MARK SMITH MORE COLUMNS Advertisement

Climbing one of the lower hills over at Ash Meadows the other hot day, I was beset by a sudden onset of vertigo.

It happens, and unfortunately has happened more frequently in recent years. Even driving along at 40 mph on the Blue Ridge Parkway a few years back I found myself feeling queasy and ill at ease.

In this most recent incident, I began to feel a little nauseous and shaky, so I sat down out of the wind -- that hadn't exactly helped me up on the summit ridge -- and waited for things to calm down. After resting for a while, I was able to work my way back down from Point of Rocks to King's Pool, where I sat in the shade at the picnic table until I was more or less back up to snuff.

The worst part was actually stepping down from one gravelly terrace to another, carefully using my hiking staff down the basalt ledges and feeling as if I might pitch forward at any moment.

So following the old rule of getting right back in the saddle if a horses throws you, I was back out there Saturday morning. Hike up, no problem. Windy on top, not much problem. Vertigo present but controlled. Return hike fine.

When I walked over to my car, I discovered the starter wouldn't crank. I mean, not even a click. Dead as could be.

So I walked back to the shade, waited 20 minutes, and this time it started right up. Rather than drop by the refuge headquarters to see Visitor Services Manager Christina Nalen, I just headed back to town.

A minor event in the ways of a human being who once in a while goes out for a hike, but I was reminded of it when pondering the saga of Louis DeCanio and his problems with the county clerk.

Louis is one of the dozen candidates who wanted to jumpstart a political career by becoming the new justice of the peace.

The problem is, he gained only 327 votes, coming in fifth, well behind winner Linda DeMeo, 1,042 votes, and runner-up Kent Jasperson, not that far behind at 969 votes.

Nonetheless DeCanio declared that he believes a mistake was made.

Why?

Because he spoke to "a lot of people" who said they voted for him.

He took no tally of the supposed voters, garnered no names and offered no indication that one of them had even gone to the polls to cast a ballot.

Frankly, if I were running and tallied 327 votes, I'd figure maybe 300 were people I'd never hear from and be amazed at the level of support.

DeCanio also complained about the alleged lack of oversight where counting the votes was concerned.

But he admitted he didn't show up for the count.

When Sheila Winn, Merlino's chief deputy, asked DeCanio bluntly whether he was charging that Merlino had in some way cooked the books on the election, DeCanio backed off as if he had just laid his fingers on a hot burner.

But he continued to insist that "something" was wrong.

Others have stated on the record that they, having no connection to Merlino or Winn, were invited to check out the vote totals as they were compiled.

This is not the first time someone has complained about not winning as many votes as he expected or thought he had been assured.

And what that says is simple enough: Not everyone who says, "Yup, you've got my support," is telling the truth. He or she may not even have voted.

But the average candidate is so shocked to learn this truth that the only way to deal with it is to accuse, or come close to accusing, a county or town clerk, poll-watcher or whoever of something close to corruption.

But never in such detail that the candidate might have to pony up some evidence and have to stand on it.

The result is that another low-grade, cheap rumor has been created that will, in time, as sure as President Nixon created his own Watergate nightmare, take on its own life and become part of Nye County legend. Two years from now we'll all hear about "that guy" who had hundreds of votes stolen from him.

Ye gods. The real question is more important: Will DeCanio try again?

Will he wage a serious effort to run and win a serious campaign the next time around? Or will he slip quietly back in among the rest of the then-candidates and become the subject of a political footnote and the originator of a rumor?

After Point of Rocks threw me, I went back a week later and made it up to the top. Perhaps DeCanio will make a similar effort.