Truth might never be known

Barry M. Horstman

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

The truth of what did or didn't happen between Rep. Jim Gibbons and Chrissy Mazzeo on Oct. 13 is still is a long way from being known - if it ever will be.

Police reports, 911 tapes, witness affidavits and Gibbons' public denial shape up, so far, as a classic he said-she said: Gibbons claims he simply helped a tipsy woman whom he had met for the first time that night look for her car, at one point grabbing her to keep her from falling after she tripped.

Mazzeo alleges Gibbons shoved her against a parking garage wall and tried to force himself on her sexually.

In the first hours after the incident, Gibbons' campaign, in its quest to keep a lid on the incident, gave demonstrably false information to the media about what occurred.

Gibbons' handlers initially said the incident occurred just outside the restaurant. In fact, it occurred across the street in a parking garage.

Also, Gibbons' aides said publicly that Mazzeo recanted her charge the day after the episode. She did not and has not, but rather simply told police she did not want to pursue the matter "mainly because of who he is I just don't want to go up against something like that."

The reason so many questions remain is that the two principals have refused to answer any for the past week - as have others who could shed light on some aspects of the incident.

Since making her statements to police, Mazzeo has been silent. At a news conference Thursday, Gibbons again categorically denied the allegations but refused to take any questions from reporters.

With the various accounts painting diametrically opposed versions of what happened, anyone searching for the truth is left looking for details that speak to the credibility - or lack thereof - of the accuser and the accused.

Those details include:

"I'm assuming there are cameras everywhere, and anyway the camera will explain the rest," she said.

After providing more details about the alleged attack, Mazzeo says: "You'll see this stuff on camera if they have a camera." And later in the conversation, she adds: "All this stuff will be on tape if there is a camera there, which I'm assuming there is."

Anyone who reads the transcripts of the call - or listens to the audio version - hears a woman who is inebriated, breathless and confident that surveillance cameras will bear out her story. Why would she direct police to the cameras if she was lying about the incident?

Unfortunately, the video witness missed the whole thing, police said. Cameras at the Hughes Center, where the garage is located, were not turned on Oct. 13, according to police. The company that provides security for the garage refuses to comment.

As Gibbons, who Mazzeo said had been flirtatious while the two were among a party of six having drinks, prepared to leave the restaurant, Mazzeo said that Gibbons mentioned that he was staying at the nearby Residence Inn by Marriott. In a comment she took as perhaps an indirect way of asking her back to his room, she said Gibbons said: "We could basically crawl back to his hotel room."

When he was interviewed by police the next day, Gibbons said: "I had two glasses of wine 'cause I knew I wasn't driving. So I didn't have to worry about a DUI because I could have crawled back here."

Is it a coincidence that both Mazzeo and Gibbons used the phrase "crawl back," or did she hear it from him the night before?

The atmosphere at Gibbons' table, waitress Julie Vick told police, was "flirty."

"I didn't find it that way," Gibbons told police. The conversation, he said, was about "politics, for the most part."

But Gibbons' attorney has obtained sworn statements from the three other women who were at the table with the congressman and his campaign adviser, Sig Rogich. All three say Gibbons did not behave inappropriately at the table.

Two of those women work for a law firm that shares a suite with Rogich. The third, however, is Mazzeo's friend.

Gibbons told police that Mazzeo left the restaurant less than a minute after he did. Mazzeo, though, estimated the time gap at 15 to 20 minutes, and Vick told police she thought it was closer to 30 minutes.

Mazzeo says he was waiting outside and when she emerged, he asked, "Are you lookin' for me?"

Gibbons contends he was eager to get back to his hotel room to prep for an upcoming debate with his Democratic challenger, Dina Titus, but when he saw Mazzeo looking for her truck, he offered to help.

When he asked Mazzeo whether she was OK after the stumble, she did not reply. Instead, without speaking another word - without even saying good night - the two simply headed off in different directions, Gibbons told police.

Mazzeo tells a different story of how the night ended - one that would explain why no parting pleasantries were exchanged.

She claims that once they were inside the garage, Gibbons grabbed her, forced her up against a wall and said: "You have two choices right now You could try to leave or you could just do what he says." At that point, Mazzeo says, three people passed nearby, giving her an opportunity to run away.