Listening to Gov. Jim Gibbons and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, you'd think Democrats were doing something wrong by demanding accountability in the dealings of elected officials.
Both have found themselves accused of wrongdoing, and both have pointed to Democrats as blowing the matters out of proportion.
But the questions are not minor. In Krolicki's case, the accusation is that more than $3 million may have been spent on advertising the state's College Savings Plan program and on legal fees rather than put in state coffers, and that the fund managers were given sweet deals that cut the amount of fees they'd have to pay to the state in coming years.
Krolicki, who heretofore has had a sterling reputation, maintains he's done nothing wrong, but can't offer an explanation for all the seeming abnormalities.
But that's a lot of money in a state with a lot of bills to pay, and Treasurer Kate Marshall deserves praise for an aggressive approach to the issue, as well as her intention to return unclaimed money to its rightful owners to a far greater degree than Krolicki did when he was treasurer.
For Gov. Jim Gibbons, the questions revolve around the source of $169,000 in contributions to a legal defense fund set up during his campaign, money he intended to use to defend himself against an assault allegation in a Las Vegas parking garage. He blamed the media and political opponents for making too big a deal out of the issue, and said, basically, that Secretary of State Ross Miller should back off.
But there are too many unanswered questions in both cases for that to happen, and investigators, Democrats or Republicans, shouldn't stop until there are answers.