Snippets from the special session

The notebook sure filled up with small stuff during the crammed 12-hour special session last week. So I'll dump out some of the more interesting items that didn't make it online or into my Sunday column. First, here are three "You Know You're in Carson City When ... " items.

-- Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, rose to denounce the fact that he was about to support axing new textbooks for kids. A retired teacher, he couldn't bear how he was about to vote.

In his remarks, where the oft-teary Judiciary Committee chairman actually kept from weeping, he started to single out some past statements by GOP Assemblyman John Marvel, his colleague from Battle Mountain.

Because Marvel sits below the press gallery, I turned my gaze to witness his reaction. But he didn't really notice Anderson's call-out. He was too busy playing solitaire on his state-issued laptop.

-- Even during an abbreviated session in which there was no political will to raise any taxes, the gaming industry lobbied aggressively to keep what is essentially an illegal tax break. The end result: The death of a bill in the Senate means casinos can continue petitioning the state for $100 million in refunds on taxes paid on comped meals.

It's like when the casinos realized in 2007 they could be environmentalists and bilk the state out of green tax breaks.

-- The Carson City economy gets a small boost when lawmakers are in session. But the current downturn was more noticeable up north. So, too, was one way local government keeps the coffers full.

At 11:10 p.m. Friday -- just about an hour after lawmakers had finished, I counted no fewer than seven law enforcement vehicles, lights flashing, in the process of ticketing motorists up and down Carson Street.

Thankfully, a press colleague and I rode the brakes all the way to the lone city establishment where the bar was still serving food that late on a weekend night. Nothing screams sobriety, even after a day with the Legislature, than witnessing that.

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During the "I Can't Believe We're Killing Books" portion of the Assembly debate, Republican Bob Beers of Henderson rattled on about how he had been in a classroom and had seen kids do OK with older materials.

At least I think that's the point he was trying to make.

Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, in her classic, laid-back style, replied: "Yeah, but Pluto's not a planet anymore."

The $47 million cut made only for weird speeches in the Assembly.

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I'm pretty sure Assemblyman Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, isn't into Linkin Park, but he was sure advocating bleeding it out.

Mabey, an OB/GYN and father of five, talked about how he didn't want to do any more damage to the budget. He likened the state's economic woes to a situation he sometimes finds during surgery: "Sometimes no matter what you do, you cannot stop the bleeding, and when you go in and poke around and try to stop it, it just gets worse," Mabey said, his son Jacob seated at his desk.

Sometimes, he added, the body has to heal itself.

It's that attitude, when applied to the state's fiscal health, that is nothing more than political malpractice.

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Getting back to birthing babies, there was quite a sideshow in Carson City on Friday thanks to the latest oddity to emanate from the governor.

Gibbons had told the Las Vegas Sun that he couldn't think of a woman romantically after having held her hand during childbirth. The question arose based on witness reports that Gibbons had been holding hands with another woman during the recent Reno Rodeo. I'm still trying to figure out what Gibbons meant.

Did he previously have a romantic relationship with her and is now only her friend? Was he the father of the child?

Or maybe the statement had to do with his two failed marriages. He has two kids from the first and one with first lady Dawn Gibbons. Assuming he attended any of those births, the romance must have disappeared.

Back in June 2005, when Gibbons was still a congressman considering a bid for governor, he made some very odd remarks at a business luncheon at Lawry's The Prime Rib.

After the speech, I approached him to try to clarify what he meant when he suggested some men in uniform at the back of the room may have been daydreaming of a sexual fantasy during his talk.

I was nine months pregnant at the time, and while I don't remember Gibbons' answer about the speech, I do remember his awkward statement about my pregnancy. He said: "I'm sorry I won't be there for the birth."

I wasn't.

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