Gubernatorial defender, and now-sure-to-be-lifetime-tenured UNR professor Eric Herzik was taking up Gov. Jim Gibbons cause once again, this time in a Canadian National Post story helpfully linked by our colleague Hugh Jackson at the Las Vegas Gleaner.

To our neighbors to the north, Herzik said this when asked about state law that requires Gibbons to reside at the seat of government:  “This whole situation’s odd. What’s he going to do, call the state police and have her tossed out? The home that he can live in Reno is 30 miles away from Carson City. Many state employees commute.”

Ah, yes many state employees do commute. But how many of them are subject to the provisions of NRS 223.040, which says they must “…reside at the seat of government”? Um, that would be one. Guess who? The governor! So while Herzik might like state law to say the governor shall reside at the seat of government, “…except in situations classified as ‘odd’ in which event he may live 30 miles away,” it actually doesn’t say that. So, no go, Mr. Professor. (BTW, the NRS is on computers now. Anybody can look it up!)

Now, we’re not saying Gibbons should call the state police and throw his wife of more than two decades, Dawn Gibbons, out on the street. But since the mansion has 23 rooms, according to the National Post piece, perhaps they could share until their sure-to-be-nasty divorce is complete?

Of course, Herzik also says the governor’s divorce case should remain sealed. “There is no public policy interest in whether he was a good husband or she was a bad wife. That has nothing to do with the state budget,” he said.

Pardon us, but we disagree. There could be a great deal in those divorce filings that’s of interest to the public, given the reports of Gibbons being under investigation by the FBI. And while we have maintained consistently that Gibbons (and other politicians) ought to have some zone of privacy with it comes to purely personal matters that have no bearing on their administration, when it comes to the courts, we think the papers should be open, for every public figure.

Oh, and what makes Herzik think that Gibbons was a “good husband” or Dawn Gibbons was a “bad wife”? Oh, that’s right: Herzik is in love with Gibbons.