Corruption in Las Vegas? You Are Kidding, Right?

Dawn Gibbons defended her husband allegedly accepted bribes. Bribes, unreported gifts, illegal payments, again - Welcome to Las Vegas - The Federal investigation hit Dawn Gibbons one month after the cocktail waitress filed a criminal complaint against her husband the Governor in a sex harassment case. Nevada started to worry. Newspapers reported stories about Gibbons interfering with the Federal investigation. Journalists investigated land deals, donations to Gibbons that went undeclared, this new lawmakers was making issues hard for his wife, what were his supporters to think?

Reporting from Las Vegas, Nevada

Desert Storm

Desert Storm? The Operation was named after troops storming the region. This was new. Americans don’t realize this, but Egypt was peaceful. Athens calm. There were more fights in New York, Boston, and Chicago that Cairo. I walked every alley, interviewed executives, and visited the pyramids by camel as U.S. warplanes attacked Baghdad, Iraq. Egypt’s worry mainly surrounded a dam in Aswan used for hydroelectricity. If Iraq hit the dam, a large volume of water would flood Egypt. Imagine the Hoover Dam being struck by a missile? The water would not only knock out electric power, but flood rivers all the way into California’s interior. Egypt was close enough to Iraq that they worried about Aswan. As a writer interviewing witnesses, I was placed directly on the island in the middle of the Nile River in Aswan. Close enough to visit the 1244 BC temples of Abu Simbel, which I never got to see. Armed guards surrounded the island. I left a few times for fresh fruit, a marriage, and night tour. The marriage was so packed, no one noticed an American walking around. Think of the crowds of Las Vegas, who is going to pick me out of the crowd if I crash a wedding at a casino? Free appetizers for the picking? The same for the night tour. Egypt was so hot at night, similar to Las Vegas in January, Egyptians only came out at night so the streets were packed, and I blended in as a local amongst millions.

Reporting from Egypt: Cairo to Aswan 1991

Complaints of Corruption

The cocktail waitress contacted Las Vegas Metro Police to report sex harassment. The attackers was Governor Jim Gibbons. The lady insisted Gibbons wouldn’t stop. Jim Gibbons was elected Governor in September, one month before the attack that attracted police, so the press spun the story as Peter crying Wolf for attention, but the cocktail waitress wouldn’t quit. Her panic started to raise suspicions, because she was really upset, and in Las Vegas, a city known as Sin City, cases get dropped all the time. I know because I have had my share of police filings and police being turned away while I was locked in a room for insulting Senator John Ensign with my first book on his scandal. We went to the same health club spa. Dawn Gibbons stood by her husband. Dawn claimed the woman was lying.

Reporting from Las Vegas, Nevada