Gov. Jeff Landry has signed a bill giving him control over the Louisiana Board of Ethics, Louisiana Illuminator reports, even as a dispute between the governor and board members continues.
Last year, the board charged Landry with failing to disclose flights he took to and from Hawaii on a political donor’s private plane. Negotiations are still underway between the governor and the ethics board on what an appropriate punishment would be for the violation, with the next status conference in the case scheduled for early July.
The following month, a new ethics board rule, sponsored by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, will go into effect allowing Landry and future governors to appoint the majority of board members directly, with less input from outside sources.
Landry has been reprimanded by the ethics board twice in recent years, for not disclosing his private plane trips in 2021 and the inappropriate use of campaign funds to pay for his car loan over several years.
Transparency advocates have spoken out against the change, calling it “troubling.”
“I think it undermines the ability to enforce ethics in this state,” says Steven Procopio, president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.
