Court commissioner disciplined for abusive behavior toward interpreter

It was the third time the Commission on Judicial Performance had publicly disciplined Mark Kliszewski. It was the third time the Commission on Judicial Performance had publicly disciplined Mark Kliszewski. Photo: Chris Ryan, Getty Images/OJO Images RF Photo: Chris Ryan, Getty Images/OJO Images RF Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Court commissioner disciplined for abusive behavior toward interpreter 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The state’s judicial disciplinary agency reprimanded a longtime Alameda County Superior Court commissioner Wednesday for insulting and cursing at a court interpreter and allowing staff members to make racist and sexist comments in his courtroom.

It was the third time the Commission on Judicial Performance had publicly disciplined Mark Kliszewski. The commission said Kliszewski was suspended without pay for two weeks in 1996 for “discourteous and improper treatment” of a female social worker in his courtroom, and he was suspended without pay for 120 days in 2000 for misconduct, including misrepresentations in his campaign literature, during an unsuccessful election campaign for Superior Court judge.

He was ordered to undergo training in both previous disciplinary actions, the commission said.

Kliszewski graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1973 and then practiced law in the East Bay until 1989, when the county’s judges appointed him as a commissioner, hearing cases in Juvenile Court and conducting early hearings in civil cases. He now hears family court cases in Hayward.

In its reprimand, titled a public admonishment, the commission said that between 2010 and 2015, Kliszewski had made numerous insulting and derogatory remarks to staffers about a court interpreter, sometimes in her presence. After being told by a staff member in 2010 that the interpreter had reported his remarks to her supervisor, the commission said, Kliszewski referred to her as a “f— bitch.”

In other incidents, the commission said, Kliszewski for many years permitted staff members in Juvenile Court to “routinely make offensive and inappropriate comments” in the courtroom, some of them about race or sex, when court was not in session. Although he said he asked his staffers several times to “tone down” their remarks, he was unable to stop them and sometimes laughed at the comments, the commission said.

His conduct violated a judicial officer’s duties to maintain high standards of conduct, to refrain from showing bias, and to be “patient, dignified and courteous” to people in his courtroom, the commission said.

Court commissioners have no fixed term of office and serve until they step down or are removed by the judges.

Neither Kliszewski nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko