Not what you like to see in the local paper:

The attorney for first lady Dawn Gibbons accused Gov. Jim Gibbons of involvement with another woman, stating in court documents filed Wednesday that this is his real reason for seeking a divorce.

"Despite his disingenuous, shallow, and transparent protestation 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," wrote Cal Dunlap, the former Washoe County district attorney who represents the first lady.

The comment is part of a motion filed in Washoe County Family Court that seeks to open all records in the first couple's divorce case and to have proceedings conducted in public.

Citing incompatibility, the governor, 63, on May 2 filed for divorce from his 54-year-old wife after nearly 22 years of marriage. Three days later, at the governor's request, Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox ordered that the records be sealed and the divorce conducted in private.

So much for that - it isn't private, and it never had a chance of being private. Its out in the public sphere and it will continue to absorb Governor Gibbons' time, to the detriment of the people of the State of Nevada, who require a governor who can concentrate fully on his job. It is time for Gibbons to step down in the interests of good government.

It is not for me to judge on the merits of Mrs. Gibbons' accusations, but what I can judge is that the person who holds the highest office in the State of Nevada must be held to a far higher standard than the average person, outside the public eye. What has caused this divorce to happen is immaterial (though it is a patent absurdity that "incompatability" is the reason given - men and women, as such, are naturally incompatible, and if after 22 years Mr. Gibbons hasn't figured out how to deal with his wife, then he simply lacks the mental ability to be governor, forget everything else). It is high time we started insisting on a bit of probity on the part of our elected officials - it is not the Governor's right to air his dirty laundry in public, on our dime and our time; he is violating the trust we placed in him, and the only proper thing for him to do is turn his office over to another person who, perhaps, will be able to keep it together at least until the end of his term.

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.battlebornpolitics.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/186