Good lord, people! Since when do the Democrats in the Legislature kill a program aimed at getting more environmentally sensitive buildings constructed, forcing the public to turn to … Gov. Jim Gibbons for help?

Since today, when Nevada somehow slipped through the looking glass.

It all started on Wednesday, when the state Senate killed tax breaks approved two years ago designed to encourage developers to build stuff that complies with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. Senators said they were temporarily suspending the program, because its costs were mounting even as cuts in the growth of key programs were getting closer and closer to reality. Only two senators — Bob Coffin and Terry Care — voted no.

Today, (falsely) reasoning that the elimination of a tax cut translates to a tax increase, Gibbons threatened to veto the suspension/killing of the environmental building tax cut. Gibbons isn’t turning green; he just hates tax increases and has pledged to block them.

Then the Assembly unanimously passed the bill killing the tax break, thus setting up a classic political standoff from which, it appears, Gibbons has no way out, and Democrats benefit. Consider:

¶ If Gibbons backs off and decides not to veto the bill, he not only looks weak and ineffectual, he also (by his own reasoning) goes back on his anti-tax pledge.

¶ If Gibbons sticks to his guns and vetoes the bill, the Legislature clearly has the votes to override him. Thus, he looks weak and ineffectual. In addition, the Legislature establishes a precedent of overriding a gubernatorial veto on a tax issue, which may pave the way for lawmakers to do it again as sine die looms in June.

¶ If Gibbons sticks to his guns and vetoes the bill, but somehow manages to persuade the Legislature to sustain his veto, he looks gubernatorial, perhaps for the first time. And, the people of Nevada still have an official tax policy encouraging environmentally friendly building, which is a good policy to have, by the way.

Of course, the obvious solution — encourage green building and fund the schools and local governments so they can accomplish their various missions — is the way to go. But we’re back to tax increases, vetoes and overrides. For now, however, Gibbons will — again, for the first time — face an opportunity to become a hero the environmental community.

Who’d have ever guessed Mercury Jim would go green, even if it is for reasons wholly unrelated to the environment? Not us, that’s for sure.

» Speaking of Republican cognitive dissonance, try this one on for size. U.S. Sen. John Ensign put out of the following news release today, without a hint of irony:

"ENSIGN: WITH PRESIDENT’S SIGNATURE, ANIMAL FIGHTING NEARS ITS END

"Washington, D.C. – Senator John Ensign released the following statement today after the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, a bill Ensign has been a leader on for five years, was signed into law by the president:

"’As a veterinarian, I know animal fighting is a cruel form of entertainment, and this bill will take a great step toward stopping it. Animals associated with these fights can spread disease to other animals and even humans. Animal fighting is a barbaric practice, and individuals participating in these acts are often associated with other criminal activities.’"

 

In other words, just one day after Ensign applauded President George W. Bush’s veto of a bill that would have started bringing U.S. troops home from combat zones in Iraq — thus ensuring they remain in peril of foreign shot and shell — he’s praising the president for ending combat among … animals.

So, animals should be withdrawn from combat, but humans should not? Isn’t what’s going on in Iraq cruel? Isn’t sectarian warfare barbaric? And wasn’t going to Iraq based on lies (to say nothing of the incompetent way the war has been prosecuted) criminal?

Congratulations, Senator Ensign. Dogs and roosters can sleep safe tonight. Safer than U.S. combat troops, even.

We just don’t get how 51 percent of Nevadans can have a positive view of this guy, and just 15 percent think of him as a total douche. We’re paraphrasing from a Review-Journal poll, of course.

» By order of the state of Nevada, the name of convicted felon Floyd Lamb will remain on the park at Tule Springs. Attempts to strip the now-late Lamb’s name from the greenbelt have been rebuffed for years by folk like Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, who argued to remember all the good things Lamb did for Nevada before taking a bribe in an FBI sting.

Yeah, that may be true, but when you take bribes, what do you think your legacy will be, the good stuff, or the little matter of the betrayal of public trust that just happens to be a felony? President Richard M. Nixon did some good things, too (we assume). What’s he most remembered for today? The last building named for Nixon was his presidential library. Hell, even Erin Kenny did some good things in her life; are we going to name a children’s hospital for her?

The city fecklessly accepted control of the park on the condition it not change the name of the place, a shocking example of the lack of home rule in Nevada. Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross seems to have convinced himself that things are OK, since the park’s official name will be "Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs."

"We met somewhere in the middle, where maybe everyone is satisfied," Ross said. That’s like saying that, although you didn’t really want to be bent over a barrel and raped in order to buy a new car, you’ll accept the rape so long as you can get that sweet desert pearl metallic paint you wanted.

» And finally today, we’ve been meaning to offer our congratulations to our friend and colleague Erin Neff, the Review-Journal’s political columnist. She recently took third place in the Best of the West contest for special topic column writing.

"Neff doesn’t dance around her opinions. She begins the name-calling early in her columns, but it doesn’t come across as especially mean-spirited, a real talent when words like political hacks and flunkies are used," wrote judge Mary Sanchez.

"The main reason is the pieces also give much context, providing background for the terms chosen. Neff also brings a knowledge of history into her pieces, giving the reader a broader understanding of the issue and therefore, her stance. She also reports well, a good thing to find in columns these days when so many writers simply pontificate."

It’s high praise, since the Best of the West contest pits all western journalists against each other, regardless of the size of their newspaper. The R-J is in the same boat as the big-league papers, such as the San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Arizona Republic, San Jose Mercury News, Portland Oregonian and Seattle Times.

But wait, there’s more: The R-J also tied for second place in the explanatory reporting category for its story, "The Long Shadow of 9/11," written by A.D. Hopkins, Alan Maimon, Margaret Mille, and Joan Whitley. Over at the Las Vegas Sun, Tiffany Brown took first place for her feature photo "A Mother’s Anguish."

Congrats to all the winners, and especially Neff, who takes a lot of grief in the blogosphere for not, well, agreeing with people in the blogosphere.