Gibbons’ missteps fuel recall speculation

Gov. Jim Gibbons is being investigated by the FBI. His performance in his first months in office has been widely criticized. His approval rating is worse than President Bush's.

Gibbons has persevered, insisting he is focused on the task at hand and not concerned by scandal or criticism.

"We will not be distracted," Gibbons spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said. "We're moving forward with our legislative agenda. Partisan politics will always exist; we're moving forward, leading the state."

But that insistence hasn't stopped the Carson City chattering classes on both sides of the aisle from calculating the possibilities for Gibbons' political demise. Lobbyists and aides gossip about a potential impeachment in the halls of state. Democratic legislators have sought legal opinions on the possibilities for a recall, sources say.

"To be fair, a new administration normally has a little trouble learning how to work the gearshift," said Michael Green, Community College of Southern Nevada historian. "But Gibbons has faced a concatenation of problems. It's like Chinese water torture, but he's torturing himself."

Under state statutes, it's hard to get rid of a sitting governor.

Many have spoken of a recall, but no one has volunteered to carry it out, perhaps because it would take a lot of work.

Any public official can be recalled, but not until they have been in office for at least six months, except in the case of state legislators, who are eligible to be recalled after 10 days of their first legislative session.

The statutes require a recall committee to first file a notice of intent with the secretary of state's office, then notify the official in question. The committee must then collect the signatures of 25 percent of the people who voted in the election that elevated the official.

In Gibbons' case, that would be 146,569 signatures. Those people must all have themselves voted in 2006, and they must sign the petition in person, witnessed by a petitioner.

By comparison, California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled in 2003, but under California law the threshold was 12 percent of the number of California voters from the previous election.

That amounted to more than 800,000 required signatures and was a multimillion-dollar effort, backed financially to the tune of more than $1.5 million by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.

Nevada's recall process also differs from California's in that, if a recall petition were successful, it wouldn't lead to the kind of ballot free-for-all California experienced. California voters faced a ballot that first asked them whether to recall Davis, and then asked them to choose from 135 candidates seeking to replace him.

In Nevada, a separate petition may be circulated to nominate others to run against the recalled official. That petition also must get the signatures of 25 percent of voters in the last election.

However, the governor might be a special case. Unlike any other public office, the Nevada governor's post is never vacant and has a specified line of succession. If the governor is out of town, incapacitated or ousted, the Nevada Constitution specifies that the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor while remaining lieutenant governor.

Gibbons' lieutenant governor, Brian Krolicki, is the only other Republican constitutional officer, and Democratic partisans eager to get rid of Gibbons might think twice before putting him in the governor's chair, Green said.

If a recall petition is undertaken and does collect enough signatures, the official in question has a few days to resign -- either five or nine days; there are two conflicting statutes.

If he resigns, there is no special election on whether to recall him. If he doesn't, a special election is held in 30 days.

If the recall is defeated in the election, the official in question can't be recalled for the rest of his term unless those wishing to circulate another petition pay the government all the costs of the special election.

Recalls have happened on the local level in Nevada, such as the successful recall of Las Vegas City Councilwoman Janet Moncrief. But no governor or other statewide officer has ever been recalled, state Archivist Guy Rocha said.

Nor has any governor ever been impeached or pressured into resigning, he said.

"There's never been a Nevada governor who's involuntarily left office, other than being called by death."

Four governors have died in office. Two, Richard Bryan and Ted Carville, have stepped down voluntarily so they could take positions in the U.S. Senate.

"If Gibbons resigned under pressure or was recalled, it would be precedent-setting," Rocha said.

Impeachment of a statewide official isn't quite uncharted territory. It happened for the first time with the impeachment and conviction of former state Controller Kathy Augustine.

"It still is a very mysterious process, even to me," Gerald Gardner, now an assistant district attorney in Carson City.

As chief deputy attorney general, Gardner presented the impeachment case against Augustine in 2004.

The state constitution says "the governor and other state and judicial officers, except justices of the peace," may be impeached "for misdemeanor or malfeasance in office." Like most constitutional provisions, it's rather general, failing to specify the definitions of "misdemeanor" or "malfeasance."

"The common definition of misdemeanor is a petty offense, so it suggests that even a petty offense can be grounds for impeachment," Gardner said. "Certainly there's no indication that conviction in any kind of criminal court is required."

In fact, while there is a statute providing for the removal from office of a public official who commits a felony or "malfeasance" while in office, it doesn't apply to offenses committed before the official was elected, such as the alleged improprieties of which Gibbons has been accused.

The way in which articles of impeachment come to the Assembly is also unclear in the law. In the case of Augustine, the impeachment proceedings were triggered by her admission she violated state ethics laws. But there's nothing to say impeachment couldn't come to the Assembly some other way, Gardner said.

Once the Assembly has heard and voted on articles of impeachment, they must pass by a majority vote, at which point a trial is held in the state Senate. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required to convict. The Senate then decides on a penalty.

In Augustine's case, she was censured by the Senate and was widely expected to resign, but didn't, remaining in office and beginning a campaign for treasurer until her death in July.

Subbotin acknowledged the talk of Gibbons' troubles, but said Gibbons' focus on governing was firm.

"It seems like everyone else is concerned with those rumors but us," she said. "We will not allow them to distract us. As long as we are in office, those rumors will exist. But rumors only affect the lives of those who allow them to."