In two recent interviews at opposite ends of the state, Republican candidate for governor Jim Gibbons told southern Nevadans he would cut state spending by eliminating a northern state museum and told northern Nevadans he would do so by eliminating a southern state museum.

In an interview with KLAS News in Las Vegas, Gibbons said that, in a education budget crunch, he would shut down the Nevada Railroad Museum.

Later, in an interview on KUNR in Reno, Gibbons said that, faced with a squeeze for school funding, he would close the state museum in Laughlin. (There is no state museum in Laughlin.)

Dennis Myers was the news editor of the Reno News & Review. He was a journalist for more than four decades. In 1987-88 he was chief deputy secretary of state of Nevada. He was coauthor of Uniquely...