Panel censures judicial candidate over TV comments about opponent

By Steve Green

Monday, Oct. 25, 2010 | 5:15 p.m.

A state panel today publicly censured Las Vegas attorney and judicial candidate Joanna Kishner for comments she made on a news show about election opponent Phil Dabney.

Kishner had sued the state Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices on Friday, apparently in anticipation of today’s decision. Kishner and Dabney are running for a judge’s seat in Clark County District Court, Department 31.

Dabney complained to the committee that comments Kishner made on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" during a debate on Sept. 13 not only threatened his judicial campaign, but also would irreparably damage his reputation as a practicing attorney in the community.

During the show, Kishner had claimed Dabney had been found to have violated judicial rules when an elderly client of Dabney’s had changed her estate plan in a way that benefited Dabney by about a quarter million dollars.

Dabney denied wrongdoing on the show and in a complaint to the Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices said Kishner violated the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct by failing to state during the Ralston show that both the Clark County District Court and the Nevada Supreme Court concluded that clear and convincing evidence established Dabney did not exercise under influence over his client.

The committee today sided with Dabney, finding Kishner’s statements on Face to Face "were made knowingly or recklessly and omit facts necessary to make the communication considered as a whole not materially misleading."