Editorial: Stop stonewalling, governor

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Gov. Jim Gibbons put his signature to the Jim Gibbons Legal Expense Trust Fund on Nov. 7, Election Day. It was an inauspicious beginning to Gibbons' new role as Nevada's top elected official.

The fund was created in secret and was publicly disclosed only after Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston e-mailed the Gibbons camp on March 2, asking how the governor could afford to hire two prominent lawyers.

In the wording of the legal defense fund, the lawyers were needed to represent Gibbons "in connection (to) matters bearing on the reputation or fitness of Jim Gibbons for public office."

Those matters included Chrissy Mazzeo's allegation (since dismissed by the district attorney's office) that Gibbons had assaulted her. Also involved were allegations that Gibbons had illegally hired a nanny and a Nov. 1 front-page Wall Street Journal story raising questions about then-congressman Gibbons' relationship with a Reno businessman who had received lucrative federal defense contracts.

After Gibbons disclosed the existence of the fund, it became apparent that it existed in a legal vacuum. At the time he created it, Gibbons was still a member of the House of Representatives. But he did not, as House rules require, seek permission from the House Ethics Committee to create the fund. Nor did he follow any of the other detailed House rules.

Neither did Gibbons follow any state laws, including disclosure of the fund. Under pressure, he finally officially disclosed the fund seven weeks late, revealing that it had attracted contributions of $169,000 by Dec. 31. And Gibbons continued to accept money for the fund into 2007. He did this without bothering to find out if a Nevada law was applicable. The law at issue prohibits the governor (and lieutenant governor and state lawmakers) from accepting contributions "for any political purpose" a month before and a month after legislative sessions.

Last Wednesday Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller sent the governor a letter, seeking answers to very pointed questions about the fund. On Friday Gibbons' attorney wrote back but evaded the questions. On Monday Miller wrote back, demanding direct answers.

This has got to stop. It is time for Gibbons to come clean about this fund. He needs to stop stonewalling and start giving straight answers.