Looks like the reasons given for Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons' midnight inaguration are based on a lie.

Gibbons mysteriously had the oath of office administered to him just after midnight on Jan. 1. His excuse at the time was that he needed to get his appointments for Public Safety Director and Homeland Security Director in place, just in case a terrorist attack tokk place in the next 10 hours before his official inaguration.

The story didn't make sense to anyone, even Republicans. That's because it was all BS. It was an attempt to scuttle former Gov. Kenny Guinn's appointments to the Gaming Control Board:

(Gibbons chief of staff Mike) Dayton said Gibbons believes he has the power to make the appointments because he took office at midnight on New Year's Eve, at the point that the Control Board positions officially became vacant.

Yes, now it makes more sense. His press secretary denied the move was due to the Gaming Control Board appointments, of course. But if you have any doubts, pay attention to the details of that night:

An antsy Gibbons was watching the clock so closely that he prodded his wife, Dawn, to hurry up and join him in their living room where Chief Justice Bill Maupin delivered Gibbons' oath of office, saying, "Any time, Dawn."

Gibbons began stating his oath about a minute before midnight. Dayton said Gibbons completed the oath at 12 seconds after midnight. Dayton came up with the time by checking a clock placed on a coffee table in the room.

Critics of Guinn's appointments say that a 2005 opinion by then-Attorney General George Chanos supports the argument that Gibbons and not Guinn had the authority to decide who gets the Control Board posts because Gibbons became governor at the same time the posts became vacant.

This account destroys his first excuse. After all, if he was only worried about having his Public Safety and Homeland Security directors in place, what's a couple of minutes? Why the rush? And starting the oath before midnight? Isn't that jumping the gun?

Critics of the move, and those with a modicum of legal reasoning, can see the hole in Gibbons' actions:

The flipside argument is that the Control Board appointments by Guinn took effect at exactly midnight, while Gibbons didn't become governor for another 12 seconds. Also, he started the oath before 2007 actually began.

I guess this mess first lands in the lap of the new Democratic AG. This one isn't over yet.