In Nevada, Gibbons Saga ContinuesThe scandal involving Nevada congressman Jim Gibbons (R) and the 32-year-old cocktail waitress who says he assaulted her continues its reckless, convoluted unraveling.
The Las Vegas police announced they are re-opening their investigation into the claims. When the waitress, Chrissy Mazzeo, told police Oct. 14 that she did not wish to press charges, they dropped the probe. Even as evidence of further wrongdoing mounted in the case, Sheriff Bill Young maintained that they could investigate nothing without Mazzeo’s consent.
Meanwhile, Mazzeo’s lawyer said his client would cooperate with an investigation — run not by the police, but by the county district attorney’s office. The lawyer, Richard Wright, met with the D.A. yesterday, then signed forms with Mazzeo that would allow that investigation to proceed.
This morning, there’s an emergency court hearing to decide whether or not the police can release to the public surveillance tapes from the parking garage in which Mazzeo says Gibbons assaulted her. The tapes, purported to have been recorded during the time Mazzeo says she and Gibbons were in the parking garage, were missing for two weeks before surfacing a few days ago. Gibbons’ lawyer has sued to force the police to release the tapes.
Gibbons himself spoke with the press again, to repeat what he’s said already — he’s innocent, he always acts like a gentleman, Mazzeo is a liar. He (and his wife) called for the release of the parking garage’s surveillance tapes, saying they prove his innocence.
On top of all the other mysteries surrounding this scandal, Gibbons’ comments remind me of a new one: I’m pretty sure Gibbons didn’t mount a public campaign to focus attention on these tapes until folks in his campaign allegedly learned they exonerated the gubernatorial hopeful. What’s up with that? Mazzeo has been asking police to obtain and review the tapes since her first 911 calls following her run-in with Gibbons Oct. 13. We still don’t know what kept the tapes from surfacing for two weeks. Stay tuned.
