Court Opinion

ID: 9628887
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:33:39.387469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:12.771298
License: Public Domain

Rose, J.,
concurring:
I concur only to address the errors made or misimpressions left by the dissent. In support of his dissent, Justice Springer cites *404Justice Young’s and my dissent in O’Brien v. State Bar, 114 Nev. 71, 952 P.2d 952 (1998), and our belief that two members of the Board of Governors had cast tainted votes in electing a representative to the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission. While I am flattered that Justice Springer would cite our dissent, he certainly did not like our conclusion because he was part of the O’Brien majority. It is misleading to favorably cite our O’Brien dissent without disclosing the fact that Justice Springer previously rejected its reasoning and helped establish a much different standard in this area of the law.
Justice Springer claims in his dissent that there is nothing in the record of O’Brien, or anywhere else, to establish that FitzSimmons and Waters contributed more than $10,000 to Judge Steve Jones’ 1996 election bid for the Nevada Supreme Court. FitzSimmons and her husband are listed as each contributing $10,000 in Judge Steve Jones’ 1996 Campaign Disclosure Forms filed with the Nevada Secretary of State. Waters admitted to making large additional contributions in a motion to disqualify Justice Young filed on December 16, 1996 in the Whitacre case. In that motion, Waters stated as follows: “Kermitt L. Waters, his wife Jan Waters, and Nevada corporations owned by Mr. Waters contributed substantially to Judge Jones’ campaign. The approximate aggregate amount of campaign contributions from those sources is $75,000,000 [sic]. Ms. FitzSimmons and her husband, John Lambrose, each contributed $10,000 to the Steve Jones campaign.” Whitacre Inv. Co. v. State, Dep’t Transp., Docket No. 29401 (Appellant’s Motion to Disqualify Justice C. Clifton Young at 4, December 16, 1996).
Justice Springer once again raises the contention that I should not be sitting on this case because of a conflict of interest created by the Attorney General’s involvement. This court has previously rejected this contention. In the processing of the case of Hogan v. Warden, 112 Nev. 553, 916 P.2d 805 (1996), Hogan made a motion to disqualify me for the same reasons stated by the dissent. The Court entered an order on February 18, 1994, rejecting Hogan’s contentions “in their entirety.” This order was unanimous and signed by Justice Springer. Now, four years later, Justice Springer again raises this issue sua sponte. Perhaps it is because he has forgotten the action taken four years ago, or is raising it for some other reason. Suffice it to say, this issue was considered and rejected by the full court many years ago.