To call Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons' tenure troubled doesn't quite capture it.

It started off with a bang with accusations that he'd drunkenly assaulted a cocktail waitress in a parking garage in the middle of the night. That probe was eventually closed due to insufficient evidence. And then there's the federal investigation as to whether he took bribes from a defense contractor while he was a congressman. And now he's seeking a very public divorce from his wife.

Yes, there have been happier times, such as during this 2005 cruise, which was paid for by his defense contractor buddy:

Remember Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R)? Friend of defense contractors and foe to cocktail waitresses?

Prosecutors convened a grand jury this spring in Washington, DC to investigate whether Gibbons had accepted bribes from defense contractor Warren Trepp. Things have been pretty quiet since then, but last week, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that prosecutors had subpoenaed their first witness to testify to the grand jury.

The witness is Michael Flynn, the lawyer who used to represent Dennis Montgomery, Trepp's former business partner who has been the source of the accusations against Gibbons. In a lawsuit against Trepp and in an interview with NBC news, Montgomery laid it all out: he'd seen Trepp pass more than $100,000 in cash and poker chips to Gibbons. There was even an old fashioned briefcase full of cash in the mix. Trepp gave Gibbons the chips, Montgomery said, during a cruise (see picture below). He also produced an email from Trepp to his wife allegedly sent before the cruise, where he responded to his wife's request of "Please don't forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn [Gibbons' wife]," with "Don't you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!"

But it gets muckier. Flynn, who represented Montgomery on the copyright lawsuit against Trepp, says that Montgomery quit paying his bills this spring. So he withdrew from the case. And now he's suing Montgomery for the money -- and saying in a recent filing that his former client is a "pathological liar."

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Where do you find a job after lobbying for a (potentially) corrupt failure of a subprime mortgage company? You go work for Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) as commissioner of the state's Mortgage Lending Division, of course!

Gibbons just tapped Joe Waltuch, who served as legislative counsel to New Century Financial, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April (after predicting it wouldn't cover its weekly payroll) and is now under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in California and the Securities Exchange Commission.

Not surprisingly, some officials are pretty shocked by the choice, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports:

"I'm in total disbelief that the governor would appoint a former executive for a company that's under federal criminal inquiry, bankrupt and caused countless people to lose their homes," said Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas. "This company is a poster child for what not to do in mortgage lending. And now the appointee is supposed to watch out for consumers? Unbelievable."

We've noted Gibbons' decision-making skills here before, but he'd been laying low for awhile. The move is particularly surprising as both the House and the Senate are starting to probe the subprime mortgage industry now that an estimated 1.2 million people may lose their homes.

The many investigations poking into Gov. Jim Gibbons' (R-NV) life might be a headache for him, but a dream for lawyers.

The Reno Gazette Journal noticed that big gun lawyers are jumping on board the Gibbons scandal.

In the course of a civil suit with his former company, Nevada technology firm eTreppid, software developer Dennis Montgomery accused eTreppid head Warren Trepp of bribing then-Congressman Gibbons, offering Gibbons lavish trips and cash in exchange for government contracts.

Now Montgomery has hired high-powered D.C. lawyer Robert Bennett, the Journal reports. Bennett's clients tend toward the elite: he represented President Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones case, New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the CIA leak investigation and ex-World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz during his departure from the World Bank.

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If Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) does as well accumulating donations as he has investigations, he'll be all right.

According to the Las Vegas Sun Gibbons has started a new legal fund to help cover the cost of defending himself against quite an array of accusations.

The document Gibbons filed with the Nevada Secretary of State says the money he'll raise will go to paying his lawyers defending him against:

FBI/Grand Jury investigation into alleged dealings with Warren Trepp and eTreppid Technologies all allegations that Jim Gibbons helped secure defense contracts in exchange for gifts and money.

The ongoing litigation captioned eTreppid Technologies, Inc., Plaintiff, vs. Dennis Montgomery, et al., pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

Investigation regarding Jim Gibbons' relationship with Sierra Nevada Corporation and the report that Sierra Nevada Corporation hired the First Lady as a consultant and paide her $35,000 at the same time that Jim Gibbons helped the company get funding fora no-bid federal contract.

Investigation into Jim Gibbons alleged assault of Chrissy Mazzeo.

Investigation into an allegation that Jim Gibbons employed Martha Patricia Sandoval, an alleged illegal immigrant, as a nanny.

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Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons’ run-ins with the FBI, a cocktail waitress, the Wall Street Journal and most recently his state’s legislature, have gotten the new governor’s tenure off to a “rocky start” The New York Times reports.

It looks like the Republican governor’s involvement in myriad scandals might be catching up with him. A recent Mason-Dixon poll cited by the Times showed Gibbons, who was sworn into office 12 seconds after midnight on New Year’s Eve (because of security concerns related to the execution of Saddam Hussein…), garners support from only 28% of voters.

Lately, Gibbons, under investigation for allegedly taking bribes while a member of the House, has taken heat for causing a state government shutdown. Gibbons threatened to veto the state’s $7 billion budget after the legislature denied his request for half a million dollars for an anti-terrorism hub in Carson City that would duplicate work already being done in Reno and Las Vegas.

In another unpopular move, Gibbons backed a tax program meant to encourage green buildings, but turned out to be so generous that companies could actually turn a profit. He later ended the program (except for four companies), just before telling the local editorial board he could not pronounce the name of his "Indian" energy adviser (she is Turkish).

Besides outlining Gibbons’ ongoing saga of scandal The New York Times also revisited how he defeated State Senator Dina Titus and got into office in the first place:

He took few strong policy positions in that campaign, and instead continually derided Ms. Titus — already an object of suspicion thanks to her Southern accent and tough-edged persona — as tax happy.

Among the more memorable campaign remarks made by Mr. Gibbons, a former combat pilot and veteran of both the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, was his suggestion that “liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals” ought to be used as human shields in Iraq. It all played well with Mr. Gibbons’s base of voters in rural and Northern Nevada.

Similar tactics worked well for another fighter pilot turned politician, Duke Cunningham. And Cunningham, like Gibbons, enjoyed cozy relationships with defense contractors who he rewarded millions of dollars in classified contracts. You can bet Gibbons hopes the similiarities end here.

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons (R) has had a few brushes with the law recently over vacationing with defense contractors and grabbing a woman in a parking garage. Now that federal investigators are bearing down on him over an alleged cash-for-contracts scheme, Gibbons is likely to remain in the limelight.

Federal investigators are probing former Republican House member Gibbons’ involvement with the tiny Nevada software company eTreppid Technologies. Gibbons admits he opened doors for the company, which has secured millions of dollars in defense contracts. Gibbons has, in some instances, called gifts from eTreppid appropriate because of his longtime friendship with the company's owner Warren Trepp. Other times Gibbons has denied accepting lavish gifts. Gibbons and Trepp lived the high life together at least once on a Caribbean cruise, of which there are photos, but it's unclear who picked up the tab. At a minimum, Gibbons has accepted $100,000 in campaign contributions from Trepp, according to disclosure records.

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Check out some snapshots from the Caribbean cruise businessman Warren Trepp sent Gov. Jim Gibbons (R.-NV) and his wife on in 2005.

Trepp is the founder of eTreppid, a company for which Gibbons helped secure federal contracts while a member of the House. Gibbons is now reportedly under FBI investigation for his involvement with Trepp.

You can see the photos here. (Be sure to scroll down for the group shot.) It looks like a good time.

The pictures accompany an NBC interview with Dennis Montgomery, who raised the bribery allegations in a lawsuit he filed against Trepp, his former business partner, over intellectual property infringement of software he says he created. During the interview, Montgomery describes just how certain he is that Trepp gave Gibbons $100,000 in cash and casino chips on the cruise.

Dennis Montgomery: There was a lot of alcohol and a lot of drinking. And that's when I first saw Warren give Jim Gibbons money.

Lisa Myers: How much?

Montgomery: Close to $100,000.

Myers: How can you know?

Montgomery: Because he gave him casino chips and cash.

Myers: Are you sure about what you saw?

Montgomery: I'm absolutely, positively sure.

Everybody's in on it -- and I mean everybody. From The Reno Gazette-Journal:

Gov. Jim Gibbons said Monday he’s heard a rumor that Democrats paid the Wall Street Journal to publish stories about his relations with a defense contractor and that the coverage is designed to help Democrats in the 2008 election.

Asked about rumors of a conspiracy among Democrats against him, Gibbons said he heard the same thing but did not name a source.

“I have heard that the Democrats have paid to have these Wall Street Journal articles written,” Gibbons said. The Journal has reported that Gibbons is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly accepting unreported gifts or payments from a Reno company that was awarded secret military contracts when Gibbons was in the U.S. House.

Gibbons said he first met the Journal reporter who broke the stories, John R. Wilke, when Wilke was in Elko the night of the debate between Gibbons and Democratic rival Dina Titus of Las Vegas. Gibbons said Wilke was brought to Elko by the Titus campaign.

“When I met this guy, (Wilke), he was brought to Elko by the Dina Titus campaign and that is where I met him. So I don’t know what his agenda is, but there is nothing there with any of these allegations.”

Now, let's take a step back and see how high and wide this conspiracy goes. Not only has the (apparently conservative) Wall Street Journal been paid to write these stories about poor Jim Gibbons, but since those stories revealed a federal corruption investigation into his dealings with a defense contractor when he was in Congress, that means the (ostensibly Republican run) Justice Department is in on it too -- the FBI, the U.S. attorneys' office in Washington, everyone. And how about this for a kicker: Wilke's last story revealed that Gibbons' wife had a consulting contract with a defense contractor for which Gibbons had earmarked millions in federal dollars. There's only one conclusion to be drawn: Gibbons' wife is on it too.

Come to think of it, that cocktail waittress who alleged in October that Gibbons drunkenly assaulted her... she was also on the Dems' dole, for sure. Where does it end?

Not since ex-Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) was brought down by the liberal conspiracy to have him investigated by the FBI has my worldview been so shaken.

Note: It should go without saying that the Journal denies Gibbons' allegation... but anyway the Journal denies Gibbons' allegation.

The Wall Street Journal continues (sub. req.) to make life miserable for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons. The paper first reported a month ago that Gibbons was under federal investigation for improper gifts (possible bribes) from a defense contractor.

Now the paper reports that Gibbons' business as a legislator was intertwined with a second defense contractor:

The wife of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was hired as a consultant to a defense contractor at the same time that her husband, who was then a member of Congress, helped the company get funding for a no-bid federal contract.

Dawn Gibbons got about $35,000 in consulting fees in 2004 from Sierra Nevada Corp., of Sparks, Nev., the company said. Mr. Gibbons, a five-term Republican who served on the armed services and intelligence committees, sought funding that year for Sierra Nevada for a $4 million contract to develop a helicopter radar-landing system.

If this seems like déjà vu, it's because the role of wives has been key in the Jack Abramoff investigation. Abramoff often selected lawmakers' and staffers' wives for busy work --- one former staffer, Tony Rudy, has pled guilty for accepting bribes from Abramoff in the form of consulting work for his wife.

There are more than shades of similarity here. Gibbons has the same defense lawyer as Abramoff: Abbe Lowell. And Lowell tells the Journal that Mrs. Gibbons "had a pre-existing relationship" with the contractor that began long before Mr. Gibbons was elected to Congress and had "no knowledge" of the federal contract. Just a coincidence.

Now, there's another major revelation in the Journal story, one that touches on the U.S. attorney scandal. John Wilke reports that "a federal grand jury in Washington has begun to issue subpoenas for documents, according to witnesses contacted in recent weeks."

A lot of the suspicion over U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden's firing has centered on the assumption that it was his office leading the investigation against Gibbons. Not the case, reports Wilke: "Mr. Bogden wasn't involved in the Gibbons probe, which was initiated by prosecutors in Washington."

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) has nabbed Abbe Lowell, best known as Jack Abramoff's lawyer, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that there was a federal investigation of Gibbons' relationship with scandal veteran and software executive Warren Trepp. Our rundown of the muck is here.

Yesterday, we noted the FBI investigation of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) and one particuarly troublesome email exchange in particular between Warren Trepp, the software exec who's being investigated for showering Gibbons with illegal gifts, and his wife:

On March 22, 2005, days before Mr. Trepp and his wife embarked on the Caribbean cruise with the congressman and his family, Jalé Trepp sent a reminder to her husband. "Please don't forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn," referring to Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons.

Minutes later, Mr. Trepp responds, "Don't you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!"

Yesterday, Gibbons released a statement to the media in which he protested his innocence, but also provided an explanation of sorts for the email (which I'll note without comment):

In a statement issued Thursday... he said e-mail messages quoted by [The Wall Street Journal] were probably references to campaign contributions, which he said were lawful and reported in accordance with campaign finance laws.

Bear with me here, because it's a tangled web.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that TPMmuckraker favorite Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) is under federal investigation over whether he "accepted unreported gifts or payments from a company that was awarded secret military contracts when Mr. Gibbons served in Congress." The feds, concentrating on Gibbon's relationship wtih Nevada software entrepreneur Warren Trepp (the Zelig of scandals), are also probing whether any of those gifts were bribes, John Wilke reports.

The Journal first reported on the two's closeness back in November. But since then, more revealing evidence has come out:

On March 22, 2005, days before Mr. Trepp and his wife embarked on the Caribbean cruise with the congressman and his family, Jalé Trepp sent a reminder to her husband. "Please don't forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn," referring to Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons.

Minutes later, Mr. Trepp responds, "Don't you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!"

But that's not even the most interesting part of the case.

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Ah, the cover-up is worse than the (alleged) crime.

A local district attorney announced today he won't seek to indict the Nevada governor-elect for drunkenly assaulting a cocktail waitress in a parking garage in the middle of the night, AP reports. But the DA and his staff will investigate the woman's claims that those around the governor attempted to keep Mazzeo from telling her story to police.

Former Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) won his state's governorship just weeks after 32-year-old Chrissy Mazzeo accused him of assaulting her in a parking garage after drinking with her and friends for most of the evening. The local police had earlier declined to pursue the matter, and passed the investigation to the DA.

Remember the dust-up in Las Vegas between then-Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) and a cocktail waitress who said he assaulted her drunkenly in a parking garage in the middle of the night?

Gibbons was elected governor of Nevada. And now the police say they've found no evidence to support the charges of battery made by Chrissy Mazzeo, the waitress.

A man named Warren Trepp surfaced in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, you may recall. The paper had investigated the Nevada defense contractor for his shady dealings with then-Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV).

Today's Las Vegas Sun puts Trepp's current flap in perspective. Apparently, the man has a history of attaching himself, Zelig-like, to no fewer than four disparate scandals in the past two decades:

Perhaps Warren Trepp is always just at the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of terrible and perpetual coincidence.

By his early 30s, he was chief trader for the notorious 1980s junk bond trader Michael Milken.

Then a friend helped him sell a bundle of stock in a collectibles business in 2002, and he wound up selling it to Tom Noe, a Republican bigwig in Ohio recently convicted on multiple counts of fraud and larceny and laundering money to the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign.

Trepp formed the software company eTreppid Technologies that later sought national security contracts with the government. A woman, Letitia White, who did lobbying work for the firm is said to be under investigation in connection with the widening federal bribery probe following the conviction of a former congressman.

Finally, his friendship with Nevada Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons landed him on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in an examination of contracts that eTreppid received with help from Gibbons, the Republican congressman from Reno.

Reader GB has some good questions about that hours-long surveillance tape from the parking garage purported to be recorded on the night Gibbons allegedly assaulted a young woman, which shows neither the Republican gubernatorial hopeful nor his accuser, Chrissy Mazzeo -- only an occasional security guard, and a white cat:

It's odd that no one, not just Mazzeo and Gibbons but no one at all, appears in the tapes -- why would no one be going to or from their cars on a busy Friday night; the garage is between the restaurant where the event happened, a popular bar (Gordon Biersch) and two other restaurant/bars, plus the office complex where lots of law firms (and [Gibbons adviser Sig] Rogich) have offices.

Moreover, a charity auction was taking place in a large tent in the outdoor portion of the parking lot that night (which is why Mazzeo was at M&C ) -- which meant more than the usual # of people would have been parked in the garage.

And once the rain let up, there should have been a lot of people going to their cars.

But no one is in the tapes at all. Other than a security guard occasionally, who is conspicuously not carrying an umbrella or rain gear.

"A partial review Thursday of surveillance video from a parking garage where a woman said the Republican candidate for governor assaulted her did not reveal the presence of either person, nor of an attack," the AP reports.

"The cameras filming an area in front of the first floor elevators showed neither [accuser Chrissy] Mazzeo nor [Rep. Jim] Gibbons [(R-NV)]," the news organization said, "only black-and-white images of elevator doors and the occasional appearance of a security guard and a white cat."

These tapes, of course, are the same ones that first did not exist, then did exist, and whose fluctuating realities have been blamed entirely on a security guard named "Aaron."

Gibbons' lawyer, Don Campbell, turned over a copy of the surveillance recordings to the AP yesterday morning, and said he expected the organization to dupe the tapes and distribute them to other outlets. Chaos ensued, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

"I thought about this and couldn't think of any better plan than that," Campbell said.

More after the jump.

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We've spent some time here cataloguing the myriad signs that point to a cover-up of Rep. Jim Gibbons' (R-NV) alleged assault of a cocktail waitress in a Las Vegas parking garage. But the mystery of the disappearing videotapes from surveillance cameras in the garage just has to take the cake.

Today, The Las Vegas Sun provided the fullest accounting yet of the tapes' journey. And it just gets worse.

Chrissy Mazzeo, the cocktail waitress who says she was assaulted, has said from the beginning that the tapes would show just what happened that night. "[A]ll that stuff will be on tape if there is a camera there," she told a 911 dispatcher the night of the incident.

When police first contacted the parking garage that night, they were told by a security officer "identified in police reports only as Aaron,'" that the cameras in the garage weren't recording. Sorry. "The next day," the Sun reports, "after officers told Mazzeo there was no video after all, she decided to drop the case."

But two weeks later, Mazzeo called a press conference to say that she would press charges if the police reopened the case. So the police decided to "tie up some loose ends," as a police Deputy Chief put it to the Sun. They went over to check up on the tapes and maybe interview that Aaron fella.

To their surprise, "Robert Clavier, director of security for Hughes Center [the garage], showed up to say that videotapes indeed existed from Oct. 13." They were told that Hughes had had the tapes the whole time, but "didn't know what to do because it was a closed case."

There's been no explanation as to why Aaron (whose last name remains undisclosed) gave police such bad information early on. For some reason, though, police don't suspect Aaron of knowingly misleading them. Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy would only tell the Sun that "He may have been given wrong information." It's not clear from whom.

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Ah, a whole new scandal involving Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV).

Yes, he's accused of sexual assault. And yes, he had an illegal domestic worker he hid in his basement. But now, we learn that Gibbons granted exceptional favors to a campaign backer and "friend" from whom he received gifts and campaign donations, according to a lengthy and circuitous investigative piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Step 1: From Nevada software entrepreneur Warren Trepp, Gibbons received generous gifts, including a week-long family cruise valued at $10,000 (which he failed to report) and $100,000 in campaign contributions. Trepp also gave Gibbons gambling chips worth money, as well as plain ol' cash, according to Trepp's old business partner.

Step 2: Gibbons gave Trepp at least one multi-million dollar earmark, and a "plus-up" -- adding more money onto an existing contract than was originally agreed to. He also set up numerous meetings between Trepp and defense officials, worked to get Trepp paid when the government checks weren't coming on time, and personally flacked for Trepp's products.

(There's no connection, the two men say, and of course Gibbons and Trepp deny any wrongdoing. Gibbons' wife even says she paid back $1,654 of the cruise's cost to Trepp's wife. It's not clear why she paid that amount, or why she paid Trepp's wife.)

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The sexual-assault scandal surrounding the GOP's Nevada gubernatorial candidate is gaining a level of complexity seen only in tawdry television drama series and particularly sinister small-town conspiracies.

A judge yesterday ordered mysteriously disappearing and reappearing surveillance tapes released, that could prove who's lying about the late-night encounter between Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) and his accuser, Chrissy Mazzeo.

Big news, right? Those tapes could be the key piece of evidence that breaks the case. Well, hardly. Here's what else has been revealed in the last twenty-four hours:

- Just about every player in the drama (aside from Mazzeo) is connected to Gibbons. Through himself, his counsel and advisers, the accused is closely tied to the local sheriff whose force is investigating the assault charges against him; at least one of the two local newspapers covering the scandal; a key judge; the owners of the surveillance tape; and nearly everyone else in his drinking party that fateful night (i.e., witnesses). For starters.

- While the tapes could have been the most important piece of evidence to determine Gibbons' guilt or innocence, they may be useless if they can't be authenticated and their whereabouts established for the past two weeks they've been missing.

- Police finally admitted that there was a fourth 9-1-1 call from that night, from the accuser's sister. Since the incident over two weeks ago, the police have denied they had any record of that call.

The videotapes from surveillance cameras in a Las Vegas parking garage which mysteriously disappeared for two weeks are to be made public, a judge ruled yesterday. The tapes are said to have been recorded during the period of time a woman alleges Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) assaulted her in that garage.

Police investigating the Oct. 13 incident were told by the garage's management company that no tapes existed. Two weeks later, the company told Rep. Gibbons' camp that the tapes had been located. A short while later, the company notified police of the tapes. Gibbons has pushed for the release of the tapes, claiming they show the story of his accuser, Chrissy Mazzeo, is false.

Questions have arisen about the tapes, their disappearance, and their sudden resurfacing. In particular, concerns run high over ties between Gibbons and the property company: One of Gibbons' most powerful campaign advisers, Sig Rogich, is a longtime Las Vegas power broker who once lobbied on behalf of the property company. Rogich's offices are also in the same complex as the parking garage, and are managed by the firm, Crescent Real Estate Equities.

Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) stands accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a parking lot in the later hours of Friday, Oct. 13.

Immediately following the incident, his campaign manager -- a big player in the GOP, Nevada politics and business named Sig Rogich -- hustled to squelch the story. But Rogich is increasingly in danger of becoming the story.

New questions are being raised about Rogich and a key piece of evidence in the case: the videotapes from the surveillance cameras in the parking lot which surfaced just a few days ago. For two weeks, the police and the public believed they didn't exist. The property management company responsible for the complex told police the cameras were "operable, but not working."

Gibbons' accuser, Chrissy Mazzeo, told police the night of the 13th to get those tapes, because they would prove she was telling the truth. The media first wondered why it took the police several hours to discover there were no tapes -- at the time, the Las Vegas Sun looked askance at Rogich, noting that the power broker's offices were in the same complex which housed the parking garage.

Now that the tapes have turned up, the paper's giving Rogich a second, harder look. Why? It turns out that Rogich once lobbied for the property company which managed the complex, Crescent Real Estate Equities.

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