By Sean Whaley, Nevada news Bureau: Lame duck Gov. Jim Gibbons not only fell short in campaign contributions in his recent primary loss to Brian Sandoval, but donations to his legal defense fund have dried up as well.
According to Gibbons’ legal defense fund report filed in January with the secretary of state’s office, the outgoing governor received only a single contribution in all of 2009 – $10,000 from Antonio and Maria Alamo of Las Vegas, on Oct. 26, 2009.
Gibbons’ legal bills have not seen a similar decline, however. The report shows just over $44,000 in expenses in 2009, with most of the total, about $29,000, going to his attorney.
Gibbons formed his legal defense fund in 2007 in response to several pending legal issues, including an alleged assault of a Las Vegas cocktail waitress in 2006 while running for governor.
By contrast to the 2009 report, Gibbons reported receiving $230,000 in contributions to his defense fund in 2007, although $61,000 of the total was a loan he made to the fund.
One legal issue still looming large for Gibbons is a federal lawsuit filed by cocktail waitress Chrissy Mazzeo, who alleges Gibbons assaulted her in October 2006 in the Howard Hughes Center parking garage in Las Vegas after the two left a restaurant. Depositions have been taken in the case.
The one donation on the Gibbons legal defense fund report is from the parents of Gaming Commission member and Las Vegas physician Tony Alamo Jr. Alamo Jr. was appointed to the commission by Gibbons in 2008. Alamo Jr. had previously served several years on the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Both Alamo senior and junior are also members of Republicans for Reid, a group of prominent Nevada Republicans who are supporting U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in his re-election campaign.
