I think the thing I’ll appreciate most about the passing of the Gibbons era is that I’ll no longer have to correct the record constantly about the soon-to-be-former Nevada governor and tax hikes. In a pair of Las Vegas Sun stories on Friday, chief-of-staff Robin Reedy “said Gibbons will be remembered for keeping his vow not to raise taxes,” while former confidante Monte Miller is quoted as saying, “I think he’ll be remembered as a guy who kept his word on taxes.”
No, he didn’t.
He broke his word on a number of occasions, not the least of which was proposing that whopping $292 million anti-tourist room tax in the middle of a recession caused, in large part, by a staggering drop in tourism. Gibbons may have been better on taxes than others – certainly better than Dina Titus would have been – but he did not…I repeat…he did NOT keep his word on taxes.