Governor Jim Gibbons responded on Tuesday to that brutal editorial about his pending divorce which appeared in the Elko Daily Free Press last week - which was probably a smart thing politically. Although Politics 101 teaches you not to pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton, there are exceptions to every rule.
While no politician can or should respond to every negative criticism or attack, an attack on one’s credibility - as this editorial certainly was - usually calls for a swift and vigorous response. Of course, even when warranted a swift and vigorous response can be over the top and do more damage than good. And a case can certainly be made that this is the case in the case of the governor’s response in this divorce case - especially opening up Pandora’s box by openly discussing the “girlfriend” allegation.
It also didn’t help his case to “dis” Nevada’s “new media” by writing, “I generally ignore bloggers…” Sure, he was probably talking about the often unhinged Hugh Jackson over at The Gleaner. But the fact is a growing number of Nevada voters are reading blogs on a regular basis. Heck, you’re reading one right now. Ignoring them/us won’t make them/us go away.
And speaking of not going away…at least quietly.
The First Lady’s lawyer responded today to Gov. Jim Gibbons’ attempt to seal the couple’s divorce proceedings, as well as respond to the governor’s response to that Elko Daily Free Press editorial from last week. And man, oh man, is it explosive. Bombs away! Some excerpts…
“After more than twenty years of marriage, the Plaintiff has deserted, abandoned, and has shunned his wife without justification for that behavior. Truth, despite his disingenuous, shallow, and transparent protestations that his relationship with another man’s wife is a mere friendship, his infatuation and involvement with the other woman is the real, concealed and undisclosed reason for his voluntary departure from the marriage and from the Mansion where he occasionally resided.”
“Worse, his castaway wife, by the actions of the Plaintiff, was not even given an opportunity to be heard, on the secrecy issue, while his handlers, spinmeisters and staff wittingly, or unwittingly, as his tools, mislead the Public in vain attempts to preserve the marginal favorable Public Opinion regarding him that might still exist. This all has been at the expense of his wife’s good name and reputation.”
“Mrs. Gibbons has been repeatedly assailed by planted innuendo, untruths and halftruths about her and her decades long marriage, while the Plaintiff, the source of the damage to her reputation cowers behind a veil of secrecy and manufactures issues attempting to embarrass her into submission with contrived issues such as the occupancy of the Mansion.”
“It is so well accepted, and so well known that Judicial Notice can easily be taken of the fact that Mr. Gibbons’ wife has been his greatest asset. She has worked relentlessly and tirelessly to advance his career, and had stood by his side, at the most critical time in his quest to be elected Governor. 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.”
“This Public interest is heightened when the subject of interest is one of the most if not the most scandal ridden Governor in the history of this State. And, he has only held the office for a year and a half.”
“Mrs. Gibbons is entitled to her day in Court, in an open court, not in a secret proceeding, but a public one that will provide her with a forum in which to be publicly exonerated, and in which she can fix blame where it belongs, on the shoulders of the woman who the has, for years, stalked the man who could give her the public persona and prestige, that, apparently, she craves, and, for which she is willing to, concurrently, abandon her husband. And, he who has succumbed to the seduction of those wiles, should not be allowed to fix the blame, for the failure of the marriage, on anyone else but on the marital intruder and on himself.”
“Mrs. Gibbons, the person who has sacrificed the most and who has given her all to this man, should not be dismissed as if she were equally to blame, when under the circumstances it can be demonstrated on the record and to the public that she is blameless and that lust is the real villain here.”
Folks, that’s not the “liberal media” talking here. And that’s not partisan hacks and Democrat operatives. That’s the Republican governor’s Republican wife talking through her lawyer.
I don’t know if the First Lady’s legal effort to open the divorce proceedings to the public will be successful or not. But I am absolutely astounded that the governor of the state and his top staff and advisers have let this thing go this far already. I don’t know how they could have possibly handled this entire matter any worse. The military has a name for this and it begins with the word “cluster.” FUBAR comes to mind, as well. And this spectacle shows no sign of going away anytime soon.
What’s worse for the GOP is if these divorce proceeding ARE eventually made public. If so, an entire summer and fall of this mess can’t help but impact Republican candidates up and down the ballot.
That means the governor’s “private” family crisis could cost Republican John McCain Nevada…and maybe the presidency. It could cost Republican Rep. Jon Porter his congressional seat. It could cost state Sen. Bob Beers his state senate seat, thus handing majority control over to the Democrats. And it could cost Republicans in the Assembly the best chance they’ve had in a decade of picking up 4-6 seats in the lower house.
Under the circumstances and for the sake of the state of Nevada, the Republican Party and his own political career, Gov. Jim Gibbons needs to do two things forthwith:
1.) Immediately settle this divorce proceeding with Mrs. Gibbons. Quickly. Quietly. Privately. NOW. Enough is enough. Nevadans already now know more about the Gibbons’ personal life than they ever wanted to know. It’s time to make this go away. If that means Dawn gets the gold mine and Jim gets the shaft…oh, well. ‘Tis the price you pay for bungling this whole affair so badly from the get-go.
2.) Wholesale and immediate changes need to be made at the senior staff and adviser level in the governor’s office. How this divorce is being handled is merely a mirror of how badly just about everything else associated with this administration has been handled - from the midnight swearing-in ceremony to the SAGE Commission brouhaha a couple weeks ago. It’s time for both Chief Operating Officer Diane Cornwall and Chief of Staff Mike Dayton to go and be replaced with an experienced, respected and mature professional who can turn that office around pronto.
I’d recommend former Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick for the job, but I like the guy too much to throw him into that briar patch.
If dramatic changes aren’t made REAL soon, all the speculation about Gov. Gibbons not running for a second term will be replaced with Republican calls for his head on a pike before he drags the entire party down in flames this November.
Such talk has already begun in whispers and behind closed doors. But if this divorce circus goes public, Republican leaders just might decide to send an emissary to the governor’s office to let him know it’s time to hang it up and go take care of his family business.
For his sake, he better hope they don’t send Francis Allen…if you know what I mean and I think you do.
Posted on May 28th, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
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