Gov. Jim Gibbons turned over a new leaf at his inaugural State of the State speech in Carson City last night. He pledged, for the first time, to disagree with people "…with honor, respect and civility."

Oh, come on, people! It was just a joke.

Actually, we at Various Things & Stuff liked the speech. Gibbons didn’t screw up the delivery at all (he stuck pretty much to the prepared text), got plenty of applause and, best of all, didn’t plagiarize a single line!

Come on, people! Another joke. We kid the governor.

Anyway, let’s take a quick look at the speech, discussing some things you may not have seen on TV or in the morning papers. You can also click here to get a copy of the address to read for yourself, and perhaps save for posterity.

Quotable quotes

Gibbons showed some savvy in praising Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, the state’s first woman elected to that high post. It not only was a nice thing to do, it was vintage Gibbons: Say something nice about people who are about to unload on you (as Buckley was, in the Democratic response to the Gibbons speech). Gibbons did the same thing at the Nevada Republican Convention last year in Mesquite, praising Bob Beers and Lorraine Hunt, who then proceeded to beat him up and look mean in the process.

Gibbons also showed some humor, thanking his 200-member transition team and making fun of himself in the process. "And, as my friends in the press have pointed out, for the handful of you who are not on my transition team, I value your input, too."

There wasn’t a whole lot of high-flying rhetoric in Gibbons’ speech — John F. Kennedy he’s not. But there were a few good lines. To wit:

* "In order to sustain this economic growth, I firmly believe we need to form a new kind of government; one that is leaner, more responsive, a combine for new ideas, and most of all, a government that gives Nevada the tools they [sic] need to make the most of their [sic] lives. This is my vision for Nevada."

* "Exercising fiscal discipline demands more than a promise of no new taxes; it requires having the willpower to save in good times for those downturns and unexpected hardships that will inevitably come."

* "Ladies and gentlemen, this [meth] is the colossal struggle of our times, and it will require uncommon collaboration, compassion and coordination."

* "Today, the institution of public education needs bold and decisive leadership to better respond to the challenges that confront us. Our current standings in education on a national and worldwide front are simply unacceptable."

* "There is much to do — and tomorrow the budget committees begin their work. It will require a valiant effort by each of us, and a willingness to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, as one Nevada, we can do anything."

* "We will not always agree, but I give you my solemn word that when we do disagree, it will be with honor, respect and civility."

Screw you, Kenny!

Gibbons proposed a minor reduction of the payroll tax — from .65 percent to .62 percent, which will save about $28 million. And he proposed eliminating the per-branch bank excise tax of $1,750. Both of those taxes were part of the infamous 2003 tax hikes passed by the Legislature after former Gov. Kenny Guinn’s preferred gross receipts tax alternative was rejected.

By proposing to reduce and eliminate these taxes — although the amounts are minor and the action is largely symbolic — Gibbons sent a wordless reproval of Guinn’s stewardship.

"During the campaign, I promised Nevadans I would save them money. I will stand by my word," Gibbons said in announcing the tax reductions. We suppose by "Nevadans," he meant, "Nevadans who own businesses or out-of-state corporations that own banks," because that’s who’s saving money under these tax cuts. (Our colleague Jon Ralston had the same thought today.)

Guinn also got a silent slap when Gibbons talked about securing the "Guinn Millennium Scholarship," the only time the new governor invoked his successor by name. Without Gibbons help, the program would run dry by 2013. But Gibbons saves the day with $5.6 million from unclaimed property receipts! Yay for Gibbons, as the unasked question hung in the air: Why didn’t Guinn do that?

Imports

Gibbons borrowed plenty of program ideas for his speech. His schools empowerment plan comes from Edmonton, Canada. His tax-exempt bond program to buy affordable homes for nurses, teachers and first-time homebuyers comes from California. (By the way, monorail fans, this is the kind of thing that tax-exempt bonds are supposed to be used for, not toy trains that enrich their builders but fail to work at critical times!) His economic development program comes from Georgia. And his coal-to-liquids alternative fuel idea comes from Wyoming.

Hey, we’ve got one governor. See, down in Venezuela the re-elected president is thinking of nationalizing several industries, including telecommunications. Well, if we did that with casinos, and spread the wealth among the population, see…

No new taxes

Gibbons stuck with his pledge not to raise taxes, and specifically took a gasoline tax off the table. He put $36 million into the state’s savings account, the so-called Rainy Day Fund, for a total of $303 million.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t do a little pork spending, say the $2 million for the Nevada Discovery Museum in Reno. Or was that perhaps a brilliant fiscal strategy, red meat designed to attract the attention of folks like Chuck Muth, who promptly criticized the budget in the Review-Journal and made Gibbons start to look moderate?

Dodging the issue?

Gibbons did not, however, propose a long-term solution for the $4 billion gap in the public employees’ retirement medical plan. He did put some money toward it, but thereafter only asked the Legislature to reconstitute a benefit plan board to investigate solutions. He did not, tellingly, repeat Guinn’s solution: Making newly hired public employees pay a share of their retirement benefits. That was unpopular with state workers, but it would go a long way toward making sure the deficit doesn’t grow larger.

And aside from $170 million to be put toward statewide highway projects (a mere 4.4 percent of the $3.8 billion shortfall in the state’s road budget), Gibbons didn’t outline specific solutions. Instead, we heard about "public-private cooperative efforts," a new "Advisory Panel on Public-Private Initiatives" and having the state transportation director, Susan Martinovich, spend time in Las Vegas. (Here’s a tip, Susan: Despite what you may have heard from the Regional Transportation Commission, the monorail is not the backbone of Southern Nevada’s transit system.)

We’re very concerned about this "public-private" thing. Roads and highways are one of the things that should be paid for by everyone, open to everyone, without regard for how much money you have or how nice your car is. And toll roads, toll lanes, or other wacky ideas that extend the George W. Bush "ownership society" mantra into spheres traditionally under the purview of the commonweal doesn’t represent progress. In fact, they represent the exact opposite. We need to fix our roads, not turn them over to the private sector to lease to the highest bidder. (Ditto for schools, by the way, but that’s another blog.)

Meth

Aside from Gibbons’ actual use of the phrase "seemingly untamed demon drug" — which we found interesting — his speech raised a question for us. If meth is, indeed, the "colossal struggle of our times," what does Gibbons think the war on terrorism is? We thought that was the colossal struggle of our times. That and getting on American Idol.

Eminent domain

Gibbons surprised us by calling for an alternative to Question 2, the anti-eminent domain ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to make it impossible for governments to steal private land and give it to another private owner. Gibbons called for a measure to appear on the 2008 ballot that wouldn’t interfere with road building, which critics contend Question 2 would do.

Full-day kindergarten: The colossal struggle of our times

"Although full-day kindergarten has been labeled a top priority by the state’s superintendents and others, I respect their opinion, but I believe the fiscally responsible approach is to continue to support the existing pilot program at current funding levels in at-risk schools and, therefore, I have committed $50 million to do so," Gibbons said.

Got that, superintendents and others? He respects your opinion, although not enough to actually, you know, follow it.

In her Democratic response, Buckley said she wanted all-day kindergarten. And thus, the first Battle Royale of the 2007 Legislature has been joined! The line is favoring Buckley at this point, even though the program is very expensive.

Campaign reform

We have to admit, we like Gibbons’ ideas when it comes to campaign finance reporting. The governor wants an online system so that politicians report their contributions more frequently, and making campaign finance reports due before early voting starts. "Voters have a right to know who is financing campaigns before they cast a ballot," he said.

True. After all, would you have voted for Gibbons knowing that his last-minute, high-dollar backers included golf course mogul (and sweetheart deal-maker) Bill Walters? Or desert developer Harvey Whittemore? Or toxic landowner Basic Management Inc. of Henderson?

But we also agree with Buckley, who in her response said the laws need to go even further, requiring disclosure of members of limited liability corporations who make political donations. And could somebody finally enact some reforms that make campaign finance forms easier to read? You can start by requiring cumulative summation of account balances on annual reports.

Overall grade

To close, we think Gibbons hit his mark with the speech, although, as he predicted, we disagree on some things. After a rough start to his administration, the speech helped to calm things down a bit and make him look every bit the governor, which he’ll need going in to the session, which kicks off Feb. 5.

Alas, Gibbons broke with another gubernatorial tradition: The post-speech news conference. According to Molly Ball‘s story in the R-J, Gibbons blew off a question and then scurried out a back door. Bad form, governor, bad form.

Oh, and so much for giving the governor a chance, as Ralston suggested we do in Sunday’s column. The Sun was unimpressed. The R-J’s says Gibbons was "calm and competent." And our colleague Erin Neff traveled to Carson City only to wind up disappointed in Gibbons’ offerings.