Will state education be cut 10 percent, 2.4 percent or both?

CARSON CITY — When it comes to truth, can two versions both be right?

Actually, yes.

In Carson City, they’re still bickering over whether the cuts to K-12 education are 10 percent or 2.4 percent, when actually both are correct.

If the Legislature merely adopts Gov. Jim Gibbons’ proposed cuts to the K-12 budget (and that’s not about to happen), the general fund cuts would be 10 percent. And yes, the enhancement of federal dollars brings that cut to 2.4 percent, even if Nevada can’t count on those dollars for future budgets.

In Las Vegas, the interpretion of attorney Noel Gage’s plea Tuesday is being touted by his attorneys as practically a victory.

One version: “GOVERNMENT TO DISMISS ALL FRAUD AND CONSPIRACY CHARGES PENDING AGAINST NOEL GAGE” declared the news release from his attorneys. And that’s true.

Another version: “LAWYER GAGE PLEADS GUILTY TO FELONY CHARGES ON EVE OF TRIAL.” That's the federal government's angle. (Actually it was just one charge.)

Oh, sure Gage entered an Alford plea to an obstruction of justice charge involving checks he didn’t turn over to a federal grand jury, and that’s probably going to earn him some disciplinary action by the State Bar of Nevada.

But the truth is, he’s pleading to one count and all the others will be dismissed. Yes, the government won a conviction. However, the potential conviction of fraud and conspiracy charges could have been life-threatening to a 71-year-old man. His lawyers said he essentially won his first trial, which was a big stretch since jurors split 8 to 4 in favor of convicting his fanny.

But there’s some truth in both positions. This isn’t a glorious victory for the government. It’s a respectable end to a case that’s dragged on so long that other targets are smiling, knowing they are likely to skate because of the statute of limitations.

But back to the Legislature, my new home away from home, it’s only Day One and already people are thinking that every day in session, at a cost of $50,000, is the loss of one state job.

With Tuesday’s start up cost being $150,000, that’s three jobs down. While at this point, it’s silly to think in those terms, when hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of layoffs are at stake, but if the session stretchs on ad nauseum, it may become one way of looking the session, just not a positive way.

Even though legislators have yet to come up with a solid proposal to find more money to soften the governor’s suggested cuts to education, people are aleady talking about how the session will end, even though it’s the first day.

There are a couple of scenarios.

The legislators find about $200 million or so to infuse into the budget, mainly from mining and gaming. They pass their plan, preferably with a two-thirds majority so it’s veto proof, and go into recess. The governor has five days to sign or veto the bill if the Legislature is in session, or 10 days if it is not.

If he vetoes it, the legislators return to override his veto.

If he just doesn’t sign it, it becomes law without his signature.

Maybe Gibbons sees it as a waste of money (that $50,000 a day number is easy to remember) and just allows the legislators’ budget adjustments to go into effect.

They can say they saved education using some easy-to-remember percentage, or even better, some big number in the millions.

Gibbons can, and will, repeat that they’re the ones who got the state into this mess by their actions in the 2009 session.

Both will be true, to a certain extent.

The big unanswered questions right now:

— Will mining come up with $100 million in revenues, doubling the amount Gibbons sought? Probably. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley seems to be working toward that goal.

— Will gaming agree to pony up $34 million a year to pay for investigations? Probably.

— Will Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford manage to negotiate that the cuts in K-12 education and higher ed are the same percentage? That’s hard to say. With Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, fighting to protect higher education from cuts and Buckley more interested in protecting K-12, maybe Horsford’s approach is the fairest compromise.

Being fair is not a bad thing, next to being truthful.