Hey, do you all remember that one time then-Assemblyman Jim Gibbons totally abused the power of his office to get re-hired by Delta Airlines after he’d been let go? That was so totally scandalous!

What’s that? You don’t remember? Well, don’t feel badly: We at Various Things & Stuff totally forgot until the state Democratic Party brought it to our attention. Here’s a quick refresher:

Gibbons was newly elected to the Assembly when he told Delta — his employer — that he’d need six months unpaid leave to serve. But Delta told him to choose between his job and the Assembly, and when Gibbons chose the Assembly (he’s public-service minded, for sure!) he was fired by Delta for failing to show up for work.

As fate would have it, however, Gibbons had a chance to settle the score. We’ll let him explain, in passages from the Review-Journal profile (linked above):

“The Legislature was increasing the tax on jet fuel, and they put me in charge of the bill,” Gibbons said. “Delta sent a representative to lobby, and guess who they had to come talk to? Me.”Because of the way the airline had treated Gibbons, its lobbyist got nowhere with him. Within days, Gibbons got a call from Delta saying he’d been rehired. When he returned to work after the legislative session, the airline had a public-service leave policy.

“I couldn’t believe Delta would be so stubborn when it’s so important to have a good relationship with the government,” Gibbons said. “I think it was that lobbyist who went back and said, ‘This (leave policy) is silly, it could jeopardize our ability to survive.’”

Now that’s a touching story. You know what else it is? It’s a confession to extortion! And that’s not just us saying it: That’s former gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Bob Beers saying it! And even if it’s not extortion, it’s certainly an admission to using one’s position in government to secure an unwarranted benefit! Where have we heard that before?

To be fair, it could be that Gibbons was lying when he recounted the above story. He’s been known to do that from time to time. But given that Gibbons later denied he’d done anything improper (see link in previous paragraph) we’re given to suspect that the above did happen. And unlike the matter with Elko landgate, this does seem to be a violation of ethics laws, if only we could go back in time and apply today’s laws to Gibbons’s first recorded malfeasance in elected office.

Ah, the memories.