House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, left, speaks Monday on Capitol Hill in Washington, with Western Governors' Association Chairman South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, center, and Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, right. Photo by The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A few weeks ago, Gov. Jim Gibbons told reporters he just might visit the FBI during an upcoming trip to Washington to ask if his relationship with Reno software contractor Warren Trepp was indeed the subject of a federal investigation.

On Tuesday, as Gibbons was completing his visit to the capital, he said he has turned over the matter to his personal attorney while saying again that allegations he accepted improper gifts were baseless.

"I have asked my friend and attorney Don Campbell to represent me and to make those inquiries. I will defer comments to him," Gibbons said in an interview. "I have a lot of things to do and I have never sold my public office for any amount of money.

Campbell guided Gibbons through the pre-election furor surrounding accusations that he assaulted cocktail waitress Chrissy Mazzeo in a Las Vegas parking garage on Oct. 13. The Clark County district attorney's office declined to prosecute in the case.

On the allegations involving Warren Trepp, which initially surfaced on Nov. 1, "We will work with whoever is looking into this and will get back to the public when the determination is made," Gibbons said. "I am confident they will find just as I have said that we have done nothing wrong."

Gibbons has denied accusations first reported in the Wall Street Journal that he accepted payments or gifts from Trepp, a personal friend, in exchange for helping him obtain defense contracts while he was a member of Congress.

The FBI has opened an investigation although its status has not been made clear.

Gibbons was preparing to return to Nevada after making his first trip to Washington as governor and attending his first meeting of the National Governors Association.

He spent 10 years in the U.S. House as the 2nd Congressional District representative.

Gibbons focused on energy and transportation in meetings with other governors, Nevadans still in Congress and members of the Bush Cabinet. He also attended a Monday session at the White House where President Bush delivered a sales pitch on his Iraq policy, governors said.

Gibbons said he proposed getting together with fellow governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Jon Huntsman of Utah to consider applying for Department of Transportation grants for joint improvements to Interstate 15 and Interstate 80.

As Nevada faces a $4 billion shortfall on road construction, Gibbons said he has instructed Transportation Director Susan Martinovich to assemble a panel to study states that have joined with private industry on highway projects.

Such "public-private partnerships" have attracted growing attention as money for road building has tightened both on the state and the federal levels.

"We want to know how they have worked, what are the pitfalls, what are the good things about them," Gibbons said.

Although Gibbons said he does not support building toll roads, "We are taking nothing off the table except for gasoline and tax increases."

Meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., governors urged her for federal aid to states struggling to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005 that tightens security requirements for drivers licenses.

Gibbons estimated it will cost Nevada $68 million to respond to the law in which the Department of Motor Vehicles will be required by May 2008 to verify the citizenship status of license applicants and check birth certificates, Social Security cards and proof of residence material even for longtime drivers.

Long lines are being predicted. "The frustration from our customers will be unprecedented," Nevada DMV director Ginny Lewis told a state legislative committee least month.

As a member of Congress, Gibbons voted for the Real ID Act as a tool to prevent terrorists from obtaining drivers licenses.

But he said lawmakers were not aware that "bureaucrats" would write such onerous regulations in carrying out the law.

"Knowing what I know now we might have put more constraints in the law," he said.