During news conferences last year, the governor denied that he was anything more than good friends with the two women. He filed for divorce from his wife of nearly 23 years on May 2.

In unsealed court records, Dawn Gibbons contends that the reason he filed for divorce was to spend time with "another woman."

The records also show she was ordered to pay $796 in attorney fees by Washoe County Family Court Judge Frances Doherty in August for demanding more information from Gibbons on why he wants a divorce. Doherty said Nevada is a no-fault divorce state and Dawn Gibbons' "demand for particulars is spurious and served no purpose."

The governor cited "incompatibility" as his reason for the divorce. That was sufficient, according to the judge.

Dawn Gibbons' lawyer, Cal Dunlap, was authorized in a Feb. 23 order to depose Durant and Karrasch. Those depositions remain sealed.

In public court records, Dunlap said he wanted to know the times and places of the governor's "rendezvous with Karrasch." Among the questions Dunlap asked was whether Jim Gibbons had taken the women on trips and what gifts he had given them, dating to 1990.

Dunlap also requested phone records dating to 1990 to see how often the women spoke with Jim Gibbons.

In the unsealed records, Dawn Gibbons said her husband deliberately destroyed phone records from his Washington office in an attempt to hide long-distance calls he made to women. Jim Gibbons was a five-term congressman before running for governor in 2006.

Dawn Gibbons also refers to the governor making 867 text messages from a state cell phone to Karrasch in a six-week period shortly after becoming governor. Jim Gibbons told reporters that he was responding to Karrasch's messages, even at 2 a.m., and that she sometimes offered him advice on political matters.

Dunlap treated that comment with skepticism, asking who "can possibly believe his explanation that he was consulting with another man's wife in the wee hours of the night on matters of state?"

Gibbons, who reimbursed the state $130 for the text messages, said during a news conference last year that he was no longer seeing Karrasch because she was upset by the media attention.

He was photographed with Durant at the Reno Rodeo last June.

The divorce records were unsealed by Doherty in a March 20 decision. The judge, however, agreed that financial records pertaining to the governor will remain sealed at least until April 20.

Also in the divorce records made public, Dawn Gibbons alleges that her husband tried to hide a construction defect problem at their house in southwest Reno and tried to induce authorities in the assessor's office to undervalue the property.

The ranch-style house on a 2.8-acre lot was assessed last year at $661,159 and was constructed in 1986. It went on sale for $1.4 million and remains on the market. Assessed value typically reflects 35 percent of the market value. The property will be valued at $749,837 in the tax rolls on July 1.

Deputy Washoe County Assessor Theresa Wilkins said Monday that the property's value is similar to that of neighboring properties and that there is "nothing to suggest an under-evaluation."

The Gibbonses also own ranch land near Lamoille in Elko County that they purchased for $575,000 in 2006.

In the opened records, Jim Gibbons' lawyer Gary Silverman said the governor was concerned that his estranged wife might make an "unfounded claim of domestic violence against him." No such claims were found in the records.

In a June 9, 2008, agreement, the governor decided not to oppose allowing his estranged wife to live in a one-room apartment above the "Nevada Room," a reception area for parties next to the Governor's Mansion. He lives in the mansion.

She is permitted to use the first floor of the mansion for public events, such as her efforts to stop drug use.

Daniel Burns, Jim Gibbons' communications director, said Monday that he would not comment on personal matters affecting the governor and did not know when the divorce might be finalized.

Jim and Dawn Gibbons have a son, Jimmy, a cadet in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York. The governor has two children from a previous marriage.

Dawn Gibbons mentions in the divorce documents that she has been "devastated" by the divorce and actions of her husband. In one document, she says she feels like a "castaway wife." She notes that she stood by him in 2006 after he was accused of assaulting a woman in Las Vegas after he drank "copious amounts of alcohol."

Chrissy Mazzeo, a former cocktail waitress, filed a civil lawsuit against the governor. She contends that Gibbons, then a gubernatorial candidate, walked her to a parking garage and tried to assault her.

Gibbons said he only tried to keep Mazzeo from falling.

The Clark County district attorney's office investigated the incident and did not file charges against Gibbons.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.