Gov Gibbons moves out of mansion

Gov. Jim Gibbons has moved out of the Governor's Mansion and returned to his Reno home as he and his wife sort out marital problems, a close friend and political consultant said.

"Currently he entertains and conducts needed state business at the mansion, but is temporarily staying in the Reno residence while going through this difficult and painful time," Jim Denton, a chief political consultant for Gibbons, wrote Friday in an e-mail.

First lady Dawn Gibbons continues to live in the Governor's Mansion, according to her attorney, Cal Dunlap.

"I know they are working toward a resolution and he asks that the family's personal privacy be respected. The governor continues to do the state's business as usual," Denton said.

The governor's office acknowledged in February that the more than 21-year marriage was struggling.

Asked to comment Saturday, Gibbons said it's "a great disservice to our family" to see accounts of his marital problems in newspapers, adding, "I'm not going to speculate on it."

"I know it's a story you all love to write about, and I'm a fair target," Gibbons said. "But my family is not a target and never should be a target."

Dawn Gibbons declined to comment.

Denton said he did not know how long the governor has been staying in Reno, where he and Dawn Gibbons have owned a house since 1989, according to the Washoe County Assessor's Office.

It is not the first time the couple has lived apart.

Dawn Gibbons did not move to Washington to live with her husband during the ten years he served in Congress. She said she preferred to raise the couple's son in Nevada. The governor, a Republican, also has two grown children from a previous marriage.

The Governor's Mansion, about one-half mile from the state Capitol, was built from 1908 to 1909 on privately donated land for the governor of Nevada and his family. The maintenance and operating budget for the mansion is $742,000 for the current fiscal year and next year.