Jim Gibbons is sworn in as Nevada's 29th governor by Chief Justice Bill Maupin in the Nevada Supreme Court chambers on Monday. The ceremony was a formality, as the governor had already been sworn in at his Reno home that morning. Photo by The Associated Press.

So far, Gov. Jim Gibbons has lived up to my low expectations. Events of the past week have shown him quite adept at maneuvering himself under a shin-high limbo stick.

He was so anxious to take over for Kenny Guinn that he made the Nevada chief justice whisk off to Sparks for a midnight ceremony more akin to a voodoo sacrifice than a transfer of power.

Perhaps the governor's newly appointed chief of Nevada's Department of Public Safety, Phil Galeoto -- fresh home from Baghdad, where cops who resign amid scandal can apparently reinvigorate their law enforcement careers -- convinced Gibbons that it was just too dangerous to let even a few seconds elapse with no one at the agency's helm.

What? We're supposed to have confidence in a director of public safety who's been vetted by defense contractors? Then again, maybe first lady Dawn Gibbons vetted Galeoto. She did wonders in the past making sure the couple's nanny was legal.

Who got a bigger work-up by investigators, anyway? Chrissy Mazzeo, who accused Gibbons of sexual assault prior to the November election, or Phil Galeoto?

No wonder Gibbons never got to chair the Intelligence Committee when he represented Nevada in the House of Representatives.

Gibbons continues to be AWOL. No comments on Galeoto and none about the medical condition his staff says is a minor hand-tremor problem.

Gibbons was still at his Reno pad on New Year's Eve when he hastily read the oath to put him into power 12 seconds after midnight, if his staff's accounting of the nearby clock is accurate. Why was he really so anxious to take over?

Maybe he still doesn't believe he survived the Mazzeo allegations. Or perhaps he thinks that because he was sworn in before everybody else was the next day at 10 a.m, it's perfectly fine to nullify Guinn's last appointment to the Gaming Control Board.

You might be able to get beyond the three pre-election scandals. After all, Mazzeo changed her story more than once, too. And it was just the spiteful media, from KLAS-TV's George Knapp to The Wall Street Journal, that made noise about Gibbons hiring an illegal immigrant and helping a buddy secure an off-budget federal contract worth tens of millions of dollars.

So we can excuse the three scandals, the midnight swearing in, Galeoto's appointment and the governor's lack of candor about his physical fitness for office.

But I'm convinced there's nothing major wrong with Gibbons' health. Otherwise, how could he possibly have worked his way under the low-expectation bar for his Inaugural Address? Does he really think quoting the Great Communicator will make him one?

I've covered many Gibbons speeches with prepared text in hand, and I can tell you that if he read this one in the nine minutes that the media claimed, he was zipping along in the brisk Carson City morn.

When he announced a few years back that he wasn't going to run against U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, he droned on for 20-plus minutes from prepared remarks. Campaign kickoff in Vegas? Same thing.

When it comes to discussing his vision? Speechless. Here's a guy who has assembled an unprecedented advisory board, numbering in the hundreds, to help him through the issues -- yet he still has no idea what they are.

To be sure, inaugural addresses are not (with President Bush's exception) typically political affairs. They aren't a time to snipe across the aisle.

From John F. Kennedy's "ask not" inaugural to Abraham Lincoln's famous second, they are designed to inspire or set forth a vision.

At least Gibbons credited Ronald Reagan for supplying the quote he pulled for his own inaugural address.

Reagan's 1971 second inaugural as California governor is a classic crossroads speech. The state can either go one way or the other, he said, citing statistics and proposed alternatives to fiscal problems. But Gibbons preferred the "One Nevada" where, "Together we can create a new ideal of what it is to live the American Dream."

The uniter, not divider, who has filled his Cabinet and staff with Northern Nevadans, was certainly received well by lawmakers attending his speech. But the conciliatory tone certainly won't last beyond two weeks. On Jan. 22, when he presents his budget and "vision" for the state, Gibbons will be facing a hostile Legislature.

It's one thing to suggest you'll work across the aisle. It's another to brush aside two proposals that the legislative leaders consider important to obtaining the American Dream.

Gibbons has already scrapped from Guinn's proposed budget the full-day kindergarten program Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, wants. His staff has also gone on record opposing Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, in his effort to help Washoe County build schools with revenue from a new real estate transfer tax in that county.

Will he veto both measures if they land on his desk? Or will he just play the fiscally conservative actor like One-Veto Bush?

Here's a little unsolicited advice, governor, for your next big speech.

Put a few ideas about your vision for the state into your budget and your address.

And have fun. With expectations this low, there's no way you can't meet them.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.