Jim Gibson Dina Titus

In the latest back-and-forth over ethics between Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Jim Gibson lodged a formal complaint against Dina Titus for her campaign contributions, and Titus unveiled a statewide television ad slamming Gibson's relationship with Nevada Power.

The complaint against State Sen. Titus, alleging that she violated campaign contribution limits by funneling money from a political action committee to her campaign, was the second complaint the Gibson camp has filed with the secretary of state's office.

The ad, which began airing on Monday, was Titus' first statewide television push. Henderson Mayor Gibson has been on the air for more than a month and also began a new ad Monday.

Gibson's campaign last week made the accusation that Titus was "laundering" money from the PAC she headed to her gubernatorial campaign. On Monday, campaign manager Dan Hart asked the secretary of state's office and the attorney general's office to investigate whether Titus' alleged actions violated state law.

Under Nevada statutes, entities, including individuals and PACs, can give a maximum of $10,000 per candidate per election cycle -- $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general election. Gibson alleges that by doling out the PAC money to two separate campaigns and then pooling the money, Titus' PAC gave her gubernatorial campaign $20,000.

The secretary of state's office had received Hart's complaint on Monday and would give Titus two weeks to respond before making a determination, spokesman John Trent said.

Titus has until Wednesday to respond to the Gibson camp's earlier allegation that Titus improperly implied she was the incumbent in an ad aired in Northern Nevada. The ad said, on-screen and in voice-over, "Titus. Governor. It's time."

Titus' new ads -- the one blasting Gibson's Nevada Power ties and another touting her work to restrict sex offenders -- retain that wording in the voice-over but say "Titus for Governor. It's time" on-screen.

The Gibson campaign's complaint about the earlier ad cited an attorney general's opinion that said campaign ads should include the word "elect" or "for" to make it clear to voters that the candidate is not an incumbent.

Titus spokeswoman Jennifer Knight said the complaints were frivolous attempts to get mileage out of a baseless accusation.

"This is more lawyer maneuvering on Gibson's part when he doesn't have the facts on his side," Knight said. "What he has is ethical problems that won't go away, like the fact that he took $150,000 from Tony Marnell and helped him get BLM land."

Developer Anthony Marnell funneled $150,000 to Gibson's campaign in December after Gibson wrote a letter to the Bureau of Land Management asking that a piece of public land Marnell wanted be sold directly to Marnell rather than auctioned to the public. Titus calls it an instance of Gibson giving favorable treatment to his campaign donors.

As for Gibson's charges, Knight said there was no impropriety to Titus' campaign money.

"We were perfectly within the law," Knight said. "I'm not going to get into the specifics. I'm not going to rehash it."

Meanwhile, Titus' ad calls attention to a $527,000 fee Gibson's law firm earned from Nevada Power. "While mayor, Jim Gibson was paid more than half a million dollars by Nevada Power to keep utility rates high," the ad says. "Now he claims he doesn't remember the details. He got the money, and we got outrageous power bills."

Gibson spokesman Adam Candee called the ad "just another lie by Dina Titus." Gibson's 2002 work for the power company had nothing to do with advocating rate hikes, he said.

"His law firm provided advice to the board on a number of items," Candee said.

In addition, the $527,000 wasn't a paycheck to Gibson personally but a payment to his firm that was divided between Gibson and others, Candee said.

Gibson's new ad, which began airing in Southern Nevada on Monday, lays the state's education woes at Titus' feet, noting Nevada's low rankings in graduation rates, per-pupil funding and higher education levels.

"Titus had 17 years to fix the problem. Obviously, she's failed," the ad says. "Now Dina Titus wants to be our governor. What will that mean for our children?"