SORRY For Slow Postings; I Have Been In Court ALL Day, But Here Goes: Family Values, Anyone?

Divorce filings accuse Nevada governor of affairs

RENO, Nev. — First lady Dawn Gibbons accuses Gov. Jim Gibbons in divorce papers of having extramarital affairs with a former Playboy magazine model and another woman to whom he sent hundreds of text messages last year. The Republican governor has been untruthful about his "infidelity" with the two women, his estranged wife says in a divorce filing which was unsealed Monday by a court order in Washoe County Family Court.

The governor has insisted both women were just friends. He filed for divorce last May, citing "incompatibility" with his wife.

Dawn Gibbons identified one of the women in the documents as Kathy Karrasch, who over several weeks received more than 860 text messages from the governor on his state cell phone.

The governor publicly apologized and reimbursed the state $130. He denied the messages were "love notes."

The documents identified the second woman as Leslie Durant, who once posed in Playboy magazine and is the former wife of ex-Reno Mayor Pete Sferrazza.

The first lady alleged Gibbons wanted a divorce because he was having an affair with a woman who had known the couple for years.

The Gibbons were married in June 1986.

A few months before the governor's divorce filing, his office acknowledged the couple was having problems and that he had moved out of the mansion. Dawn Gibbons remained in the governor's mansion for a while, but now lives in an adjacent apartment.

Last June, Gibbons acknowledged he had used his state cell phone to send hundreds of text messages to Karrasch.

Dawn Gibbons said in court documents that her husband's explanation that he used the text messages to consult with Karrasch on matters related to state government "is false and is laughable."