Gov. Jim Gibbons' decisions this week not to sign a tax increase and to leave federal stimulus money on the table stuck two more pins in the rapidly deflating balloon of his reputation in this state.
The governor already had alienated Legislative Democrats, who have grown increasingly pointed in their criticism. Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford called his refusal to sign the tax bill "cowardice," and Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley characterized his stimulus announcement as "incoherent."
Now Republicans are feeling betrayed, and rightly so, by Gibbons' refusal to put his name on the tax increase despite including it in his budget and cajoling Republican leadership into voting for it.
To then turn around and throw them "under the bus," as Republican Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea succinctly put it, shows a disturbing lack of leadership, forthrightness and fortitude.
Who is the governor trying to appease with that disingenuous move? The anti-tax conservatives? The fact he didn't veto the tax raise " as he had sworn to do during campaign season " scotches him with that crowd. Republicans? If Sen. Bill Raggio, a consummate politician and effective consensus-builder, feels so betrayed as to release a statement expressing his disapproval, you know the governor is burning bridges.
And the thought of not grabbing every available federal dollar that would go to unemployment benefits leaves a bad taste in the mouth when the jobless rate in Nevada is headed to the double-digits, with no sign of slowing. Take the money, governor, while it is offered and so desperately needed, then figure out a way to sunset the enhancements when the economy improves and unemployment drops.
This week's missteps are just another sign that Gibbons is increasingly out of touch. The people of Nevada demand and deserve better.
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