CARSON CITY — Gov. Jim Gibbons, facing a complaint that he abused his position to get a tax break on land he owns in eastern Nevada, told a state Ethics Commission investigator he didn't press for the break and was prompted by "merely curiosity" to ask about it.

In an interview released Friday by the commission, in line with the Republican governor's request that details of the case be made public, Gibbons said he collected information on the tax break from the Elko County assessor and gave it to an attorney who completed an application.

Gibbons also said the assessor, Joe Aguirre, didn't tell him the 40 acres he owns in scenic Lamoille didn't qualify for the agricultural tax break.

The governor also said he didn't know his lawyer, John Marvel, was on the state Tax Commission until the tax break issue "came up in the newspaper." Marvel was appointed by a former governor.

Aguirre has said he felt pressured to allow the agricultural designation ensuring low taxes after Gibbons visited him last fall, and then Marvel submitted the application and letters on Gibbons' behalf.

Aguirre, in his interview with the Ethics Commission investigator, said the tax break request was "unusual" and made him "uncomfortable," adding, "The integrity of the program means a lot to me. I mean, we're here to protect the taxpayer, the mom and pop operations."

He also said Gibbons is one of the "more sophisticated people" now acquiring land in Elko County and abusing rules set up to "protect greenery and not to tax people out of their business."

Aguirre also said Gibbons didn't pressure him but he felt Marvel later "backed me into a corner" in a letter seeking the tax break. He added he felt pressured "with him being on a Tax Commission."

A Sept. 11 hearing has been set on the complaint against Gibbons filed by Travis Brock, executive director of the state Democratic Party. Brock complained after The Associated Press reported in July that Gibbons got the tax liability on the property cut from about $5,000 to $39.71.

In seeking dismissal of the complaint, Gibbons said Democrats didn't comply with a rule that requires an ethics complaint to be backed up by more than "a newspaper article or other media report."

The governor said the rule prevents "partisan ethics complaints, such as this one, that are based on nothing more than wild hearsay and unsupported accusations, and designed to do nothing more than grab cheap headlines and damage the reputations of public officials."

Gibbons bought the Lamoille property for $575,000 a year ago from former judge Jerry Carr Whitehead, who owns 3,000 adjacent acres.

While the governor's property had been used for ranching, Aguirre has said that once it was sold as a separate parcel it didn't qualify for the tax break because the parcel was too small to be able to gross $5,000 in annual agricultural income.

Whitehead leased the land back for $5,000 a year so that he could continue to run cattle on the land. Gibbons hopes to eventually build a home on the land.

Instead of approving the agricultural designation, Aguirre did nothing, letting it take effect by default for one year. The governor will have to reapply next year to receive it again.