Gibbons’ staffer wrote voters “can’t trust Jim Gibbons”

Lynn Hettrick, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Jim Gibbons, says he's changed his mind since 2006 when he wrote a letter urging Republicans to choose state Sen. Bob Beers over Gibbons in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

In the letter Hettrick takes Gibbons, then a congressman, to task making "blatantly false" statements about Beers and for having "never voted for a balanced budget. Not once."

Hettrick, then the Republican assembly minority leader, went on to write: "The truth is we can't afford to trust those politicians anymore. And we especially can't trust Jim Gibbons."

Beers lost the primary to Gibbons, who then defeated then state Sen. Dina Titus in the general election and Hettrick left the assembly and was subsequently added to Gibbons' staff.

He says the letter was an attempt to support his longtime friend Beers, now a Gibbons supporter, and that Gibbons has proven the contents of the old campaign missive wrong.

"Gov. Gibbons has obviously convinced me he is a staunch conservative," Hettrick said. "At the time I was a staunch supporter of Bob Beers. The governor has convinced me he is doing the right thing and has done the right thing for the state of Nevada."

Hettrick is also a candidate this year. He's running in the Republican primary for clerk-treasurer in Douglas County. Hettrick faces incumbent clerk-treasurer Ted Thran, who was appointed more than a year ago when longtime clerk-treasurer Barbara Reed retired in 2008. Republican Stephanie Brooks is also running.