So, are you and Gibbons now skipping through the flowers together?
Well, compared to the other guys, we are.
So, how did you get over the nastiness between you and Gibbons? Or, I guess the question should be: What did he promise you?
Not a thing, actually. Not a thing.
I got involved in politics in 1992; I was a happily disenfranchised ex-journalist; and a high-school friend of mine called and said he was going to run for the Assembly. And his brother and me are the only two guys that he knows, and my last name is different, so would I volunteer to do his campaign forms and stuff like that. So I agreed to do that. And that's how I ... at the time I was a Democrat. When he won the primary, I switched to his party, which was Republican and decided to become a Republican.
Where does Jim Gibbons stand, what kind of Republican is he?
I don't know. I still don't know. That was one of the questions we kept asking during the campaign. [He laughs.]
That's an interesting statement.
I've said a couple times since the primaries—that's when we focus on the 20 percent that's different, and maybe it's 50 percent, it doesn't matter. And general elections are when we focus on the rest that are the same.
How old are your kids now?
Eighteen and 11. The girl's 18.
What if she came home today and said, "I met a biker, and he got me pregnant, and I think it's the devil's baby?" Would you let her get an abortion?
Would I let her? She's 18. It's no longer my choice.
What if she was 17?
I would counsel her to not but would respect her opinion.
What's Gibbons' stance on that?
I don't know. Nor does it matter in Nevada, because the people have voted a fairly strident pro-choice law, and the only way that can be changed is through a vote of the people.
Which you would say is a good thing, right, the pro-choice law?
It is.
Gibbons voted for a bill that would make it illegal for someone from a state that forbids abortion to go to another state to get an abortion.
Hard to see how that's a federal jurisdictional issue. Abortion, one way or the other, is not why I run for office.
What's the appeal of Gibbons, do you think? It's a very close race now. How's he going to do it?
You've got a state that's almost 50-50 and a larger-than-average "other." Most of those other are nonpartisan. But a few of them are Libertarian; a few of them are Green. The battle is for those people in the middle. And in the last 10 years, they have tipped Republican. Will that change some day? You bet. Because it certainly wasn't always true here.
I just got done reading a fascinating book on the 10 years from 1892-1902, which was the rise and fall of one of the most successful third-party movements in the history of America, the Silver-Democrat Party. They had a cause, which was having silver and gold both be accepted as legal tender. And I think [when there were] 21 or 25 people in the state Assembly, all but three were Silver Party members. It's fascinating how ideological wildfire can occasionally take hold.
What do you think of the war on drugs? Especially since there are those who believe it's been a waste of money.
You know, there were large violent dangerous cartels trafficking just 75 years ago—in alcohol.
I think cops would tell you that when they answer calls for a man who threw his wife through a window, they might find alcohol everywhere. But rarely do you find that such a perpetrator has been getting high.
Which is why I find it incredibly ironic that we'll have, on the ballot, a marijuana initiative. Is that not oxymoronic, marijuana initiative? Clearly the public is not ready for that, because we had a question two or four years ago.
Is Gibbons a smart guy?
You know, he completed law school, has a college degree and is an airline pilot. I've never played Trivial Pursuit with the guy, so I can't tell ya.
I ask that because on his website there's a recent statement [March 2006] about why we had to fight the war in Iraq. And the reason was that there were WMDs and Saddam was such a huge fan of al Qaeda. So is Gibbons smart, is he discerning, does he analyze—or is he just another puppet?
Or slow on his website.
This is dated.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't believe that it's an important issue for his opinion on Iraq.
I'm talking about his ability to reason, knowing what anyone who reads a newspaper, and certainly anyone in Congress, knows, but to still come with that argument.
I don't know. I can't speak to that. You know, Richard Perkins got dinged in the middle of the last legislative session because someone made a $25 contribution to his campaign to his website, and it turns out that someone hadn't changed the website since his last campaign, and no one took down the link where you can donate money.
This was dated on Gibbons' site.
Oh, was it? I can't address that, then. He's privy to national intelligence stuff that I'm not.
If you don't think the government should be involved in any kind of regulation, what should it do?
It should be the vehicle by which we all work together for our common protection and our common defense. But frequently government oversteps its bounds, and because it is a very large organization, it is not always nimble of thought.
Let's take, for example, getting your drugs in Canada. In the early '90s, my wife and I were having infertility treatments, and the doctors had this drug, which wasn't covered by insurance. The doctor said go to Mexico; it's much cheaper. So I've done it.
'
What does Gibbons think about it?
Don't know. But Nevada, in the last legislative session, voted to license Canadian pharmacies. So as it turns out, we've now had an article two weeks ago that Canadians and Americans are seizing shipments. In Canada, they believe they had a good thing going, and they've been threatened by the pharmaceutical companies that if you keep doing it, we'll raise prices in Canada. And so the government came along and took something perfectly legal and a sensible measure for someone who had a prescribed drug but couldn't afford it—and now that avenue of getting your drugs is impeded through government's desire to help.
What do you think Gibbons, who presumably got money from pharmaceutical companies, would think of that?
I don't know.
That it's a good thing?
I don't know.
Why not make Nevada legislators a full-time position? Wouldn't it be better than having everything thrown at them over every two years? Or having lobbyists do the work for them?
It's worse in California. It's a horrendous situation. They have significant state debt that they're not paying on; they're just like the federal government.
And who is the federal government run by? Oh yeah, Bush and Republicans. And, oh yeah, who voted along with him to make us a debtor nation? Your man, Gibbons.
Mmm-hmm.
How did it feel to lose out on the TASC ballot initiative?
It made me want to run for Supreme Court. That's the closest you can get on this earthly plane to being God.
Are you and Gibbons going to have a tête-à-tête about issues? Do you guys ever go out drinking together?
Ahhhh, no.
Is he a Mormon?
Don't know. I've read that he is, I've read that he isn't.
How many times have you met?
More than I have digits to count.
Are you their token fiscal conservative?
I hope not.
(Joe Schoenmann is a registered Independent.)