Ok this settles it, Republicans are 100% against civil rights of any kind.

What’s the purpose of this governor? It’s not in solving problems. He issues his non-sequitur veto threat for plausible no reason. Useless.

from wikipedia:

Gibbons has been married twice and has three children. He married his current wife, Dawn Gibbons, in 1985; they have a son, born in 1987. Dawn Gibbons did not move to Washington to live with her husband during the 10 years he served in Congress, saying she preferred to raise their son in Nevada. She herself was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 1998, two years after Jim Gibbons was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. On May 2, 2008, Gibbons filed for divorce,[2][3] citing grounds of incompatibility stemming from an undisclosed event in Reno, and requesting the court to determine whether Gibbons or his wife would live at the governor’s mansion.

In April of 2009, Gibbons was living in Reno; his wife, Dawn, remained in the Governor’s mansion in Carson City. An 1866 state law requires that governor must “keep his office and reside at the seat of government.” A spokesman for Gibbons described the move by the governor back to the couple’s Reno home, which they had owned since 1989, as a temporary situation and said there was no violation of the law.[4] By April of 2009, Dawn was living in an apartment near the Mansion rather than in it.[5]

Divorce proceedings were stayed upon agreement of living separately pending the suit. Dawn accused Jim of “infatuation and involvement with the wife of a Reno doctor,” but he stated the woman is just a friend. On March-April 2007, he sent 860 text messages in one month to the woman.[6] He later reimbursed the state $130 for the cost of the messages.[5] In June 2008, he was seen with former Playboy Playmate Leslie Durant at the Reno Rodeo.[7] Durant is particularly prominent not solely because of her nude Playboy appearance, because she was once married to Pete Sferrazza, formerly mayor of Reno.[5]

On April 6, 2009, a judge in Washoe County Family Court ordered the records of the divorce proceedings unsealed. Dawn’s papers alleged that Jim was unfaithful with Durant, and with the woman who received the 860 messages, and “has had similar relationships with many other women during the marriage.”[5] She also referenced her humiliation at standing beside him when her husband attempted to defend himself from allegations of attempted sexual assault shortly before the 2006 election.[5] See “sexual assault allegation” below.

[edit] Plagiarism
A speech given in February 2005 by Rep. Gibbons in Elko, Nevada was actually plagiarized from a copyrighted speech delivered in 2003 by then-Alabama State Auditor Beth Chapman at a “Stand up America” rally.[24]

[edit] Favors for mining industry donors
In November 2005, Gibbons and Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA) co-authored an amendment to the Federal Budget Reconciliation Bill easing restrictions of sale of federal lands to mining companies. This amendment attracted fire from environmentalists, anti-growth advocates, and even some Republican Senators[25] concerned about the measure’s effects on hunting and fishing. Although the bill (and amendment) narrowly passed the House, the stated opposition of many Democratic Senators and the concerns voiced by Republican Senators made the amendment’s future uncertain.

Condemning another alleged favor to Gibbons’ mining industry donors, journalist Chris Mooney has criticized Gibbons for using rhetoric in place of sound science as a basis for policy judgments, particularly in regard to a 2005 report Gibbons produced with Pombo that some saw as underplaying the effects of mercury poisoning.[26]

[edit] Federal bribery investigation
On November 1, 2006, the Wall Street Journal published a story stating that Gibbons had earmarked several millions of dollars to a company owned by Warren Trepp, as well as added additional funds to a pre-existing government contract with Trepp’s company. The report noted that Trepp had paid for a $10,000 cruise for Gibbons and his wife, which Gibbons failed to report, and $100,000 in campaign contributions. A former Trepp business partner claimed that Gibbons was also given gambling chips – convertible into cash – and cash directly.[27][28][29]

On February 15, 2007, the Journal reported that Gibbons was under federal investigation for allegedly accepting unreported gifts and/or payments from Trepp in exchange for official acts while he served in Congress (1997–2007).[30][31][32]

According to reports, on March 22, 2005, days before Trepp and his wife left for the Caribbean cruise with Gibbons and his family, Jalé Trepp, Warren’s wife, sent a reminder to her husband. It said, “Please don’t forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn (Gibbons).” Minutes later, Trepp responded, “Don’t you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!”[33][34][35]

The U.S. Attorney for Nevada at time of the investigation was Daniel Bogden, who was one of seven federal prosecutors forced out of his job by the Bush administration in December 2006.[36][37][38]

[edit] Criticism and controversy while Governor

[edit] Undocumented housekeeper/nanny
As Gibbons was campaigning for governor in October 2006, it was brought to light that more than ten years earlier, he and his wife Dawn had employed Patricia Pastor Sandoval, a then-illegal immigrant from Peru, as a housekeeper and babysitter. Since the Zoe Baird “Nannygate” scandal of 1993, politicians have been deeply concerned about the impact of such revelations on their careers.

Dawn, who had become a Nevada state representative in 1998, denied the allegations in 2006, claiming that Sandoval had merely been a friend who had helped out around the house and was given clothing and household goods, but was not an employee. An employment contract from between Dawn Gibbons and Sandoval, however, appeared to disprove that assertion, as it clearly laid out the terms and conditions of Sandoval’s hiring. Documents filed during Sandoval’s 1988 application for working papers also contradicted earlier statements by Dawn Gibbons that the family had not known that the woman was in the United States illegally.[39]

Sandoval stated that she was employed from roughly 1987 to 1993, four years before Gibbons left for Washington in 1997 after his 1996 election as a Congressman and five years before Dawn Gibbons became a state legislator. Sandoval also stated that she was asked to hide in the basement and refrain from answering doors at certain times in order to ensure that her illegal status did not become public knowledge and jeopardize Gibbons’ political career.

In 1995, Dawn Gibbons filed a police complaint against Sandoval, alleging that she was attempting to extort money by threatening to go to the media with a story involving her illegal employment. Jim and Dawn Gibbons did not pursue the matter further.[40]

In response to the 2006 revelations, Jim Gibbons’ campaign issued a statement accusing Democratic candidate Dina Titus of fomenting the controversy to distract from the real issues of the race, but did not issue a denial of Sandoval’s claims.[41]

[edit] Sexual assault allegation
In October 2006, near the conclusion of his successful campaign for governor, a woman accused Jim Gibbons of attempted sexual assault in a parking garage. Gibbons claimed he was helping her to her car. They both admitted to drinking alcohol at McCormick and Schmick’s restaurant in Las Vegas.

In the initial aftermath of the event, Las Vegas Sheriff Bill Young, a long time supporter of Jim Gibbons and donor to his gubernatorial campaign, cited lack of evidence in the case and refused to bring evidence of the attack to the District Attorney. The accuser did not initially want to pursue pressing charges, saying she just wanted “to be left alone.” But when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was forced to open the incident case file after inquiries by Las Vegas media, the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Las Vegas Sun released her name and she was thrust into the public eye. She later said she was being pressured to not talk to the police about the incident by people close to Jim Gibbons.[42] In fact, the Gibbons campaign hired a private investigator to “talk” to the woman shortly after the incident occurred.[43]

Under pressure from the media and eventually from the accuser herself, Sheriff Bill Young famously taunted the alleged victim to “bring it on” and sign a formal complaint. This was a highly irregular step, as most victims of assault are not required to sign a complaint before an investigation can begin. Nevertheless, she signed the complaint and there was a further investigation. The evidence was given to the Las Vegas District Attorney, David Roger, who had also donated to the Gibbons campaign. Criminal charges were never filed in the case.[44]

Gibbons’ gubernatorial campaign manager, Robert Uithoven, speculated in an e-mail to Gibbons’ supporters that Dina Titus, Gibbons’ opponent, hired the woman to entice Gibbons. Titus retorted that to do this she would have had to control where Gibbons went, who he was with, and even the weather (Gibbons claimed he was helping the woman to her car in part because of the weather).[45]

By 2009, the alleged victim had filed a civil suit against Jim Gibbons, specifically alleging battery, false imprisonment and second-degree kidnapping as well as deceit about the episode.[5]

Nevada was already a social disaster waiting to happen. Now it’s happened (anybody see the “60 Minutes” story about cancer patients being denied chemo?). Instead of dealing with the very real problems of a state where revenue has been based almost entirely on tourism and gambling, and instead of cleaning up his own act, Gov. Gibbons is busy creating a distraction. The only morality Gibbons is guarding is the bit that would see him answer for all his immoral acts. Pass the bill as a first step, and use the Governor’s dirty record to get it done. If the Dems had any balls, they’d be pushing for impeachment by now, but you know that won’t happen.

The bill, however, does not permit marriage, already barred in Nevada, although it does provide the same rights and obligations that married opposite-sex couples have under Nevada law…..

Ohhhh we get FEDERAL RIGHTS there now?

I seriously wish that writers would NOT say crap like the above, no wonder so MANY people think that DP’s are like marriage.

Bravo Patric for your wiki addition it is an article unto itself!! As for Mr. Gibbons I AM A GAY NEVADA RESIDENT in a COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP and MARRIED in CALIFORNIA LAST YEAR! Using Gov. Gibbons own words I won’t be voting for YOU (or anyone against SB283)because…….

“I just don’t believe in it”

Nv. governor forgets the churches and other religious groups OUTSIDE Ca. interfered in the Prop 8 CHANGE in the State’s Constitution. Maybe we don’t believe in putting our PINK money in Nv. since you don’t believe in civil rights of gay people. I was married in Connecticut and we have been in a 32 year committed and loving relationship. A divorce is denial of your sacred vows “…till death do us part”. Governor why did you break this vow?