Alleged mistress denies affair

RENO " A Reno woman accused in court documents of having an affair with Gov. Jim Gibbons denies the allegations raised by first lady Dawn Gibbons.

Kathy Karrasch tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the accusations are false and hurtful to her family.

In divorce documents unsealed this week, Dawn Gibbons alleged her husband has had an ongoing affair with Karrasch. The documents also alleged he had another affair with a former Playboy model, Leslie Durant.

Jim Gibbons has denied ever being sexually involved with either woman, calling them both just good friends.

Karrasch echoed that sentiment, saying Gibbons has been a loyal and faithful husband to his wife.

"I absolutely never had an affair with him," Karrasch, a mother of seven, told the newspaper.

"I think it is pathetic if people think something is going on sexually," she said. "We are platonic friends. I am too busy with my children to have an affair with anyone."

She said Gibbons has never been anything other than a "perfect gentlemen."

"Not only with me, but with other people," she said. "He has been a loyal and faithful husband to his wife."

Karrasch said she decided to speak publicly in part because her children are devastated by the accusations.

Karrasch said she met Dawn and Jim Gibbons when her children attended preschool with Jimmy Gibbons in 1993.

She said she and her husband, Dr. C. Craig Karrasch, became friends with the Gibbonses. They celebrated Thanksgiving together, visited each other in their homes and attended school events for their children.

In 1996, she said, Dawn Gibbons called Craig Karrasch "and accused me of the same things she is accusing me with now."

When the governor acknowledged last summer to sending 867 text-messages to Karrasch over a six-week period in 2007, Gibbons said Karrasch told him she would not see him again because of the unwanted media attention.