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Here is the report that shows why a panel of the state Ethics Commission is moving forward against the Clark County commissioner. There's a lot here, but you really should be subscribing to Flash, too, for all the insight that's fit to print.
Note: There is a minor error in the report. Morse Arberry was not a member of the Assembly Government Affairs Committee. Thanks to the observant Philene O'Keefe.
R.I.P Don Adams, who played Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart," which is one of those shows I still can't believe I hectored my parents I HAD to watch as a youngster. Lets face it: The show was just goofy and ridiculous. And most people watched it for the amazing number of silly facial expressions Adams displayed or to see not Agent 86 but Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon. And did anyone ever embody the crusty boss, long before Ed Asner was Lou Grant, as Edward Platt did as The Chief? Most of all, though, besides the cone of silence, what I will remember most is the show's opening credits, where Agent 86 walks though a series of doors that close behind him and ends up in a phone booth, where he inexplicably ducks down. As I said, goofy. But somehow gives me that Proustian feeling.....
Was surfing this weekend and came across "Outland," which is kind of a High Noon in space with Sean Connery and directed by Peter Hyams. What struck me about it was not so much how it really doesn't quite work, but how two great character actors give superb performances. Frances Sternhagen, who is always excellent, is great here as a doctor on the mining station. And James B. Sikking, who went on to become the head of the SWAT team on "Hill Street Blues," is utterly believable as a conflicted cop. I won't recommend the movie, but those two performances are excellent.
So speaking of Connery, connect 007 to the star of Hitchcock's ornithological nightmare and then tell me where he said this, "Isn't that just like a wop to bring a knife to a gunfight?"
Musing No. 1 – So why would Dina Titus, the clear frontrunner in the polls for the Democratic nomination for governor, attack Jim Gibson, especially in Reno where nobody knows him? Isn’t the rule that you should not give an unknown underdog any credibility? Generally, yes. But I think the unconventional wisdom works here. Why? Because Titus knows Gibson will have a boatload of money and she is following an even more axiomatic rule of campaigns: Define your opponent before he can define himself. If Titus sets the table with Gibson seen as a Republican in Democrat clothing – and one with beaucoup baggage – he will have to spend some of that boatload to overcome that. She won’t be able to keep him out of the race as she helped ease Speaker Richard Perkins to retirement with her guerrilla warfare. But Titus is showing that she plans to be as aggressive and combative as, well, she can be.
Musing No. 2 – So District Judge Nancy Saitta is in DC trolling for money and encouragement for a run against Rep. Jon Porter. She will surely find what others have discovered – she has lots of people who love her and are willing to promise (operative word) the world. Saitta was encouraged to look at the race by senatorial son and County Commissioner Rory Reid. But how come Reid the Elder hasn’t called her to give her a shove toward the race? Has the meddler in chief given up on CD3? Say it ain’t so.
Musing No. 3 – So it appears that the Family Guinn is nothing short of obsessed with ensuring the number of elected members of the Gibbons family come January 2007 is equal to the same number of members of the Nevada Policy Research Institute who support the governor’s agenda. Gov. Kenny Guinn’s pummeling of gubernatorial hopeful Jim Gibbons on “Face to Face” last week, followed by First Lady Dema Guinn’s bludgeoning of congressional hopeful Dawn Gibbons in the Reno Gazette-Journal show how intent they are. It will be interesting to see how many – if any – GOP officials Guinn and Guinn can pull to the cause.
The city has one. The hospitals have one. And now the doctors have an academic medical center proposal. Here is a copy of what the Clark County Medical Society board approved Tuesday night, further complicating the debate over the center:
Clark County Medical Society Recommendations for the Establishment of the Nevada Academic Medical Center (NAMC)
INTRODUCTION
The Clark County Medical Society (CCMS) believes there is a need to bring more advanced healthcare to southern Nevada in addition to those services already available. We believe that in order to provide the proper setting for advanced healthcare, it is essential to integrate clinical care with both medical research and medical education – a model that has been successful in other states with medical schools. We believe the three components of a high quality academic medical center (AMC) – medical education, medical research and cutting-edge clinical care – could be developed in a way that best reflects Nevada’s present and future, particularly as southern Nevada continues to grow, by means of a locally managed AMC rather than one controlled by an outside entity. Our reasons for this are as follows:
1. Academic settings for medical care, research and education have already been established in Nevada at the University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM), the University Medical Center (UMC), the Nevada Cancer Institute (NvCI), and the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine (Touro). There are many highly qualified medical professionals performing cutting-edge research and providing excellent healthcare within those systems. In addition, many private medical facilities offer Nevadans the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of clinical trials. There also exist independent, high-quality medical facilities in our community that could partner with an AMC to provide additional research and educational opportunities. One such example is the Nathan Adelson Hospice.
2. It will be more efficient and less expensive to build upon the already established, state-supported foundation of academic medical care, research and education than to begin a relationship with an out-of-state medical corporation Moreover, an AMC established by an out-of-state corporation would reduce revenues that stay in Nevada that could be used to reinvest in the AMC and further benefit the state Also, with out-of-state control of an AMC, there could be no assurance the priorities of the AMC would reflect those most vital to Nevada.
3. We believe Nevada is more than capable of developing its own AMC utilizing the tremendous talent and resources that already exist within this state.
RECOMMENDATIONS: (OUR VISION)
Mission
1. Medical Education: The Nevada Academic Medical Center (NAMC) must commit to improving the medical education of medical students, physicians-in-training (interns, residents and fellows), nurses, advanced practice nurses and allied health professionals (e.g. pharmacists, respiratory technicians, laboratory technicians, occupational and physical therapists, physician assistants) by collaborating with educational institutions throughout the state.
2. Clinical Excellence: The NAMC must commit to providing clinically excellent “cutting-edge” medical care for Nevadans. It should be the center where new and advanced clinical techniques are developed in the state
3. Medical Research: The NAMC must commit to supporting clinical research designed to improve medical care for Nevadans and to advance the field of medicine. It must support translational research that moves advances in research laboratories to clinical use as rapidly as possible.
4. Societal obligations: The NAMC must be committed to indigent care.
Governance
The NAMC should be governed by a President of Health Sciences who reports directly to the Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. The administrative relationship between UNSOM and the NAMC should be determined by either the Governor and Legislature or the Chancellor and Board of Regents.
Relationships
Strong relationships should be forged with all willing local hospitals, medical facilities and medical education institutions (including allied health schools) so as to broaden the opportunities available for medical education, enlarge the base of patients available who can benefit from clinical research, and to speed the dissemination of best clinical practices.
Location
The NAMC should be built where there is sufficient space to allow for the future, long-term development of additional facilities for healthcare, medical education and research. It should be located where other healthcare-related facilities are already established so as to benefit from the synergy of geographic proximity. We believe that one such location is the “health district” bounded by Charleston and Martin Luther King Blvds., Rancho and Alta Drives. Other healthcare-related facilities in this district include UMC, Valley Hospital, UNLV Shadow Lane Biomedical Research Campus, UNSOM Medical Education Building, Clark County Social Services, Lied ambulatory clinics and numerous medical office buildings. There is also sufficient land available for the expansion of facilities in this area.
Funding
Potential funding sources for the NAMC should be identified and quantified as quickly as reasonably possible. Funding is a critical issue, and should be addressed with participation by all interested parties working to solve this most difficult and critical issue. Among potential sources would be federal grants for research and other related matters that could be applied for separately or through appropriate state agencies, private donations, and contributions by state and local governments to the extent they are available. We would encourage an active effort to solicit philanthropic support for the NAMC to support the construction of medical care and research facilities, as well as to create endowed chairs in various fields of medical research, which will help attract highly qualified medical researchers to Nevada.
If sufficient funds are unavailable to construct a separate medical facility at this time, the NAMC could initially be based at UMC, with strong collaborative relationships with Sunrise, Valley, and St. Rose Hospitals. Historically, many medical school teaching hospitals are based in county hospitals (as is currently the case with UMC and UNSOM) with expansion to additional facilities as funds allow. The difference between the envisioned NAMC and UMC/UNSOM as it currently exists, would be an expansion of medical education at both UMC and other collaborating hospitals and a broadening of clinical services at the NAMC to include high quality tertiary care services.
Next Steps
The establishment of the NAMC will require broad-based community support, detailed planning and extensive negotiations. We therefore believe that a committee should be established, composed of all relevant stakeholders, to create support and guide the future establishment of the NAMC.
From time to time, Vegas Pundit will provide lists designed to provoke and entertain. The inaugural:
TOP TEN INTERVIEWEES WE'D LIKE TO HAVE ON "FACE TO FACE" RIGHT NOW
1. W - I'd show fellow Buffalonian Russert how it's done
2. Bill Clinton -- I already had his tougher half on FTF; Bubba would be a cakewalk
3. Dick Cheney -- He once snapped at me at a news conference; like to give him a chance to do it again
4. Oscar Goodman -- Can you imagine?
5. John Roberts -- I could do better than Biden, Teddy and the rest of 'em; I surely couldn't do worse
6. Sheldon Adelson -- Gondolier Numero Uno has become the $15 billion man since we last chatted
7. Roger Ebert -- Just to show him I would be better than Roeper
8. Andre Agassi -- As a tennis player, as a journalist, as a curious observer of human nature, I think he would be fascinating to interview.
9. Ann-Margret, circa 1965 -- Viva Las Vegas
10. Ann-Margret, circa 2005 -- Even 40 years later, well beyond thoughts of Carnal Knowledge, it would be worth it
The pundit has been receiving complaints that the trivia questions herein are just too tough, sadistic even, as fellow blogger Hugh Jackson informs me (I took that as a compliment). So today's will be easier -- let's see if anyone responds to the site with an answer.
First, the answer to the last one:
Connect the film Ocean's Eleven (the remake) to The Dick Van Dyke Show, Barbara Streisand, Brian De Palma and Lili Taylor.
Carl Reiner was in Dick Van Dyke
Andy Garcia was in De Palma's The Untouchables
Elliot Gould used to be married to Streisand
Lili Taylor was in the early Julia Roberts film, Mystic Pizza
Now for today's more reasonable question:
Speaking of Roberts, she won her Oscar for Erin Brockovich. But her co-star in that movie, Albert Finney, is an accomplished actor who was wonderful in that movie but has been great for decades. Connect him to Henry Fielding, Peter Weller and the movie where this line is uttered by Gabriel Byrne, "Nobody knows anyone that well."
I am embarrassed that one is so easy. Let's see some responses.
The Review-Journal's Erin Neff had a piece today on the positions -- or lack thereof -- of the gubernatorial candidates on the two tax initiatives likely to be on the ballot. The plans to limit government spending and to impose a Proposition 13-type rollback arguably will have much more long-term significance than anyone who inhabits the mansion starting in 2007. No matter how you feel on these initiatives, at least the Democrats interviewed took positions on them. The pathetic waffling by the Republican frontrunner is noteworthy. The man who made his bones on an anti-tax initiative that bears his name won't do so -- Jim Gibbons says he can't speak to them, although he seems to be for the spending restraint and skeptical of the property tax rollback. Wonder if that will change? To her credit, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, whose candidacy is not widely taken seriously, criticized the Prop 13 plan and expressed skepticism about the spending restraint and the initiative process being used for this goal. The real question, though, is whether any of these folks and anyone not running for governor will aggressively try to persuade the public how devastating these initiatives could be.
Don't hold your breath.
The Review-Journal's Adrienne Packer's piece on Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' new home, nicely buried in a Saturday newspaper, is worthy of several comments for what it didn't say as much as for what it did. To wit:
----The news about the fancy home, which I understand is worth seven figures, is hardly revelatory. It has been written about by myself several times, including recently in Flash to raise questions about whether she will leave her elected job since the home is not in her district. Gates has prided herself on overseeing the project by herself, which clearly takes a lot of time.
----The question no one seems to want to ask publicly but clearly is asking privately is this: How could she and her husband, a District Court judge, afford the lavish property? Gates has told folks that she and Lee Gates made a killing on their Scotch Eighties home, which may well have given them the opportunity to pay almost $350,000 for the land and then build a house that may be worth four times that. But how unseemly does it look that a commissioner is building an expensive home in a tony area outside her district? Which brings me to the last question....
----Is Gates' explanation of her living situation credible? She claims to be renting a place in her district, where she and her daughter spend five nights a week. So she has a beautiful home but forces her kid to live in an apartment 80 percent of the time? If you believe this, please let me know. If you don't, let me know that, too.
Alas, Gates is not the first public official to get away with a sham residency situation. (By the way, was anyone else amazed that she refused to tell Packer the address of the home? The real question is where is this apartment? I am on the case, folks.) As Registrar Larry Lomax pointed out, the law is so vague that they can get away with it. And because state lawmakers abuse this the most, figure the odds of it being changed.
So Gates has missed a bunch of meetings this year, has built her dream home and still says she can do the elected job? Amazing. I raise a daiquiri to her.
UPDATE: Chatted with the commissioner, who refused to give me the address of the apartment, saying she doesn't have to prove anything and that she is not a liar. If someone such as the secretary of state asks her for it, she will provide proof. She sees it as a privacy issue, and seemed quite angry with the Review-Journal for publishing the address of the fancy house, although anyone with a computer could have obtained it by going on the assessor's site. Gates insisted her constituents have not complained about the situation and she said she heard from no one after the R-J story. So she lives in the district in an apartment and if you don't believe her, that's not her problem.
Friends, bloggers, nosy types,
It has been a long time since I have found the time to muse in this space, so tonight let me make up for lost time. So herewith are some thoughts that have been rattling around the pundit's brain:
----Maybe bloggers get used to this, but I can't help but be irked/offended/bemused by the whole cloak of anonymity the blogosphere provides for the craven. I get anonymous emails occasionally from people who want to give tips (legit) or lambaste (timorous). But in my short, happy life in the blogosphere, I already have had some chicken posters leave comments with only an IP address, including the one about Jim Gibbons below. Why are these people afraid to leave their names or even an email address? Because, to varying degrees, they are pathetic. Leave a signature if you are going to take a stand. Most of us who blog are doing so, so why not anyone who wants to leave a comment? Anyone want to tell me? Please, leave your name.
----Some stuff from the mining convention in Tahoe this weekend:
----Just over two and a half weeks until the Sun begins to compete in the morning with the R-J and I hear the arrogance quotient over at Boring Paper Central has reached new heights. More public declarations of the Sun's death as the Stephens organ continues to strive for new heights of blandness. All the Sun has to do is be provocative and interesting and it will easily get over the low bar the R-J has set. You can be sure your pundit will do as much as he can to make that happen and remind the R-J folks of stories they've missed. Can't wait to return to the bosom of that newspaper and bask in that warmth every morning. Yes, every morning.
----Speaking of the R-J, in its Reporter's Notebook on Sunday, the paper observed the surprising muteness of The Mouth That Usually Roars, Mayor Oscar Goodman. What the newspaper missed, though, is why Goodman was silent. It wasn't out of choice. Sources report that Goodman actually crashed the county's Katrina news conference -- he was not invited -- and was instructed to keep his mouth shut by county leaders.
----Finally, some movie stuff. First, the answer to the last question, which was about New Orleans:
What movie set down there really upset Bill Cosby and why? And what is the relationship between one of the stars of that film to a more recent movie that echoes Las Vegas?
Answers: Angel Heart. Lisa Bonet does a sex scene and since she was one of the stars of BC's G-rated show, he was quite peeved. And Mickey Rourke, who was in Angel Heart, was in the recent Sin City, well worth seeing and, of course, Las Vegas' nickname but the movie has nothing to do with Vegas.
And I leave you with this: I saw Ocean's Eleven, the very slick and entertaining remake of The Rat Pack effort, was on on network TV last night. So: Connect the film to The Dick Van Dyke Show, Barbara Streisand, Brian De Palma and Lili Taylor.
