Campaign Finance

Rumors are swirling that the Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Pascal Calogero, may be about to resign because of accusations of corruption. Read more

It’s not perfect, but SB 29 covers a couple important issues. Namely,

“A fine, fee or penalty assessed for a violation…shall be paid only by the person against whom the fine, fee, or penalty was assessed. “

The bill goes on to say that the adjudicatory committee could require a candidate to pay a fine out of his or her own pocket if the violation was intentional.

There’s a delightfully deceitful bit of spin on the front page of the Dead Pelican currently. Its lead political story, which appears in the top left hand corner of the page, has the following headline:

“Groups tell Jindal to slow up on ethics provision”

Clearly, this is a reference to today’s call by the Council for a Better Louisiana, League of Women Voters, Louisiana Common Cause and the Public Affairs Research Council for Jindal to drop his demand that the state ethics board be stripped of its adjudicatory powers. The implication is that these widely respected government watchdogs are bad because they are trying to slow down ethics reform. The reality, however, is rather different. Read more

A couple weeks ago, we covered a story on the hottest ticket in town: a seat on the Louisiana Board of Commissioners Stadium and Exposition District, aka the Superdome Commission. While it’s no Hannah Montana ticket, it may cost about the same. Several of Jindal’s appointees donated significant sums to his campaign, including J.E. Brignac’s whopping $15,000. Read more

From the Associated Press: House Bill 41, a measure that would shift the adjudicatory power over ethics charges from the state Ethics Board and put it in the hands of Administrative Law Judges passed the House by a vote of 95-3 and will now go to the Senate for consideration.

Voting against the bill were Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, and Reps. Michael Jackson, D-Baton Rouge, and Jack Montoucet, D-Scott.

From the Times-Picayune: A bill introduced by Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson that carries  implications for Governor Jindal was approved by the Louisiana House today. The bill, which would preclude third parties from paying fines over campaign finance violations, means the governor, who faces ethics charges for failing to report $118,000 in contributions from the state Republican party, would be responsible for paying his fine. To date Jindal has resisted calls to pay the fine personally and his campaign treasurer Rolfe McCollister has since offered to pick up the tab.

Central La. Politics reports on the proposal put forward by Hank Perret and the Louisiana Ethics Board as an alternative to the proposal in House Bill 41 that would strip the ethics board of its adjudicatory authority.  A day after Jindal had to drop HB 36 that would allow for secret dealing on ethics charges, pressure is building to drop the sister bill HB 41 that would provide for secret, closed door adjudication of ethics charges by administrative law judges.
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From the Associated Press: A bill that would make Governor Jindal (and others) responsible for personally paying their own fine for campaign finance violations passed the House and Governmental Affairs Committee today. If it passes, Jindal treasurer and transition (cheer)leader, Rolfe McCollister, will have to put the $2500 he’s offered for Jindal’s fine towards his 527 Jindal-front -group Believe in Louisiana. More on McCollister and BiL after the jump. Read more

The legislature got the ethics ball rolling with HB1, which will require strict financial disclosure for pretty much everyone in the Louisiana government - even judges. And the judges are not happy, especially Justice Kimball.

They also eliminated free tickets, forced legislators to recuse themselves from votes where they might have a conflict of interest, and, among other disclosures, will have to explain purchases over $1000.

Another measure is more problematic: the effort to withhold pension funds from officials convicted of felonies raises some serious concerns. Namely, the bill could affect, for example, spouses and children of a teacher who is sentenced to prison, as well as Governor Edwards, if passed retroactively.

Ethics Board Chairman Hank Perret continued his campaign to keep the Ethics Board the way it is.

And, if you hadn’t heard, we have spies among us.

From the Times-Picayune: Governor Bobby Jindal keeps the rhetoric familiar as he hopes to pull in legislators behind his ethics reform plan. The question remains whether he has done what he needed to do in preperation for the special session to get his proposals through. And now some are suggesting that Jindal should testify before committees personally.