Nevada’s Governor’s Divorce Threatens Exposure

After years of rumors of philandering with a neighbor and an alleged sexual assault of a 32-year-old woman in a parking garage, news of Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) divorce from his wife of 22 years does not come as a great surprise. But after the governor’s attempt to evict the First Lady from the Governor’s mansion and a lot of name-calling, estranged wife Dawn Gibbons is now making not-so-veiled threats to implicate the governor in one or more scandals.

So what incriminating information might she have? Quite a lot it turns out. Because Dawn Gibbons was closely involved in at least two of the scandals which have been dogging Gibbons for almost two years.

A few examples after the jump …

First there’s the investigation into Gibbons’ ties to Sierra Nevada Corp.

From the the Wall Street Journal:

The wife of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was hired as a consultant to a defense contractor at the same time that her husband, who was then a member of Congress, helped the company get funding for a no-bid federal contract.
Dawn Gibbons got about $35,000 in consulting fees in 2004 from Sierra Nevada Corp., of Sparks, Nev., the company said. Mr. Gibbons, a five-term Republican who served on the armed services and intelligence committees, sought funding that year for Sierra Nevada for a $4 million contract to develop a helicopter radar-landing system.

Far more potentially threatening to her estranged husband, however, is her knowledge of his relationship with Warren Trepp, a defense contractor from whom Gov. Gibbons is accused of accepting bribes, in the form of lavish vacations and briefcases full of money, in exchange for securing congressional earmarks.

Evidence of Dawn’s possible complicity in these transactions emerged in emails between Trepp and his wife Jalé, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal …

“Please don’t forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn,” Mrs. Trepp wrote before the cruise, referring to Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons. Minutes later, Mr. Trepp responds, “Don’t you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!”

Finally, there’s the matter of Gibbons’ alleged sexual assault of Chrissy Mazzeo shortly before the November 2006 election. In a motion filed by Dawn Gibbons’ lawyer, Charles Dunlap, Dunlap suggests that Dawn Gibbons’ may have information about Gibbons’ and his supporters’ attempts to cover up evidence of the assault.

For just one example, even when, after consuming copious amounts of alcohol, and under the cover of darkness, in a garage in Las Vegas, the Plaintiff was accused of assaulting a young woman, bearing a striking resemblance, to the “other woman” referenced, below, that woman, too, like his wife now, was trashed and the Public was, again, misled. But, she never had the opportunity of having a Public hearing with attendant cross-examination of this man so the truth would be told.

With over two-decades as Mrs. Gibbons, there is very little chance that Dawn will go gently into that good night.