Jimbo Eruptions.

If there is anybody who ever needs good p.r., it's Jim Gibbons.

The worst thing Jimbo could have done was hold a press conference and answer questions. As one p.r. expert said, if he was going to do that he should have just made a statement. From news report it appeared the press conference made Jimbo look even more guilty.

Jimbo Eruptions.

For a man who says he gets only two or three hours of sleep a night, Jimbo looked very relaxed as he tried to answer skeptical reporters' questions of why he made hundreds of text messages to his girlfriend, Kathy Karrasch.

More to the point, why would two people married to others do something as stupid as use a state cell phone for the messaging?

And for somebody who gets so little sleep, he is an extremely fast text messenger:

“You all do texts. It takes like point six seconds to respond to something,” Gibbons said, dismissing a question about whether all that texting — during last year’s legislative session — distracted him from governing the state.

“You must be quick on that thing,” a reporter said. “I mean, 170 messages” in a single day?

“You get used to typing with your thumbs instead of your fingers,” Gibbons replied. At this point, he flexed his thumbs on an imaginary cell phone to demonstrate his BlackBerry proficiency.

Jimbo Eruptions III.

Even CNN gets into the act. Well, it IS like watching a train wreck:

Jimbo Eruptions II. [Updated]

Now that's he's been caught and is a laughingstock around the world, Jimbo says he is sorry about his cell phone calls to his girlfriend--I'm not even going to call her "alleged" anymore:

In an at-times contentious 10-minute press conference today, Gov. Jim Gibbons said it was a mistake to use his state cell phone to exchange hundreds of personal text messages, but he defended his friendship with a woman his wife has accused him of being romantically involved with.

Gibbons said he no longer communicates with or sees Kathy Karrasch, who he describes as a friend of 15 years because of the scrutiny his divorce has put on their relationship.

“I do not see her. I do not text,” Gibbons said when asked if he had “broken up” with Karrasch. “I think simply because of the stress and all of this. The media has put a tremendous burden on her.”

At his press conference, Jimbo insisted all of those text messages weren't love notes to Kathy Karrasch or other domestic affairs, but messages about important state matters which kept him awake all night all by himself, and that he gets by on very little sleep.

Yeah, right.

Here is a laugh-until-you-ache quote:

Asked to name one policy that she advised him on, he cited "taxation" and "personnel management issues." He said he also talked to her about "how to structure an office and not individual or personnel issues."

Tune in for the next episode.

Update: I thought I'd add this little YouTube of a news report from yesterday when the revelations came out:

Jimbo Eruptions.

Just for fun, take a look at this timeline of Jimbo's text messages to alleged girlfriend Kathy Karrasch.

Monday, April 2: Gibbons and his wife make a presentation at a candlelight vigil commemorating the victims of child abuse, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Gibbons exchanges 17 messages with Karrasch from 4:50 p.m. to midnight. Also today, a federal judge rules that some documents in the eTreppid case must remain sealed.

Wednesday, April 4: Story breaks about Dawn and Jim Gibbons vacationing in Turkey with the owners of a Sparks company that Gibbons had help secure a lucrative federal defense contract. Gibbons spends the work day exchanging 156 text messages with Karrasch.

There's more at the link. Somebody at the paper has a wicked sense of humor putting this timeline together, especially during the dates when Gibbons was at public events with his wife Dawn.

Records show Gibbons decided to stop using the state cell phone for his text messages to Karrasch after April 9, 2007.

Supposedly his girlfriend stopped accepting those calls because the two argued over the number of phone calls he was making.

More Jimbo Eruptions.

Old Jimbo apparently texted messages to his rumored mistress. That's one thing, but this is the STATE cell phone he was using:

Gov. Jim Gibbons used his state-owned cell phone to send more than 850 text messages in one month last year to the woman he’s accused of having an affair with, according to documents obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The records reveal a flurry of text messages between Gibbons and a cell phone owned by Kathy Karrasch, the estranged wife of a Reno doctor. Gibbons, who filed for divorce earlier this year, has been seen in Reno on several outings with Karrasch since his marital troubles with first lady Dawn Gibbons became public.

In a court brief filed two weeks ago, Dawn Gibbons accused her husband of ending their 22-year marriage because of his “infatuation and involvement” with the wife of a Reno doctor. That woman has never been officially named by Dawn Gibbons or her lawyer.

Read that again: more than 850 messages in ONE MONTH.

The text messages occurred throughout the day and night, on weekends and work days. On one Friday, for example, Gibbons exchanged 160 text messages with Karrasch starting at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 11:45 p.m. On another night, Gibbons exchanged 91 messages between midnight and 2 a.m. with her.

I think we can stick a fork in this guy.


For the record, Kathy's picture (there are a couple at the link):




And for comparison, here is Chrissy Mazzeo, the Vegas cocktail waitress Gibbons allegedly assaulted just before the November 2006 gubernatorial election: