Pickering wrong to address partisan Palin crowd

Nevada Supreme Court candidate Kris Pickering had absolutely no business giving a speech at the Sarah Palin rally in Carson City on Sept. 13. It’s not just me saying so, it’s the Nevada Standing Committee on Judicial Ethics and Election Practices.

The committee issued an advisory opinion on Aug. 22 saying while it’s OK for judicial candidates to leave their campaign materials at an event where only people of a certain political persuasion are invited, it’s not OK to speak at such an event. So at events like Democratic or Republican party events, where only members who are registered with that particular party may display their literature, a judicial candidate, who runs as a nonpartisan no matter what their registration, can display their materials. But they shouldn’t speak at such partisan events.

Frankly, seemed like common sense to me. Pickering raised a lot of eyebrows when she spoke at Palin’s rally before 5,000 people, because it was so clearly a partisan event, yet she defended her actions, even though there was no way her Democratic opponent, Family Court Judge Deborah Schumacher would have been invited, since she’s a Democrat. Turns out, the opinion was already out there saying it was the wrong thing to do.

To read the entire opinion go to www.judicial.state.nv.us/ and look for Advisory Opinion JE08-009.