Las Vegas Weekly

November 26, 2008 · 5:27 PM

On the trail of “America’s worst governor”

By Sarah Feldberg

Illustration: Ryan Olbrysh

Las Vegas Weekly has been committed to documenting the failures of Governor Jim Gibbons for a long time.

We’ve reported on the special designation that lowered the annual property tax on his 40 acres in Elko County from $5,000 to $15. We’ve quizzed you on the salacious language in Dawn Gibbons’ now very public divorce motion. We’ve compared Gibbons’ May 2007 approval rating to President Bush’s – 29 percent versus 34 percent – and discussed the FBI inquiry into the Guv’s failure to report gifts while in Congress. There were text messages (800), Strip gropings and days out of the office (most). In summation: Gibbons sucks.

We’ve gotten the message loud and clear, but for anyone who hasn’t had their fill of his gaffes, a new Web site has been developed with the noble purpose of “Tracking America’s Worst Governor.”

Americasworstgovernor.com does most of its tracking via a 2005-2008 timeline marked with bubbles with titles like “Ineffective governor,” “Secrecy & paranoia,” “Textgate” and “Botched nominations.” Each bubble expands into a news brief on a Gibbons misstep or complete flub and links to a more in depth article. Other site features include an animated talking Gibbons head that spits out some of the politician’s best (read: worst) quotes, invitations to text the man himself (“You know have much Gov. Gibbons LOVES text messages!) and an ad requesting photo or video submissions of Gibbons to answer the age old question “where in the world is Jim Gibbons?”

While Nevadans may be embarrassed to call JG our governor, we can be proud of the new hunger for accountability he has inspired. And we can start counting down the days until we get to boot him from the Governor’s mansion. Just a few more years now.

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