looks like you spoke too soon
"Nev. Congressman Assault Probe Reopens
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 30, 2006
Filed at 5:46 p.m. ET
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The district attorney said Monday that authorities have reopened their investigation into a cocktail waitress' claim that a Republican congressman running for governor assaulted her in a parking garage after a night of drinking.
District Attorney David Roger said the case involving Rep. Jim Gibbons -- which had been closed after the woman, Chrissy Mazzeo, dropped her complaint -- is under investigation again.
Mazzeo, a Las Vegas Strip casino waitress, accused Gibbons, 61, of pushing her up against a wall Oct. 13 and propositioning her. Mazzeo, 32, said she had been pressured and offered cash from people linked to the Gibbons campaign to drop the complaint.
The five-term congressman, who is in a close race with Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus for Nevada's open governor's seat, has denied wrongdoing and sued Monday to force police to release surveillance videos he said would disprove Mazzeo's claim.
A judge set an emergency hearing for Tuesday.
Mazzeo's lawyer, Richard Wright, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his client will press charges after all.
Gibbons, in statements to police and at a news conference with his wife earlier this month, said he walked Mazzeo to the garage, caught her when she tripped and walked away.
''A true record of the tape's recording will demonstrate that I was never in that parking garage on that evening,'' he said in the lawsuit.
Police previously said surveillance cameras in the garage weren't working. A property management company for the garage, however, said it turned hours of tapes over to authorities.
The police department said in a news release Monday that it would not comment until a judge ruled on the matter.
Gibbons led Titus 47 percent to 41 percent in a poll released Friday. Most of the polling took place after the allegations were reported but before Mazzeo held a news conference Oct. 25 to recount her version of the events. The poll conducted by Washington-based Research 2000 for the Reno Gazette-Journal and KRNV-TV had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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