Gubernatorial candidate Jeff Landry has labeled the Louisiana Ethics Board “heavily left-leaning” and a practitioner of election interference after the board filed ethics charges over his acceptance of private airfare for a trip to Hawaii.
The administrator of the Ethics Board, Kathleen Allen, however, stands by the board’s actions in filing the charges, which are related to Landry’s decision to accept private air transportation from Louisiana-based Stanton Aviation LLC for a 2021 trip to the Aloha State. Landry attended the Attorney General Alliance’s annual meeting in Maui.
“Jeff M. Landry, while serving as attorney general for the state of Louisiana, violated La. R.S. 42:1111A by virtue of receiving complimentary private airfare to and from Hawaii to which he was not duly entitled to receive for the performance of his job duties as attorney general,” a copy of the charges dated Aug. 29 states.
That section of the Louisiana Code of Government Ethics bars a public servant from obtaining anything of economic value, other than earned compensation and benefits, for the performance of responsibilities related to the public servant’s position.
“Let me start with saying that I vehemently deny that the Louisiana Board of Ethics is left-leaning and acts with partisan intentions,” Allen told the Louisiana Record in an email. “I can say that a board member’s party affiliation is not known to staff members or raised during discussion of any item under consideration by the board. The party affiliation of a person who is the subject of a complaint or investigation is not discussed or relevant when the board makes a determination to conduct an investigation or file charges.”
The Ethics Board is made up of two members appointed by the House of Representatives, two members named by the state Senate and the balance appointed by the governor but subject to Senate confirmation, she said.
When the board receives complaints about areas of the law under its jurisdiction, members can initiate a confidential investigation, gather relevant facts and then file charges with an administrative body or file a civil lawsuit in the case of a campaign finance issue, according to Allen.
“With respect to the charges issued by the Louisiana Board of Ethics against Mr. Landry, the charges have been filed with the Division of Administrative Law,” she said. “We have not received notice of a hearing date in that matter.”
Landry defended his actions in an opinion column.
“Instead of charging the taxpayers for travel, I flew on the plane of a retired private citizen who has no business with the state or the Louisiana Department of Justice,” he said. “This trip will likely be pushed to the forefront of the governor’s race as the ‘September Surprise’ brought to the public by a heavily left-leaning ‘Ethics’ Board that seems intent on keeping me from doing my job.”
And in a post on his campaign Facebook page, Landry said, “Taking a page out of the Democrat playbook, the 11-member Louisiana Board of Ethics – most of whom are Democrats appointed by liberal John Bel Edwards – is now labeling a private citizen a target in a desperate attempt to meddle in our election and take down our campaign.”