The ‘new’ Gibbons,and why it is all just a fantasy

By Jon Ralston

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

“Actually, I think the governor is a learner.”

State Sen. Bob Beers, explaining why Jim Gibbons is bringing legislators into the budget-cutting mix this time around

I am suffused with an almost ineffable sense of joy at the spirit of cooperation between the pupil residing in the governor’s mansion and the lawmakers who are his new classmates and budget-cutting pals.

Learning can be such a rewarding journey, leading to all kinds of stimulating discoveries on the way to eviscerating state services and moving the state back to square zero. But at least they are together now, slicing in a spirit of collegiality rather than gutting in acrimony. Oh joy!

Don’t misunderstand: I know I reside in a fantasy world, where governors call a special session to discuss the totality of the state’s budget picture rather than clumsily lopping off programs and where lawmakers demand a special session so they can ensure that short-term setbacks don’t lead to long-term disasters.

But this is reality. Even worse, it is campaign year reality, where political calculation trumps policy considerations and where even the best intentions must be shelved until November.

I get it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Beers is right about Gibbons, though, as far as it goes. He went on to say, during an interview on “Face to Face,” that it “didn’t go well the last time that this news came. So, he did want to pull in a wider circle, and I think it’s a good idea.”

You mean that he might want to consult with rather than ignore or mislead lawmakers? Brilliant. Such a learner. And two plus two equals four, too!

This is a no-brainer for this budding Mensa student, though. Last time, as Beers, his ally, pointed out, it didn’t go well, mostly because Gibbons couldn’t stick to a plan and talked to no one. So this time, he knows or has been told if he can stand arm and arm with the Democrats, he looks magnanimous and statesmanlike and they can’t say much later.

The Democrats are as calculating as Gibbons, but in a much different way and for a much different reason. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself why Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus made it sound like the meeting with the man she would rather see indicted was like some garden party.

But what Titus and others know is that if they don’t reach out to Gibbons and help him with his learning curve, he may well take his across-the-board broadsword and start cutting educational and social service programs they hold dear. Better to be inside the tent ...

So this illusion of congeniality and collaboration will either last a few weeks, culminating with a bipartisan news conference. Or it will disintegrate if Gibbons decides to go forward with operational cuts that legislators cannot abide.

But it is an illusion nonetheless. And back in the real world, it is also depressing to anyone who has watched this movie before.

Governor cuts. Legislators squeal. Tax structure changes are demanded. Tax structure changes don’t occur. The fiscal treadmill is turned on again and the state goes nowhere.

And what has anyone learned from all of this? It’s easier not to do your homework and just get the answer key.

The real story is that Gibbons signed a billion-dollar spending increase into law without a peep of resistance. And this crop of lawmakers, knowing that like the 2003 tax increase this billion just kept up with growth, was satisfied to go along, thus shorting transportation, education and social services.

So be it. Gibbons could have cut your taxes by rejecting the largest spending increase in history, and lawmakers could have raised your taxes to pay for infrastructure needs. Neither were true to their convictions. But they live in reality and I live in fantasyland or so they tell me.

But once again I ask consideration for this scenario: Gov. Billion’s spending increase has now been wiped out by cuts, which are more likely to go deeper. If now is not the time to get the governor and the 63 lawmakers together for a special session, then when is?

Only state Sen. Bob Coffin seems to get this, which is amazing. What he knows, after years of inculcation, is that in the current scenario, Gibbons wins. If the Democrats stand with him now and allow all of these cuts to be made all $900 million when they come begging for money in 2009 to restore programs and stop the treadmill, I doubt the governor will be listening.

When will they learn?