Gibbons’ friend denies an affair

CARSON CITY -- Reno resident Kathy Karrasch -- labeled in court documents as the "other woman" in Gov. Jim Gibbons' divorce -- emphatically denied Wednesday that she ever engaged in any type of sexual relationship with the governor.

"I absolutely never had an affair with him," Karrasch said in a telephone interview. "I said that under oath in a deposition with Cal Dunlap," the attorney for the governor's wife, Dawn Gibbons.

Dunlap did not immediately return a call for comment on Karrasch's statements.

In divorce documents made public Monday, Dawn Gibbons and her lawyer accuse the governor of engaging in extramarital relationships with Karrasch, the mother of seven, and with Leslie Durant, another Reno resident.

The governor a year ago denied ever being sexually involved with either woman. He called them good friends.

That is how Karrasch described her relationship with the governor.

"I think it is pathetic if people think something is going on sexually. Nothing sexual ever went on. We are platonic friends. I am too busy with my children to have an affair with anyone."

"I have never seen him be other than a perfect gentleman." she added. "Not only with me, but with other people. He has been a loyal and faithful husband to his wife."

Gibbons was not accused of being unfaithful when he divorced his first wife, Toy, in 1983.

They divorced after 17 years of marriage. Gibbons balked at paying alimony, but a judge ordered him to pay $600 a month for two years. He also paid child support for their two children, Jennifer and Chris, until they turned 18.

Karrasch said she decided to make her feelings public in part because her children are devastated by the accusations and have been hounded by reporters at school.

She said she hates the limelight and just wants people to leave her family alone.

"My daughter was afraid to go to school because they were outside our door," she said.

"This is extremely painful on our kids. You can take potshots at me all day, but not at my kids."

One unidentified person called their home and told her husband that she also was seeing and having an affair with a man in Sacramento, Calif., according to Karrasch.

The man she regularly visits in Sacramento is her father, who is dying of cancer, she said.

"I am not out rendezvousing with anybody but my dying dad," she said. "This is not fair to my husband."

Karrasch added she met Dawn and Jim Gibbons when her children attended pre-school with Jimmy Gibbons, the now 21-year son of the governor, back in 1993.

She said she and her husband, Dr. C. Craig Karrasch, became friends with the Gibbonses. They celebrated Thanksgiving together, visited each other in their homes and attended school events for their children.

Karrasch said she worked on Jim Gibbons' unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1994 at Dawn Gibbons' request.

But she found she was spending too much time away from her family so she quit the campaign. She then volunteered to take care of Jimmy while Dawn and Jim Gibbons worked on the campaign.

Jimmy Gibbons ate his meals and slept over many nights at the Karrasch home, she said.

"I was a surrogate mother to him," Karrasch said. "Jim was like an uncle to my kids."

In 1996, she said, Dawn Gibbons called Craig Karrasch "and accused me of the same things she is accusing me with now." She said she does not know why Dawn Gibbons made those accusations.

When he admitted last summer to sending 867 text-messages to Karrasch over a six-week period in 2007, the governor said Karrasch told him she would not see him again because of the unwanted media attention.

Karrasch said that remains true. She said she has not seen Gibbons for "a long time," but occasionally they speak on the phone or exchange jokes by text-messaging.

Before then, Gibbons would attend her children's school events, recitals and tennis matches, she added.

But that never meant he was having an affair with her, according to Karrasch. Other male friends also attended the same events.

Karrasch said she is separated from her husband, but they continue to live in the same home. She added she still helps with his business.

The reason for their separation has nothing to do with Jim Gibbons, she added.

Karrasch said she realizes that some people do not believe women can have friendships with other men without sex being involved.

"Having a friend with someone of the opposite sex is not unusual. Why can't people understand that people just can be friends? It is a shame people read in something that is not really there."

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@ reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.