Editorial: Time for Gibbons to level with citizens of Nevada

It's hard to feel upbeat about Nevada's future with such a dark cloud hanging over its top executive, Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Gibbons, who for years has been mired in allegations of corruption, is currently under investigation by the FBI for allegations he accepted bribes to secure no-bid defense contracts for his longtime friend, Reno businessman Warren Trepp, owner of eTreppid Technologies.

Though the facts of the case are in dispute, if true, Gibbons' political future hangs in the balance. That may be why he hired a high-profile Washington, D.C., lawyer to defend him.

No question about it, Gibbons has some explaining to do.

Did he receive a large sum of cash and casino chips from Trepp while on a Caribbean cruise, and, if so, why?

What did Gibbons' wife, Dawn, do to receive a reported $35,000 consulting fee from Sierra Nevada Corp., a Sparks-based defense contractor that her husband helped win lucrative contracts?

It's time for Gibbons to fess up and level with the people - did he accept payola or didn't he? Inquiring minds want to know.

So far Gibbons has responded to these questions - which are fair in light of the evidence - by hunkering down and pointing accusatory fingers at the media and Democrats who are out to get him.

The problem is nobody is buying it.

The reason nobody is buying it is because Gibbons doesn't have a foundation of integrity, honesty, candor and judgment to stand on.

Before this, he was defending himself against allegations that he groped a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. Before that the good citizens of Nevada had to figure out how to reconcile Gibbons' get-tough stance on immigration policy with revelations he hired an illegal alien to clean his house and take care of his kids. Before that we had to endure his embarrassing and plagiarized comments about those "liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals" in Elko.

Gibbons wants to blame everybody else for picking on him, but it is self-evident the common denominator is Jim Gibbons.

Gibbons is beginning to look less like a statesman and more like former Ohio Congressman James Traficant, who was convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion and is now parked in a federal prison. In Traficant's way of thinking, Traficant was the victim and everybody else was the problem. Sound familiar?

At a minimum, Gibbons is trying the patience and good nature of the people who elected him, which in itself is a tragedy of the highest order.

At this rate it's going to be a long, long, long, long, long three years and eight months for Jim Gibbons and the citizens of Nevada.