Editorial: How many more conflicts?

Sunday, April 8, 2007 | 7:29 a.m.

Not even 100 days into his term, Gov. Jim Gibbons has been hobbled by an incessant stream of news about his poor judgment and ethical transgressions, and it only continues to get worse.

Details have emerged in the past few weeks showing how Gibbons and his wife, Dawn, cozied up to political donors seeking government contracts.

Federal investigators examining the governor's ties to defense contractor Warren Trepp, a major political donor who took the Gibbons family on a Caribbean cruise in 2005 while then-Congressman Jim Gibbons was helping him secure lucrative contracts, may want to look at the family vacation slides.

In 2000 the Gibbonses vacationed in Turkey with Fatih and Eren Ozmen, major political donors and the owners of Sierra Nevada Corp., a Sparks defense technology company, that reportedly has been awarded nearly $600 million in defense contracts since 1998.

Also, Dawn Gibbons was paid $35,000 as a consultant for Sierra Nevada in 2003 and 2004 while she was an assemblywoman. During that time, she set up a demonstration and sales pitch of the company's technology for state leaders. The invitation to the event notes that it was hosted by "Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons."

A clear pattern emerging. The Gibbonses have no problem using their political offices to help their friends, and they seem to have no problem crossing ethical boundaries.

The governor has shown a blatant disregard for public disclosure, failing to report his family's cruise to the House Ethics Committee and failing to disclose a secret fund, filled by political backers, to pay his legal bills.

Disclosure is a key to earning the public's trust, and it is a basic tenet of ethical politics. The Gibbonses, however, fail to understand this.

Their conduct has been an embarrassment to Nevada. It may be too late to restore any public trust, but the governor and his wife should make a full disclosure of any potential conflicts and answer all questions before there are any more revelations.