Backstory: Yes, the election continues

By Michael Green

Early voting has begun. Here are a few points to ponder:

• An April 21 news release from the city of North Las Vegas was headlined, "North Las Vegas Councilwoman Shari Buck graduates from JFK School of Government." Her ads for the County Commission call her a "Graduate of...The Harvard JFK School of Government." But the story below the headline says she graduated from the "John F. Kennedy (JFK) School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government," described as "a three-week long training."

Buck deserves congratulations for winning admission to such a prestigious program and completing it. But if you graduate from the JFK School of Government, you have a master's degree, which usually takes two years, or a doctorate, which takes longer.

In other words, her ads are wrong. There may be nothing sinister about it (since Buck once videotaped a political opponent's family members taking out the trash in hopes of catching them doing something wrong, you can debate that). But that ad is a little like completing a course on CPR and claiming to be certified in brain surgery.

• In the fight over Questions 3, 4 and 5, doctors have suggested they are perfect and lawyers are evil. That seems fair, since specialists deserve a break on their malpractice insurance, and lawyers were a little slippery on the subject of who was backing the measures they're supporting. But does anyone know that one of the more publicly prominent doctors in this fight faces major malpractice problems for botching the treatment he claims to specialize in? Maybe we'd feel better about supporting our doctors and their efforts to hamstring lawyers if they would do more to get their own house in order.

• Speaking of lawyers, state Supreme Court candidate John Mason told the R-J, "We need a person with business experience on the court, not another District Court judge," and called reviewing appeals "an academic exercise." Many may not remember that for part of the 1980s and 1990s, Nevada's Supreme Court was a national laughingstock due to bitter personal rivalries between justices. If Mason wins, given his understanding of the judicial process, that period may be known as the good old days.

• Each time Jon Porter runs for office, everyone says he's a nice guy. In 2000, his campaign against incumbent Shelley Berkley often was nasty. In 2002, he took fewer shots at Dario Herrera than he would have had to if Herrera hadn't been teaching a graduate course in self-immolation. In 2004, he's attacking Tom Gallagher for taking a bonus after laying off employees in the wake of terrorist attacks, as though Porter plans to return contributions from casino companies that did far worse to their employees. You don't win office by being a nice guy.

• When Gallagher attacks Porter for being a Republican rubber stamp, he's right. That's what freshman congressmen usually are, but Porter is better at it than most. And it would have been nice to hear Rep. Porter, Sen. John Ensign, Gov. Kenny Guinn or Attorney General Brian Sandoval say that since they think nuclear waste is so evil that they had to think for more than a nanosecond before deciding to endorse George W. Bush. Rubber stamping runs in the family.

• For all the ruckus over the 2003 Legislature, it appears almost every incumbent who made it to the general election will be re-elected--except for those in trouble for totally different reasons. Chad Christensen in District 13 was one of the 15 Assembly Republicans determined to keep Nevada from progressing beyond the Middle Ages, which unfortunately won't hurt him in his district, but if he lost, it would be due to questions about his campaign funds. Kathy McClain in District 15 might be in trouble over charges that, as a county employee, she double-dipped during the Legislature, although an arbitrator sided with her. Mark Manendo in District 18 probably won't be defeated after voting for the tax hike--but if something goes wrong for him, it will have more to do with allegations of sexual harassment.

• "Education First" requires public schools to be funded before anything else in the state budget. That is, until the Legislature can't function due to the two-thirds requirement to raise taxes and the Nevada Supreme Court has to rule on whether it's more important to fight terrorism or keep prison guards on the job. Has anyone noticed that the godfather of this initiative, Jim Gibbons, also came up with the two-thirds requirement that obviously worked so well--and happens to contradict the U.S. Constitution?

• By the way, it's tough to be a democrat and a Democrat, believe in the people's wisdom and say this, but Nevada is following California into the abyss of government by initiative. The process was created to allow voters to circumvent legislatures that wouldn't pass the legislation the public wanted. Now, initiatives probably are more tied to special interests than voters think politicians are. Also, it might be worth remembering that constitutions are supposed to be more general guides, not specific controls--at least, that's what the Founding Fathers intended.

• Vote, but don't expect those receipts the voting machines print to mean much. Republicans might hire a company to tear them up. Knappster came up with a great story there. I hadn't known I live in Florida.