WEEKLY EDITORIAL RECAP

Tuesday

Gibbons cleared -- again

The Justice Department looked, but found no evidence that Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons -- back when he was Rep. Jim Gibbons -- took gifts in exchange for securing contracts for Reno defense contractor Warren Trepp. ...

Software designer Dennis Montgomery, who had worked for Mr. Trepp's company, claimed Rep. Gibbons received a Caribbean cruise and campaign contributions from Mr. Trepp in exchange for the contracts. But in September, Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Trepp agreed to a legal settlement. A few weeks later, Gov. Gibbons and Mr. Lowell met with the FBI in Washington, seeking a conclusion to the probe.

The governor has denied wrongdoing throughout. He says he reimbursed Mr. Trepp for the cruise. ...

"This is taking a little of the weight off my shoulders," the governor said Sunday. "I hope the public is starting to see that the partisan attacks and attacks of personal destruction against me are false."

Indeed, the governor's political opponents, nearly hysterical over his steady insistence on his campaign pledge to not raise taxes, have delighted in cataloguing the list of accusations that ... supposedly render the governor incapable of governing.

Admittedly, it would be better if Congress spent tax dollars on a lot fewer things, reducing opportunities for private businessmen to "lobby" the Congress for contracts.

Though it's unlikely the modern armed forces will go without computer software, anytime soon.

The point here is that -- once again -- an investigative agency that is not in the whitewash business has checked out Jim Gibbons and given him a clean bill of health.

And that's good news for Nevadans, who in these economic times need a governor subject to fewer such distractions, a governor who's demonstrated he understands that the bureaucracy, too, needs to tighten its belt when times get tough.