February 2006."

Gibson "has refused to endorse my ethics plan that would prohibit local elected officials from accepting campaign contributions from developers while their projects are under consideration and for one year after,” Titus said in her release. “Now, we are starting to understand why. The Triple Five Nevada contribution and vote were not an isolated instance of ‘pay to play.’ They are part of a pattern."

Gibson fired out a response Friday afternoon saying he was already returning Triple Five's money. He said when he got the contribution, "I had absolutely no knowledge of any alleged improprieties involving the corporation or any of its members. I've read the newspapers today like everyone else."

As for the "pattern," as Titus called it, Gibson said that "for Dina Titus to suggest in any way that my votes on the Henderson City Council have been related to anything other than the best interests of the people of Henderson is unconscionable and totally false. My vote has never been, is not and never will be for sale. I will match my record on ethics against that of Dina Titus anytime."

Yes, well so far, it looks like Titus is the one doing the matching.

The 13 examples of what Titus calls "pay to play" campaign contributions, and those contributors' projects that won Henderson approval within weeks or months of the contributions, are listed after the jump. We feel confident that a similarly damning list of seemingly tit-for-tat relationships could be drawn for virtually every elected city or county official in Nevada -- perhaps even the father of a congressional candidate -- though not with such gaudy numbers. And the timing of these contributions, coming so very, very near to so many project approvals and zoning changes, has every appearance of being exactly the type of government of the industry, by the industry and for the industry that voters have come to cynically expect.

Which is to say that if the Titus campaign can whip this stuff up on Gibson, the staffers for GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Jim Gibbons can, too. And will. Moreover, Gibson's response (also posted in full after the jump) consists of a) defending the honor of his development industry campaign contributors, and while we may be wrong, we suspect that of all the feelings voters might have about development industry campaign contributors, sympathy isn't one of them; and b) dragging out the same lame attacks on Titus that Gibson lodged the other day in his response to her ethics package, highlighted by a free ticket to see Celine.

Let's see, on the one hand, there's a Celine concert. On the other hand, there's a quarter-million dollars in contributions followed within weeks by actions that favor those contributors. For a guy who says he welcomes matching up their records, he sure is getting his clock cleaned.

Democrats are going to have a donnybrook among themselves, as is Democratic custom, over where they think the party should go. It's a national fight, and the Titus-Gibson race might reflect that fight as well as any primary in the country.

But while there will be those who will accuse Titus of being too mean, of, as Gibson put it Friday, "sullying peoples’ reputations for the benefit of her opportunistic politics," Titus is doing Nevada's Democrats -- all Nevada's Democrats -- a favor by taking this guy out now. If she doesn't do it, Jim Gibbons will.

Zogby numbers

If the latest polling numbers from Zogby suggest anything, it's that at least one national pollster continues to be convinced that Oscar Goodman is running for something.

Governor head-to-heads:

• Goodman 43       
• Gibbons 40

• Gibbons 41         
• Titus 36

• Titus 38
• Hunt 36

In the Zogby/WSJ graphic, where we got this stuff, they didn't bother to publish the numbers for Jim Gibson (and you thought the Gleaner wasn't giving Gibson enough respect). They just said Titus polls better than he does. Nor does the WSJ graphic give specific numbers for GOP candidate Bob Beers -- save to say Titus beats him. We've requested more details and will slap 'em up if they come through.

Meantime, as for the match-up that matters, i.e., Gibbons-Titus, in January Gibbons was at 46 and Titus was at 40 in the Zogby poll. So both of them are slipping? And if so, where's it going? To the imaginary Goodman candidacy? As has been shown repeatedly, we're statistically incompetent here at the Gleaner, but still, we don't get it.

On the Senate side, Zogby reports Ensign beating Goodman by eight points, 48 to 40, and beating Carter 52 to 38. That last spread, by the way, is exactly the same that Zogby found in January, except not for Carter -- Ensign was beating Goodman 52 to 38. So Goodman's closed, and Carter, who was down 18 points in January, has closed to where Goodman used to be.

UPDATE: OK, we got Gibbons beating Gibson 37 to 33 now, compared to Gibbons 42, Gibson 37 in March. Nothing to sneeze at, perhaps -- though we will yet again advance our concerns about the possibility of significant numbers of poll respondents, even the online political junkies in the Zogby Interactive poll, getting confused about Gibbons and Gibson.

Also, and somewhat sadly, Beers appears to have slipped over the last couple months. Titus beats him 38 to 33 in March, compared to a razor-thin 40 to 39 edge in January. Gibson beats Beers 37 to 32 now, compared to just 38 to 37 a couple months back. And Goodman leads Beers by 9 points in March, 44 to 35, compared to a slim 42 to 38 edge in January. Gosh, we'd suggest that the overwhelming popularity of Bob's anti-guvment TASC initiative is detracting from the message of his gubernatorial campaign, but TASC is the message of his gubernatorial campaign, so go figure.

Meantime, we've also got additional color commentary/analysis from the pollster:

Oscar Goodman, the popular Democratic mayor of Las Vegas, is still the big "if in Nevada.

If Goodman enters the gubernatorial race, he stands a very good chance of being the Silver State's next governor.

If Goodman enters the gubernatorial race, even the GOP's strongest candidate, 2nd District Congressman Jim Gibbons, fights an uphill battle.

If Goodman enters the race for any office, expect sparks to fly over his career as a criminal defense lawyer for some unsavory types.

If.

But Goodman hasn't made up his mind yet.

So, any number of permutations could come out of this contest, with Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus the likely Democratic standard-bearer and Gibbons likely to take the GOP line.

Right now, the contest for Nevada's U.S. Senate seat is a bit more clear-cut. John Ensign, the freshman Republican senator, is still in solid position for re-election, although should Goodman decide he wants a shot at the Senate, Ensign has to work overtime to prevent his support -- which would slide below 50% -- from dipping further.

Daily Glean: Kaboom!

• Mohamed ElBaradei, whose International Atomic Energy Agency said there was no evidence that Saddam had nukes, who scoffed at Colin Powell's cheesy powerpoint presentation at the UN and who, in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, was completely and totally ignored not only by a hell-bent-on-destruction Bush administration but a flag-waving national media that was itself whipped into a wardrum-beating frenzy, says Iran is not an "imminent threat" (LATimes). Now all that's missing is a majority of Senate Democrats voting just prior to midterm elections to give Bush a blank check to invade Iran. Hey, this is a midterm election year, ain't it?
• Unlike previous Bush administration warnings about mushroom clouds, a prediction issued Thursday appears to be factually based: Pentagon plans massive conventional weapons kaboom at the Nevada Test Site in June. Post, AP, LVRJ
• Prospects may be dimming for a Western multi-state 2008 megaprimary early in the presidential nominating process; but competition for a Western Democratic caucus between Iowa and New Hampshire is narrowed to Nevada and Arizona. AP
• We're told that Harry Reid spoke at Jack Carter's D.C. fundraiser Wednesday. Among the other 100 or so attendees were a lot of folks who worked in the Carter administration (Jody Powell, Stansfield Turner) as well as a few Clintonistas, former press secretary Joe Lockhart being probably the most recognizable.
• Research on power of prayer inconclusive. "The problem with studying religion scientifically is that you do violence to the phenomenon by reducing it to basic elements that can be quantified, and that makes for bad science and bad religion," observes sensible egghead. NYTimes
• For some reason, we think it's amusing to remember that under Erin Kenny's master plan of not that long ago, she would have been running for governor this year.

Miniglean

• House Republicans offer some thoughtful observations on the immigration debate: "I say let the prisoners pick the fruits," says Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California. "Anybody that votes for an amnesty bill deserves to be branded with a scarlet letter A," adds Rep. Steve King of Iowa (AP). This is exactly the kind of wacky wingnut talk that is so out of the mainstream and makes the American people shake their heads. And it's also the kind of extremist rhetoric that will help sink the Republicans in congressional elections this fall. Nevada Republicans Gibbons and Porter both voted for the GOP House immigration bill, by the way, which is to say they voted with Rohrabacher and King.
• Veteran Nevada newsman Dennis Myers thinks it can't be said often enough: Jim Gibbons' little "education first" ballot initiative thingy is totally useless. Pahrump Valley Times
• Erin Kenny was asked Thursday if she ever thought about disclosing that her votes on the county commission had been bought and paid for. Why, no, she hadn't, Kenny answered. "It would be rather pointless to self incriminate." What a brilliant legal mind. Hard to believe she failed the bar exam. KLAS
• Wonder if anything was in the papers today. Yeah, sorry, we had to be somewhere really, really early this morning and never got around to a Daily Glean. So...let's see...skimming local papers ... scanning ... hmm ... wait ... never mind. Apparently, if we were going to miss a day, Thursday was a good choice.

Gibson making himself useful

His campaign against Dina Titus in the Democratic primary for governor hasn't been going all that great, so "Democrat" Jim Gibson decided to mix it up in the Republican primary instead Thursday, putting out a statement advocating some clean energy stuff but mostly blasting GOP gubernatorial front runner Jim Gibbons for being an oil industry tool.

Gibbons  "protects his buddies in the big oil and gas industries by voting for more than $33 billion in tax credits and subsidies in the last three years alone," the Gibson campaign said in a release. "It's no surprise, given the fact that Gibbons has accepted more than $225,000 in contributions from the energy and natural resources industries in his dubious decade in Congress."

Not bad. We generally prefer to describe the Republican's congressional tenure as "obscure." But "dubious" is OK, and certainly on the right track.

"As your next governor," Gibson said, dreamily, he'd support renewables and alternatives, primarily by backing tax incentives for purchasing hybrid and "flexible-fuel" vehicles, as well as tax incentives for using ethanol and bio-diesel.

Fair enough. But we're frankly more interested in the Gibson campaign turning its attention to the Republican and pretending Titus doesn't exist. Oh, Gibson's campaign would like to present the image that they're above it all, that their massive campaign warchest and the rest of the mayor's establishmentarian trappings render him the "safe" nominee for the party, so let's quit fighting with the girls and move on to the boys varsity, etc., etc.

Meantime, back in the reality-based community, it would be a shame to see all that money Gibson has raised from the growth lobby and the rest of corporate Nevada go to waste, and attacking the Republican frontrunner between now and August 15 would be putting it to good and wise use.

A party in need of a message

We're growing increasingly concerned about the flavor of the Republican message in the run-up to this year's midterm elections. We know what Republicans are against -- government, peace, affordable health care, Democrats, government, consumer protections, fair taxation, clean air and water, the safety net, liberals, the judicial branch of government, diplomacy, gay marriage, a woman's right to choose, government, checks and balances, the media, progress, just about every other country in the world, modernity, Hollywood, balanced budgets, government...

But is being against stuff enough to win national elections? Aren't voters, at some point, going to demand to know what Republicans are for? Where is the Republican plan for the economy? For health care? For getting out of Iraq? Will their anti-world worldview be enough in and of itself to get voters to the polls in November? Or will Republican rank and file voters, tired of their party's internal squabbling over budgets, immigration, national security, the war and other issues, simply sit this one out? It's a prospect that seems particularly threatening in Nevada, where the Republican candidates at the top of the ticket range from bland (Jon Porter) to tanned and bland (the Hair-Do) to would be bland if not for all for the bumbling (Jim Gibbons). What, one wonders, will whip up the Republicans this year?

The Democrats, meantime, with their positive message of competence, fairness and justice, just can't wait to get to the polls. Already enjoying broad popular support even from swing voters and independents, the Democrats are out to consolidate and grow that support in all fifty states in a single day next month. The "Neighbor-to-neighbor national organizing day" April 29 will see thousands of volunteers from coast-to-coast going door-to-door to organize even more voters and Democratic volunteers, as the party infrastructure muscles itself up and builds toward sweeping victories in November.

Even in Nevada, where Democratic candidates are expected to roll over their fumbling, confused, message-free Republican opponents who stand for nothing except attacking Democrats, the state Democratic Party will be participating in the 50-state canvass in communities north and south.

Republicans, meantime, will reportedly be spending April 29 holed up in dark meeting rooms with key corporate sponsors in an attempt to draft a party agenda.

Miniglean

• While John Ensign was basking in the glow Wednesday of his GOP MVP performance on the basketball court the night before, Jack Carter was in D.C., too -- raising money. Meantime, just judging from the occasional post we've stumbled on at the grown-up blogs over the last several weeks, including a Kos diary post currently featured at Carter's recently tweaked website, we've got a hunch Carter might emerge as a minor darling of the Kosmaniacs and the rest of the national netroots crowd. No, we're not sure what to think about that, either.
• Jack Abramoff gets 70 months; Senate passes a "measured response," 90 to 8 (Post). We were trying to do some work-in-exchange-for-cash-money stuff Wednesday, and only had the multimedia monitoring devices activated briefly here at Gleaner HQ. But we're pretty sure we didn't hear any Democrats say "culture of corruption." Of course, Wednesday was "Security Democrats" day. No advance word yet on Thursday's message designed to carry Democrats to midterm victory. Maybe...
• "Republicans had their chance." That, at least, should be something on which all the Democrats can agree.
• Bob Beers, blogger, is upset with Scandalmonger, better blogger.

He shoots, he scores

An alert reader informs us that Sen. John Ensign, R-Clairol, has finally hit the big time for doing what he does best: being sporty.

Daily Glean: Tom DeLay's hierarchy of superstitions

• The Sun's Timothy Pratt explores the differences in degrees of political activism and organizational prowess between the Las Vegas and Los Angeles Latino communities. Short answer. LA has history, we don't. Good story, exactly the type of thing the Sun should be doing. There's no way that all the features of the issue could be unpacked in a single story, but one omission that caught our eye was any discussion of the impact of former Gov. Pete Wilson's anti-immigrant crusade in 1994, often viewed as a watershed event in the development of Southern California Latino political activism and, subsequently, clout. Unless we're mistaken, and excluding the occasional mass rally organized by the Culinary, Tuesday's demonstrations by students were the largest outpouring of Latino political sentiment in a single event in Southern Nevada, ever. If the current immigration debate emulates the impact of Wilson's anti-immigration campaign, and ignites Latino political activism, all that conventional wisdom crap about Nevada trending red might be toast.
  • A shout-out to the Clark County School District for providing buses to take students back to campuses after Tuesday's demos. Somebody was using their noggin. LVRJ
• We endorse Bob Beers. Not his anti-government crusade, nor his gubernatorial campaign. But in his capacity as a state senator, Beers Tuesday called for opening up meetings about school funding adequacy to the public (LVRJ), and the Gleaner is pro-sunshine. As for Bob's concerns that the study could lead to additional funding for Nevada schools, of course we hope his worst fears come true. And as for the hint that the study could be used to take the funding adequacy issue to the courts, the Gleaner feels that that the adequacy of Nevada school funding should in fact go before the courts -- wrote  a story on it many, many moons ago when employed at the free weekly with sex ads in the back. Was always a little disappointed that the MSM didn't follow up on it. The story, not the sex ads.
• Harry Reid and his Security Democrats: "Over the last century, Democrats have led America through two world wars, have stared down threats to our security at home and have defeated the ideals of Communism and Fascism." Funny, he forgot to mention the cynical, politically driven vote he and a majority of his fellow Democratic senators cast to give Bush a blank check to wage an optional war. Yes, yes, now is not the time for pointing fingers. It'll be interesting to see what kind of media play, if any, the Democrats' security platform gets over the next few days. No timeline for troop withdrawal, by the way, just a rehash of Reid's oft-stated bidness about 2006 needs to be year of significant drawdown. An interest expressed in nabbing that Osama character, though.  NYTimes, AP
• Christians declare war on Christians. We'll let Tom DeLay explain: "We are after all a society that abides abortion on demand, that has killed millions of innocent children, that degrades the institution of marriage and often treats Christianity like some second-rate superstition. Seen from this perspective, of course there is a war on Christianity." Instead of a second-rate superstition, what if society respectfully treated Christianity with all the reverence and regard deserving of a truly first-rate superstition? Would DeLay hush? Anyway, if there's (yet another) war on, we suggest that the "Christians" -- at least the Tom DeLay-approved variety -- started it, and that it's being waged by them against mostly imaginary foes. Also, we'd like to know, Where's the main front? Because if we don't fight them there, we'll just have to fight them at home. Post
• Tens of thousands of automated phone calls ginned up by some professional Republican named Tony Dane on behalf of goofy County Recorder Fran Deane and blasting county Manager Thom Reilly. Wouldn't know any of these people if we hit them with the Gleanermobile. The part about automated phone calls is intriguing, though. That sounds so 2004. LVRJ

Miniglean

• Vegas kids hit the streets in protest -- and tourists join them! KLAS, AP
• Is it just misty nostalgia, or does Casper Weinberger, in retrospect, seem sane compared to today's militarist nutjobs in the White House? Anyway, he's dead. Post
• The Harry Reid Democratic War Room and Media Message Development Center, Look Ma We're Security Democrats Division, is hooking up with the House Democrats and others, including Wesley Clarke and Madeleine Albright, to unveil a new brochure on, you know, security, Wednesday. Raw Story has seen the plan, is more or less honoring an embargo but drops some hints. Implementing the 9-11 Commission recommendations will be job one if the Democrats freak all of us out and manage to actually win something some day.
• Sen. John Ensign on Tuesday dropped the "hold" he had placed on that guy who Bush had named to be commandant of the Coast Guard. It was originally reported that the 'Do was upset with the guy for not being sufficiently pro-pet after Katrina, but Ensign says that wasn't the reason, and he wouldn't say what the reason was. And thus, shrouded in mystery and confusion, ends Sen. Ensign's brush with influence. AP