Is Gibbons Actually The Governor?
Gleaner commenter What?! has discovered a possible wrinkle in Governor Jim Gibbons’ “Plan to Embarrass Nevada.” Its possible that Gibbons may not actually BE governor due to a technicality. Several other commenters explored the possible constitutional crises further–read the whole thread, but here’s the comment that started it all:
Nevada Constitution Article 5, Sec: 12. “Person holding federal office ineligible for office of governor. No person shall, while holding any office under the United States Government hold the office of Governor, except as herein expressly provided.” (I didn’t notice anything following that “expressly provided”).
Gibbons was a Congressman (an office under the United States Government), until noon January 3, 2007 (as set out in the 20th Amendment of the US Constitution).
A 1979 Nevada Attorney General Opinion states, “However, Article 5, [section]4 of the Nevada Constitution provides that the Governor shall hold his office for four years from the time of his installation and ‘until his successor shall be qualified’”. And from the next paragraph, “One of the qualifications is that he must take the oath of office…before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices’”.
1. What official Governor actions did Gibbons do/enact from midnight January 1, 2007 till noon on January 3, 2007?
2. Has Gibbons taken the oath of office for Governor subsequent to Noon on January 3, 2007?
3. Is Guinn still the constitutional Governor of Nevada?
An anonymous commenter then pointed out that according to a report by Ed Vogel for the Las Vegas Review Journal, Gibbons was sworn in on three separate occasions, but all of those took place while he was still technically a congressman:
“Gibbons actually was sworn in three times, shortly after midnight Monday [January 1, 2007] in his home in Reno, then again with the other constitutional officers at 10 a.m. that day and publicly at Tuesday’s [January 2, 2007] inauguration.”
Does this mean the Gibbons’ “Plan to Embarrass Nevada” has been foiled? Or is it all just another part of his sinister plot to convince the nation that Nevada not only has the worst governor in the United States, but that we are actually so dense that we don’t even have a governor and don’t know it? What kind of deal has Sig Rogich struck with Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of a possible take over of Nevada? Stay tuned for the next installment of Jim Gibbons’ “Plan to Embarrass Nevada.”
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[...] This theory was first proposed by an anonymous commentor on the Las Vegas Gleaner blog, and taken up with glee by Reno and Its Discontents and Vote Gibbons Out. Presumably actual, non-blogger legal scholars will pick it up soon and Gibbons will be off to the hoosegow lickety-split. 4:22pm MST | 0 Views | Add to del.icio.us | View blog reactions [...]
[...] Damn if Jim Gibbons didn’t resign his congressional seat in time (link to letter of resignation here). Good advising or just luck? Anyway, thanks UNLVStud, or should I call you UNLVKilljoy? It was worth investigating wasn’t it? The good news is that we’re sure to get another scandal soon. At least Stanley and I got a Wonkette link out of it and that’s what really counts. // [...]
[...] Gibbons’ energy advisor and chemical engineer, Hatice Gecol, sounds like she doesn’t think the press should be included in any global warming task force meetings. Is this all a part of Gibbons’ plan to embarrass Nevada? I’ll let you be the judge. However, I will remind you that one of my conspiracy theories is that Gibbons is on Schwarzenegger’s payroll and is functioning as a mole in California’s scheme to take over Nevada for its measly water supply. Anyway, it seems that Lisa Mascaro’s Las Vegas Sun article on the why Gibbons has not joined the governors of five other western states in launching a plan to limit carbon emissions made Hatice Gecol a little upset and she shared her frustration with some hippie from one of those environmental associations. Bloody longhairs. [...]
[...] This theory was first proposed by an anonymous commentor on the Las Vegas Gleaner blog, and taken up with glee by Reno and Its Discontents and Vote Gibbons Out. Presumably actual, non-blogger legal scholars will pick it up soon and Gibbons will be off to the hoosegow lickety-split. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Comments
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still technically a Congressman is a good description of the job Gibbons held for 10 years.
That he’s now “technically” the Governor, either constitutionally (thats a quaint idea) or not, is of little consequence — he’s in no way substantively governing the state, anyway.
Didn’t Gubbons make a couple of appointments to Public Safety and Homeland Security cuz he was afraid of terrorism in Nevada? How embarassing!
If you have any contacts with the party, please contact them and get them in on this What story. It’s gonna take more than just a few voices to kick his ass out of office so we need a lot of help from bigger places to gets legs under this thing.
Call or email but do it NOW!~!
Gibbons is still the govenor. =( http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000152
He resigned from Congress on December 31, 2006.
If he resigned, does that mean there was a three-day replacement?
Darn, foiled again! Thanks UNLVStud.