The scandals within the ranks of the Republican Party almost always seem to have a tendency to intersect in the end. A perfect example of this trend comes out of Nevada, where new allegations against the state's governor, Jim Gibbons, who formerly represented the state in Congress as a Republican, continue to emerge. The Associated Press has some details about the latest revelations in this story.

A defense company that got a federal contract with help from then-Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons, now governor of Nevada, hired Gibbons' wife to do consulting work, according to a published report Friday.

Dawn Gibbons was paid about $35,000 by Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., in 2004, the same year her husband, who sat on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, pushed for the company to get a $4 million contract to make a helicopter radar system, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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The new report comes amid ongoing federal scrutiny of Jim Gibbons' business dealings. Federal law enforcement officials said last month that the FBI is investigating Gibbons' failure to properly report gifts or payments from a software company that was awarded secret military contracts when he was in Congress.

The company involved in that case is eTreppid Technologies LLC of Reno, Nev., owned by Warren Trepp, a longtime Gibbons friend who contributed nearly $100,000 to Gibbons' campaign for governor. The case arose out of a civil lawsuit brought against Trepp by a one-time business partner. In the lawsuit, which involves ownership of software codes, Trepp's former partner made allegations that Gibbons used his influence to steer tens of millions of dollars in military contracts to Trepp.

According to the Journal, a federal grand jury in Washington has begun issuing document subpoenas in that investigation.

While it sounds like the federal investigation into Gibbons' improprieties is moving forward, this story cannot be viewed outside of the context of the ever-growing prosecutor purge scandal. Daniel Bogden, the original prosecutor looking into the Gibbons allegations, was one of a number of the United States Attorneys fired late last year who were in the process of investigating corruption on the part of Republican members of Congress. While the Department of Justice has tried to deflect attention away from this fact by tarring these former U.S. Attorneys, speaking ill of their job performance, Bogden in fact received high marks and at least performed well enough that the DoJ is looking for a new position for him. As such, it would be difficult not to come to the conclusion that Bodgen was fired because he was looking into Gibbons' improper action, a theory even posited in a recent Los Angeles Times article.

Getting beyond the growing amount of evidence that seems to implicate the Bush DoJ in firing prosecutors for partisan political reasons, this story could also represent a serious problem for the Republicans in the not too distant future. If Gibbons' administation becomes embroiled in a major league scandal, it's not inconceivable that his taint could spread to other Republicans in the state, perhaps even decreasing the natural advantage Gibbons, as a GOP Governor, might give to his party's presidential nominee next fall. Moreover, if Gibbons is in fact indicted -- or even if he is just surrounded with a cloud of questions for a long time to come -- his capacity to be reelected could be greatly diminished (a la Kentucky's Ernie Fletcher). This could cause real headaches for the GOP as whoever wins Nevada's gubernatorial election in 2010 will play a large role in the subsequent redistricting battle in the state, which will likely pick up at least one new seat following the upcoming census.