Gibbons: Officer and Gentleman?

By Dana Gentry

Monday, June 30, 2008 | 2:10 p.m.

If you're like me, you spent the weekend wondering not about how the state will fare with yet millions more carved from the budget, but rather what makes Jim Gibbons tick?

Intrepid Las Vegas Sun reporter Cy Ryan gleaned from the governor what could be his wackiest comment yet - the one about how witnessing childbirth is bound to kill the romance in any friendship.

So, given Gibbons' contention that friendship contains a romantic component, his protests that Kathy Karrasch is a friend don't preclude the possibility of a romantic relationship. The same would be true for Leslie Durant, but he's seen her all gross and giving birth. But why was Gibbons holding Durant's hand during delivery? Here's the answer from Gibbons' spokesman Ben Kieckefer:

"The Governor and Mrs. Gibbons were friends with Leslie, who was about to become a single mother. They were together one day late in her pregnancy when she went into labor. The Governor and Dawn went with her to the hospital and stayed with her during the birth to help out their friend. Nothing else to it, really."

Nothing sordid about it. Jim Gibbons is an officer and a gentleman. We hope to have Leslie Durant on soon to discuss the governor's chivalry.

Now, about his taste in Western wear...

Today: Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D) and State Sen. Bob Beers (R) discuss the band-aid fixes applied Friday to the state budget and how the governor hung fellow Republicans out to dry on COLAs and textbooks.

Tomorrow: District Attorney David Roger discusses why the case of a 4-year-old who died after being left for in a vehicle overnight warrants criminal prosecution. Plus, the mother accused of killing her seven-year-old daughter was released from a mental facility just days before the slaying. Should the state pursue murder charges against the mentally ill?