Jim Rogers Chancellor says many concerns about Gibbons were allayed during meeting Jim Gibbons Gubernatorial candidate supports state funding for academic medical center

There was a meeting of the Jims on Monday.

Rep. Jim Gibbons met with Chancellor Jim Rogers on his turf at the Nevada System of Higher Education office in Las Vegas, where the two hashed over higher education funding and a government spending control ballot initiative.

Gibbons, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, was once the target of Rogers' political put-downs. But the two had a "nice," "friendly" and "cordial" 45-minute meeting, said Rogers, who this summer said Gibbons was "narrow-minded," "simplistic" and, "I don't think he's very bright."

Rogers said many of his concerns about Gibbons' capabilities as governor were relieved Monday.

Gibbons said he would support state funding for an academic medical center and initiatives to increase opportunities for Hispanic students, said Robert Uithoven, a spokesman for Gibbons who was at the meeting.

But the two did not agree on the Tax and Spending Control in Nevada initiative, also known as TASC.

The proposed amendment to the state constitution, which Republican gubernatorial candidate Sen. Bob Beers heralds, would limit government spending to the combined rate of growth in population and the cost of living.

Supporters of the amendment are waiting to circulate petitions to see what Colorado voters do in November on amendments that would ease government spending restrictions on the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a law similar to TASC.

"I explained to (Gibbons) what happened in Colorado, where it damn near shut down the university system, and that we couldn't afford to have anything like that happen here," Rogers said.

The millionaire owner of Sunbelt Communications Co. and a higher education political action committee, Rogers said he'll watch how Gibbons and other candidates respond to the initiative.

"I'm trying to give Gibbons' as much of the benefit of the doubt as I can, but at the same time I can't do anything that will put the system to sleep or allow the system not to protect itself," he said.

Gibbons said he's waiting to see the amendment, which is expected later in the fall, before he decides to endorse it.

"He said today he believes in having reasonable constraint on government growth," Uithoven said. "A governor can do that with or without TASC."