Knappster: If she survives public employee flap, Titus will run for governor

By George Knapp

Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval is expected to announce any day now whether, in his opinion, the state constitution allows public employees to serve in the Legislature. It's an opinion that several public employee-lawmakers are anxious to hear, no one more so than Sen. Dina Titus.

The most pressing matter for Titus is whether she will seek re-election to the Senate seat she first won in 1988. Unlike wealthy big shots from the private sector, Titus can't afford to simply walk away from her job and live on a trust fund, stock portfolio or salary from a board membership. As a university professor, she isn't wealthy, by any means. If Sandoval decides that public employees should be barred from serving in Carson City, Titus will likely have to forego another run for the Senate in order to keep her job and her paycheck. (As readers of this space will recall, Titus is clean when it comes to the double-dipping issue that has embroiled others lawmakers. She took leaves of absence during her service in Carson City, something that cost her tens of thousands of dollars over the years. Ironically, even though she's the clean one in this mess, it's possible she will be the one to pay the price for the sins of others.)

That's not to say Titus lacks options. There are many politicos who are whispering in her ear to run against rookie congressman Jon Porter, who has accumulated a million-dollar warchest but won't have a lot of legislative accomplishments to crow about in the upcoming election.

While munching on some sort of grape-leafy thingamajig at the Mediterranean Cafe, Titus told Knappster she is thinking about the Porter race, even though her home was gerrymandered out of that congressional district on the very last night that the lines were being drawn. (It's now, coincidentally, one block outside the line. However, Titus' mom lives inside the line, so she could theoretically use that as her home address.)

But, she adds, what she really hopes to do is to run for governor in '06. For some reason, political types seem to doubt her sincerity on this, even though she told people many months ago that she intended to run.

"I'm serious about it," the senator said. "I've said it before, and I said it again on the Jon Ralston 'Face to Face' show on Monday. The problem is that I can't afford to sit out an election cycle and then run for governor. Two years out of office would be tough to overcome."

Could a woman win the state's top job? Is Nevada ready for a female chief executive, a Democrat at that, and one who packs a rich Southern accent to boot? Titus thinks so. During Sen. John Kerry's campaign visit to Las Vegas last weekend, Titus unexpectedly took her gubernatorial wheels out for a test drive. At a Democratic rally, cantankerous party diehard Charlie Waterman introduced Titus as the next Democratic governor of Nevada, probably to the chagrin of other potential candidates who were there as well. Titus didn't disappoint the crowd. Her fiery rhetoric had the faithful roaring and on their feet. At least three recent polls suggest she would be competitive. Sources say all three polls show that Oscar Goodman is the early favorite, with Democratic support in the 30-plus percentages. Titus is next in the mid-20s. The next potential candidate is Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, with support in the 8 to 9 percent range, which is pretty much where Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson ranks as well. (It's unclear at this point whether Goodman is serious about a run, although he has told some locals that he IS interested. Perkins and Gibson have both made it clear they plan to enter the gubernatorial race.)

"I think I could beat those guys in the primary," Titus suggests. "Perkins and Gibson have the same constituencies and would count on the same people for money and support. I think they would split their votes and I would beat both of them, based on the type of Democrats who come out for primaries--women, unions and environmentalists."

Of course, it all may hinge on what Sandoval decides, perhaps within the next two weeks. If he opines that public employees should be barred from serving in the Legislature, then Titus, and a few of her colleagues, will have some tough decisions to make.

FBI ace moves on

Special Agent Daron Borst, who's become the unofficial face of the Las Vegas FBI over the past few years, is moving to Washington. Borst served locally as the FBI's spokesman, so his mug became well known to local TV viewers as the go-to guy during FBI actions here, and there were plenty during his tenure. More recently, he's been working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, but was clearly being groomed for something bigger. And now that "something bigger" has arrived.

Borst is moving to Washington, D.C., where will will become a supervisory special agent in the Office of Intelligence. Knappster's first reaction upon hearing this was to inquire whether Borst would be able to smuggle some of the "real X-Files" out of D.C. and into the hands of a certain unnamed journalist. Apparently, Fox Mulder he isn't, because he didn't laugh at this suggestion. A going-away shindig is planned for this Friday night in Las Vegas. Borst has already been house-hunting in the Washington area.

Names and faces

Former U.S. Sen. Chic Hecht made a surprise appearance during John Kerry's Las Vegas appearance. As many readers know, Kerry saved Hecht's life back when they served together in Washington. Kerry applied the Heimlich maneuver and stopped Hecht from choking, something the Nevadan has never forgotten. Witnesses say the two men re-enacted the Heimlich scenario when Hecht popped in to a Kerry function this past weekend, generating guffaws all around. ... It's not clear whether this is an authentic street sign or whether someone just stuck it up in their driveway, but on the drive to Mount Charleston, someone has erected a sign that reads "Elvis Alive Drive." ... Is it just me, or is the TV pairing of local icons John Barr and Buffalo Jim a meeting of giants on a par with, say Elvis and Nixon? You'd better set the VCR, folks, because tapes of the Barr-Buffalo ads will be collector's items someday. ... As the nation continues the debate about whether we need to return to the moon, one guy in town has a unique vantage point. Gambling maverick Bob Stupak is likely the only man in Nevada who owns his own moon rocks. The way we hear it, the rocks were donated by the U.S. government to the government of Argentina. Somehow, Stupak managed to buy them. They were on display in his casino for a few years, but then were packed away in a safety deposit box. C'mon, Polish Maverick, let's see the rocks again. ... Informed sources say Caesars Palace is ready to jump back into big-time boxing in a major way. Knappster even got a look at some drawings that seem to show a new outdoor boxing facility, to be built on the Flamingo side of the Caesars property, with a possible target date of 2006. Those locals who weren't around when Caesars ruled the boxing world missed out on truly world-class promotions. ... The late Ruthe Deskin was the grande dame of Nevada journalists and a warm human being. I got to know her in the years when I wrote a column for the Sun and would consider her the conscience of that newspaper. The journalism community is a lesser place without her. ... The new reality show "The Casino" is in full production at the Golden Nugget. Spies tell me the crew of 200, including 20 camera crews, is shooting six days a week for six straight weeks to get this project in the can. And it's being shot in high-definition, a first for reality TV.