Nevada wakes to realize it elected an idiot for governor

[BurtWorm]

That would be Gov. Jim Gibbons (R):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/us/30gibbons.html?hp



In the last few months, Mr. Gibbons, a Republican, announced a plan to turn coal into jet fuel to raise money (problematic, as Nevada has no coal to speak of) and proposed paying for a $3.8 billion shortfall in highway construction money by selling water rights under state highways (it turns out the state did not actually own the rights).

He told a local editorial board he could not pronounce the name of his energy adviser because she was “Indian” — she is Turkish — and vetoed a bill that would stop budget-busting tax breaks for builders of “green” buildings before issuing an executive order to end them anyway (with the exception of four companies).

Mr. Gibbons is the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into whether he failed to report gifts from a military contractor while serving in Congress. The governor, who would not be interviewed, has denied wrongdoing, and once suggested that Democratic operatives might have paid off newspaper reporters who have written about his troubles with the F.B.I.

And faced with a collapsing public education system and extensive state infrastructure needs, Mr. Gibbons at one point threatened to veto the $7 billion two-year state budget and shut down government largely over his desire for a security center in Carson City — an idea that law enforcement officials dislike — and his plan to save small businesses two hundredths of a percent on their taxes.

The travails have taken a toll.

In a recent Mason-Dixon poll, just 28 percent of the 625 registered Nevada voters questioned said they had a favorable opinion of the governor, who took office in January. Only Congress fared worse, getting a positive opinion from 24 percent of respondents. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. Whispers of an unlikely recall campaign, limited largely to cyberspace, are now in the air.

[Lithos]

1. Wow

The shear breadth of this man's incompetence is amazing...

[sleipnir]

2. Reaping what they sowed.

Maybe the populous will vote in a more educated manner next time.

[karlrschneider]

3. A Repuglican and a gibbon? What's news about that?

;-)

[mcscajun]

4. Oh, geeze. Does that mean in a few years time, we'll have ANOTHER

Idiot President?

:banghead:

[whistle]

5. I understand he also sold the Brooklyn Bridge to some Saudi Investors

...and pledged Halliburton $20 billion to move the bridge to the Red Sea