By Timothy Pratt

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Just weeks before Nevada's Legislature is set to convene, an only-in-Las-Vegas series of events, including a lawmaker's alleged death threat against the speaker of the state Assembly, is offering a distracting sideshow.

The chaos began when Democratic Assemblyman Steven Brooks was arrested this month on accusations of threatening incoming Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, also a Democrat. Kirkpatrick had recently passed Brooks over for the chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, in the latest in a series of political disputes between the two, according to an attorney for Brooks.

After he was released from jail on bail last Sunday, Brooks called a news conference on Tuesday and then failed to show up. His attorney, Mitchell Posin, said the lawmaker had been hospitalized with intestinal bleeding.

Then, on Friday, Brooks gave an interview to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in which he proclaimed his innocence. He asked a reporter to take photos of him shirtless, with his arms outstretched, to document his bruises, and one of these appeared alongside the story.

Later the same day, police were called to a domestic disturbance involving Brooks, who was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation, according to authorities.

Despite the kerfuffle, Brooks told the Review-Journal he would take his seat in the Legislature on February 4 - raising questions about just how the state should conduct business in such circumstances.

"It's become a multi-ringed circus," said Guy Rocha, historian and former state archivist. "We've never been confronted with the dynamics we're seeing right now."

Showy and sparkling, Las Vegas is not exactly known for its restraint - gamblers, bachelor parties and conventioneers flock to Sin City for a reason. Nevada has seen its share of political scandal, including U.S. Senator John Ensign's 2011 resignation following a sex scandal involving a former aide and four Clark County Commissioners going to prison for taking bribes from a strip club owner.

But even here, the Brooks story has caused a commotion.

If the 40-year-old second-term lawmaker does not resign, the Assembly may have to decide whether to take a vote to expel Brooks, who has been charged with but not tried or convicted of a felony.

Expelling Brooks, who police said was in possession of a .357 Smith & Wesson and 41 rounds of ammunition when arrested, would require a two-thirds vote of the state Assembly. It has never before been done.

While it may be a first in Nevada, 23 legislatures have expelled sitting members in the past 100 years, said Brenda Erickson, program principal at the Legislative Management Program of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Last year, Illinois voted to expel a member of the state Assembly, Derrick Smith, after he was indicted on federal bribery charges.

DEATH THREAT

Las Vegas police learned of the alleged threat against the assembly speaker through Democratic state Senator Kelvin Atkinson, who told them last Saturday that Brooks had expressed a desire to "do in" Kirkpatrick, according to an arrest report. Continued...