The idiot boss continues to embarrass Nevada

Text messaging has become a hot topic largely as an example of social phenomena linked to decreasing academic performance.

But who knew Nevada's miserable education system had such an ally in the governor's office?

The Legislature? Fiscal crises? Green building permits gone awry?

None of that kept Gov. Jim Gibbons AFK. (That's "away from the keyboard" for those of you still struggling to program the old iPhone before the new one hits stores in a few weeks.)

No, Gibbons' entire service in office has been such a joke that it's only appropriate that he'll be remembered 4evr cus of married qt he has told us all was just a 4nd.

IMO, Gibbons has proven he lied about his relationship with a Reno podiatrist's wife thanks to the Reno Gazette-Journal's exposure of manic texts between the gov and his luv.

The sheer magnitude of Gibbons' messaging shows he was nimbly fluent in the type of language that makes most pols his age scratch their heads.

What is plainly clear from his antics and phone text in the wee hours of the night is that during actual gubernatorial duties, his messages probably looked like this: "watching leg -- zzzzzzzzz."

Perhaps he was able to fire off so many because he just wrote 3 over and over. That, in regular speak, is akin to the famous Stevie Wonder song of telephone commercials.

I'd be lq2ms if this whole charade of leadership was just something for People magazine and late night talk show jokes. But I live here.

And despite the fairly short-lived history of texting, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick became the first American pol taken down by short messaging sex. Maybe Gibbons can be No. 2.

The governor has excelled where no former leader has -- in topping his own gaffes with magnificent failure.

Last Tuesday, as the story of the texts first broke, Gibbons was to have chaired a meeting of the Board of Examiners. His staff gave varying accounts of his whereabouts. That happens when there's varying chiefs of staff in a largely otherwise vacant office.

Whether Gibbons was at a family funeral or off in Winnemucca trying to hide from the Reno newspaper, he wasn't at the Capitol.

When the examiners began their meeting, Gibbons came on the line via teleconference and suggested the lieutenant governor could chair the proceedings for him. That might work if the lieutenant governor served on that board. And since Gibbons has chaired the board many times already, you'd think he'd know that. But he told those listening he really couldn't chair the meeting Tuesday because he had no agenda.

Not only does the governor not live in the mansion and not come to work regularly, he can't even get one of his chiefs of staff to fax or e-mail him an agenda when he's on the lam.

One of the more curious moments of the meeting came when Gibbons stated as fact that the state had sent a letter to Steve Fossett's widow informing her that she was expected to pay money to cover the state's expenses searching for her husband.

Later Gibbons' staff clarified that Mrs. Fossett had not, in fact, been sent such a letter.

Which is it, really?

And since we're back on the topic of the Fossett search, it will be interesting to find out if our Top Gun Guv went up in the search planes or choppers. If that's the case, it's little wonder Fossett wasn't found. Gibbons would have had his head glued to his phone.

It's common enough for a teen-ager to fire off a thousand texts in a month, but the married Mormon governor billing in at 860 in one month -- all to the woman with whom he says he has had no romantic relationship -- and on the state cellphone to boot.

Some of us actually thought the disgusting she-said, she-said of the divorce proceedings was going to end when a no-comment truce befell the War of the Gibbonses.

But when someone's sending 91 messages from midnight to 2 a.m., it's clear he wasn't just chatting about his friend's dog or "other life issues."

Some pundits have suggested Gibbons should resign if it's somehow proven he lied about the nature of his relationship with the other woman. What more proof does anyone need?

Gibbons' abrupt end to his text mania probably coincided with someone on his staff reminding the idiot boss that state cell phone records are public.

It's a miracle the actual messages aren't. Even if they were, Gibbons would probably make divulging any of them a homeland security issue.

More than a few Republicans are quietly trying to get the governor to step aside before the 2010 election. You also have to wonder why John McCain is really up on television so early in Nevada.

Nevadans might have done better by electing a Gibbon monkey. Even with opposable thumbs, the ape wouldn't be as embarrassing as the monkey we have in charge.

TTFN, by this time next week who knows what Gibbons will have done.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.