Gibbons ethics complaint press coverage misses the real scandal

kc — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:38:07 -0700

Nevada Democrats have filed an ethics complaint against Gov. Jim Gibbons for supposedly pressuring the Elko County assessor into granting an agriculture exemption for his property there.

Unfortunately, I think the press is missing the real scandal here.

The facts of the case are that Gibbons bought 40 acres for the express purpose of using it as a retirement residence. Because Nevada tax laws treat residential property different than farmland, Gibbons was hit with a $5k property tax bill.

But then Gibbons hired attorney John E. Marvel (son of longtime Assemblyman John W. Marvel, and who he appointed to the Nevada Tax Commission) to press his case against the Elko assessor, to get his taxes dropped from $5,000 to $15 by claiming it was used for agriculture.

The coverage focuses on the use of an attorney who also sits on the tax commission. While this is certainly interesting, and anyone can plainly see the political pressure being applied, I'm not sure you could create a case out of that.

The real scandal is the canceled checks Gibbons used to prove he was receiving more than $5k in agricultural income from this land. You see, it takes about 100 acres of this kind of land to feed one cow. Under even the most generous fee structure, the most Gibbons could make renting this land for grazing would be about $500. If someone is paying Gibbons more than $5,000 to graze one cow part time, it must be some kind of cow.

The funny part is that the person who is paying Gibbons all this money is the same guy he bought the property from, former Washoe District Judge Jerry Carr Whitehead.

The key will be these checks Whitehead supposedly wrote to Gibbons. Why would he pay 10 times the going rate for grazing land, when he already owns 3,000 acres in the same area? Do I smell a wee bit of fraud here? That's not an ethical problem, it's a criminal problem.

Despite all of Gibbons' Jimbo eruptions, it's this case that could bring his checkered political career to an end.

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Gibbons ethics complaint press coverage misses the real scandal