The WSJ reports today, "The wife of Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was hired as a consultant to a defense contractor at the same time that her husband, who was then a member of Congress, helped the company get funding for a no-bid federal contract. Dawn Gibbons got about $35,000 in consulting fees in 2004 from Sierra Nevada Corp., of Sparks, Nev., the company said. Mr. Gibbons, a five-term Republican who served on the armed services and intelligence committees, sought funding that year for Sierra Nevada for a $4 million contract to develop a helicopter radar-landing system. ... One of the military contracts that Sierra Nevada got in 2004 was $2 million for research on a 'helicopter autonomous landing system,' to help pilots land in 'brownouts' of blowing sand, a technology several firms were seeking to develop for the Pentagon. House records indicate that Mr. Gibbons asked for $4 million, and got $2 million in the final bill. In a June 22, 2004, news release, he hailed the project and a separate $3 million for eTreppid as 'cutting-edge technology being developed in Nevada to improve our defense systems.'

Also worth figuring out, who is Paul Haraldsen? And why did this Air Force investigator urge the FBI to raid an adversary of Gibbons' patron, eTreppid chief Warren Trepp? As the Las Vegas Sun earlier reported:

One important figure mentioned in [Judge] Cooke's ruling is Special Agent Paul Haraldsen of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at the Pentagon.

As Cooke notes, [FBI agent] West relied on Haraldsen for information regarding eTreppid's "facility clearance" as well as the "secret hard drives." The information turned out to be untrue.

Who is Haraldsen? And, why did he supply West with incorrect information?

These questions were beyond [Judge] Cooke's judicial purview.

Gibbons, it's worth remembering, before becoming Nevada governor, served on the House intelligence and armed services committees.

Posted by Laura at March 30, 2007 04:50 PM