Excerpts from Dawn Gibbons' divorce motion

RENO " Following are excerpts from the 33-page motion a lawyer for first lady Dawn Gibbons filed with Washoe County Family Court Judge Frances Doherty in Reno on Wednesday in attempt to unseal the divorce files involving her and Gov. Jim Gibbons:

" "After more than twenty years of marriage, the plaintiff (Gov. Gibbons) has deserted, abandoned, and has shunned his wife without justification for that behavior."

" "Despite his disingenuous, shallow, and transparent protestations that his relationship with another man's wife is a mere friendship, his infatuation and involvement with the other woman is the real, concealed and undisclosed reason for his voluntary departure from the marriage and from the (Governor's) Mansion where he occasionally resided."

" "Even the plaintiff acknowledges his long-term involvement with her, but claims she is just a friend. Yet, oddly, despite having vowed to not comment on the details of the breakup of the marriage, he specially breaks his vow of silence to defend. In short, by not stepping up and by not candidly admitting his fawning involvement with his frequent bar, lunch, dinner, and even grocery store companion, he has brought the spotlight down upon himself and upon the reason for the divorce."

" "Mrs. Gibbons has been repeatedly assailed by planted innuendo, untruths and half-truths about her and her decades-long marriage, while the plaintiff, the source of the damage to her reputation, cowers behind a veil of secrecy and manufactures issues attempting to embarrass her into submission with contrived issues such as the occupancy of the Mansion."

" "Mr. Gibbons' wife has been his greatest asset. She has worked relentlessly and tirelessly to advance his career, and had stood by his side, at the most critical time in his quest to be elected governor. For just one example, even when, after consuming copious amounts of alcohol, and under the cover of darkness, in a garage in Las Vegas, the plaintiff was accused of assaulting a young woman, bearing a striking resemblance, to the 'other woman' referenced, below, that woman, too, like his wife now, was trashed and the public was, again, misled."

" "The public interest is heightened when the subject of interest is one of the most, if not the most, scandal-ridden governor in the history of this state."

" "Mrs. Gibbons, the person who has sacrificed the most and who has given her all to this man, should not be dismissed as if she were equally to blame, when under the circumstances it can be demonstrated on the record and to the public that she is blameless and that lust is the real villain here."