Nevada political roundup: Economy, Gibbons ethics complaint

By Lisa Mascaro

Monday, July 21, 2008 | 6:33 p.m.

Updated at 6:33 p.m.

Where Are They Now: Caucus Edition

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports that "Clinton field director extraordinaire" Robby Mook is moving to New Hampshire to manage former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's rematch against Sen. John Sununu.

Nevada political junkies will remember Mook as Clinton's state director for the Nevada caucus. It was his strategic gamble that gave Clinton her popular vote victory here. He moved on to successfully manage Ohio and Indiana for the campaign.

He replaces Bill Hyers, who left the John Edwards campaign in Nevada to work for Shaheen as the caucus approached.

Edwards' former Nevada spokesman is fielding the communications desk for the campaign of former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who's running for Senate in Mississippi against incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker.

- Michael Mishak

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Originally posted at 10:33 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Good day, Early Liners. Pour that second cup of coffee for this weekend wrap-up of political news in Nevada. Who said summer is a slow news season?

The Sun's most-read story this weekendis the one about the economy, stupid. (Sorry.) Honestly, the word "Britney" appears nowhere in the text. With joblessness, foreclosures and lower gaming receipts, Sam Skolnik reports the Las Vegas growth machine may be running out of gas. (At $4.11 a gallon, who isn’t?) Or, others say, this may be just an economic blip.

Here's a bit of the debate that captured our readers -- and must be on the minds of political leaders, too:

“In the past week, several signs, read together, show that long-held assumptions about growth in Southern Nevada could be fundamentally changing….

"The economy and housing markets are in terrible slumps. And natural resources in the area are almost exhausted. Water is running out, as is developable land.

"Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, concurred, raising the specter of the ‘R’ word.

Rising oil and gas prices have made air travel more expensive and limited the number of tourists who drive here from California, Schwer noted. As a result, visitor volume and gaming revenue dropped during the first four months of the year — marking the first recession to hit all sectors of the economy since the early 1980s, Schwer said.”

But don’t give up on the growth machine that is Las Vegas just yet. The story continues:

“William H. Frey, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and a demographer, cautioned not to read too much into the depressing numbers. Once the economy and housing market improve — and if the price of gasoline and other fuels can stabilize — growth might pick up close to where it left off in Las Vegas.

"It’s too soon to put out the ‘Last person, turn out the lights‚’ sign,” Frey said.

“Some help may be around the corner. Boosters point to the opening of new resorts on the Strip, which will create more than 50,000 jobs through 2010. About 27,000 rooms will be added to an existing inventory of 136,000.”

Take note: Also in the Top 10 most-read Sun stories this weekend is a Brookings analysis on the rising political clout of the new West. Sun colleague Joe Schoenmann has the story:

“Nevada and four other states are poised to become a new American heartland, largely because of rapid growth combined with economic and demographic changes in five ‘megametro’ areas including Las Vegas, a Brookings Institution report released today says.

“The report warns, however, that states’ cooperation and a hard federal focus on interstate issues such as transportation and immigration are needed to ensure the massive influx of people winds up being good for the region and the nation as a whole.

“The region — composed of Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah — ‘is growing up, flexing its muscles, and distancing itself from California, which historically has had an outsized impact on the West’s development’, according to the Washington, D.C.-based think tank.”

Other headlines this weekend:

-- Jane Ann Morrison in the R-J says nine of the 63 state legislators will be traveling to conferences this month and next. She promises to scour the expense reports.

-- A 23-year-old Las Vegas soldier dies from non-combat-related injuries in Afghanistan, the AP reports.

-- The governor is in the news again:

The Nevada Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint claiming he abused his power to get a tax break on land he owns in Elko County. The AP reports the governor welcomes the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Sun’s Cy Ryan reports that the governor’s lawyer handling the tax issue, John Marvel, called the Elko county tax assessor “yellow-bellied” and a “baldfaced liar.” Assessor Joe Aguirre, you’ll recall, said he felt uncomfortable when the governor sought the agricultural tax break on the land. “For Aguirre to make such claims, Marvel said, is ‘despicable.’”

-- Harry Reid has his work cut out for him among the 16-year-old set:

A California teen submitted a pointed question about Reid’s performance as Senate majority leader to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday.

Citing the Senate’s votes on the war and domestic wire-tapping legislation, the 16-year-old asked, “How disappointed are you in Reid and the Senate?”

Pelosi diplomatically avoided any criticism. “Senator Reid is a staunch, committed Democrat working for working families in America,” she said, explaining: “He has to deal with the 60 vote.” Read the transcript here.

-- Wild mustangs running across Nevada and other western states may be euthanized by the federal government to thin the herd. Some environmentalists say that may not be a bad thing, the New York Times reported on its front page Sunday. Horse lovers are aghast.

-- A leader of the Sagebrush Rebellion has his day in court. The AP reports a judge awarded more than $4 million to the estate of Wayne Hage in a long-running dispute with the federal government over land rights in Northern Nevada. Hage, however, has since died, and his family anticipates the government will appeal, believing the battle is far from over.

-- Finally, in case you were wondering, the Republicans beat the Democrats (again) in the 47th annual congressional baseball game late last week. Sen. John Ensign, the only Nevadan to play, stepped up as a relief pitcher for the Republicans, reports Roll Call, the hill paper that sponsors the event, "but had trouble finding the plate in the seventh inning." It was closer game than usual, 11-10, but still, that's an eight-game winning streak for the GOP -- the entire Bush term.

Check back later today for updates, and reports on what's in store for the week.