Maybe Republicans got together at some point recently and decided they didn’t want to win this year anyway. Consider a recent incident involving Rep. Jim Gibbons (R), who is currently running for governor of Nevada.
A single mother and a Nevada congressman running for governor gave vastly different accounts of a night of drinking that ended in three calls to 911, a police investigation and a battery complaint that was later withdrawn, police reports show.
Chrissy Mazzeo made three calls to 911 in which she told operators she had been assaulted by Rep. Jim Gibbons, according to investigative reports released by police Wednesday.
Mazzeo, 32, told police that Gibbons grabbed her arms and tried to force himself on her late Friday in a parking garage near a restaurant where she had been drinking with a friend, the congressman and his top adviser.
Gibbons, 61, a five-term Republican congressman who is running for governor against Democrat Dina Titus, told police the alleged assault “didn’t happen.” He said he walked Mazzeo toward her car and helped her catch her balance after she tripped.
Mazzeo dropped the complaint the next day, telling the police she didn’t want a media circus. When asked about her change of mind, she said it was “because of who he is,” adding, “I just don’t want to go up against that.”
Not surprisingly, Gibbons and Mazzeo have offered the police competing stories, but based on points of agreement, we have some understanding of what happened. Gibbons and adviser Sig Rogich were at a Las Vegas restaurant with two women, neither of whom were Gibbons’ wife. Mazzeo and her friend were invited to join Gibbons’ party, and according to the police report, the six of them “began laughing loudly and telling jokes.” Julie Lauren Vick, a restaurant employee, told police the atmosphere became “flirty.” Both Gibbons and Mazzeo told police they had been drinking.
Mazzeo said Gibbons began “playing footsie” with her under the table and put his hand on her leg, though Gibbons responded, “At some point I am sure my leg bumped hers. But it was not flirtatious.”
According to Mazzeo’s statement to police, Gibbons told her he was married for 20 years and that “marriage wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be.”
From there, the details get a little more complicated.
Gibbons and Rogich left the restaurant and Mazzeo followed shortly after, the report said.
Outside, Gibbons said he offered to help Mazzeo find her car and walked with her to a parking garage near the hotel he was staying at. He told police Mazzeo tripped and lost her balance at the garage and he caught her to keep her from falling.
“She turns and walks away. And I left and went into the hotel,” his statement said.
According to Mazzeo’s statement, the congressman grabbed her arms with both hands as they approached the parking garage elevator.
“And I said, ‘Are you really, you know, rape me at this time?’ And he said, ‘You have two choices right now,'” Mazzeo told police. “And I said, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘I’ve survived cancer and then you’re going to turn around and do this.'”
Mazzeo said she ran to a nearby coffee shop and called 911.
As Josh Marshall put it, “When it comes to Republicans and corruption and sex crimes, I guess they figure, better to burn out than fade away….”
For what it’s worth, a recent poll showed Gibbons leading Democratic Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus in Nevada’s gubernatorial race by double digits. No word yet on whether this “incident” may have an impact on the race.