Today’s Must ReadYes, the caption at left is correct. That’s Governor Jim Gibbons (R-NV), in a warm embrace with a former Playboy model who is most definitely not his wife.
Last we heard in the Gibbons v. Gibbons fiasco, the governor and the First Lady had called a truce in their acrimonious divorce proceedings.
But since that joint statement, Gibbons has been implicated in other acts of philandering: hundreds of text messages to a female “friend” and affectionate outings with younger women— the most recent of which was caught on film.
The Nevada Appeal this morning, published a series of pictures of Gibbons and a female companion at a rodeo in Reno.
Gibbons responded in a brief statement to the Appeal:
What it shows, according to the governor, is him comforting a stressed out friend. “She was upset, crying,” he said during a quick hallway interview with our reporter, who’d been trying to get a comment from the governor or his staff for two days. “She couldn’t get her breath. I put my arms around her.”
So who is the mystery parking lot woman seeking solace on Gibbons’ shoulder?
According to the Appeal:
[W]e did a little checking on our own and now know his companion to be the ex-Playboy-model, ex-wife of an ex-Reno mayor. She is not the woman with whom he has widely been accused of having an affair of late and with whom he exchanged hundreds of text messages at all hours. But he has been seen around Reno with this woman, too. In fact, there are cell phone pictures of the two together at a Reno restaurant posted on area blogs.
Just for some context, the Appeal’s photo spread comes in the midst of a huge budget crisis in Nevada.