Louisiana legislators threatened to subpoena and remove members of the state ethics board Wednesday in an intensification of the fight over enforcement of the state ethics code.

Members of the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee lashed out at the ethics board for not heeding legislative requests to hold off on hiring a new administrator until January. At that point, Gov. Jeff Landry gains more control of the board through a new set of appointees. 

“I think this is a situation where we should have some action to remove board members,” Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, said during a public hearing Wednesday at the State Capitol. “There should be some kind of punishments for them.” 

Two state senators are suing the ethics board over the same issue and got a judge to issue a restraining order to temporarily block members from filling its administration position. Yet House committee members want to go farther.

“With regards to removing board members, do you think that is a legislative item? A gubernatorial deal? Who would be in charge of removing board members if they’re found to be doing something unlawful?” committee chairman Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, asked current ethics administrator Kathleen Allen at Wednesday’s hearing.

The ethics board is responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws and preventing conflicts of interest for elected officials, public employees and lobbyists. It can levy fines against politicians for several types of violations, including not submitting campaign finance information and personal disclosure forms on time.

Landry had a fraught relationship with the ethics board long before becoming governor. Under different sets of appointees, its members have reprimanded him multiple times.

In the most high-profile incident, the board charged Landry last year for not disclosing a flight he took on a political donor’s plane to Hawaii as attorney general. The matter is not resolved, with Landry still negotiating with the board about what his punishment should be.

Over the past few months, legislators in both political parties have attacked the board for what they describe as aggressive and abusive investigations. Lawmakers have balked at the board’s interpretation of campaign finance rules that restrict spending from their political action committees. 

Unless the board fines or charges a public official for wrongdoing, its inquiries remain private. That confidentiality makes it hard to determine whether legislators who are upset about the ethics board’s actions have ever been investigated by the group. 

It’s also difficult to determine to what extent Landry’s activities might have been questioned by the board.

“No one in the public has any idea what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, told Allen, who represented ethics board members at Wednesday’s hearing.

“I hope that is something that you all are sued for. I hope you lose ‘cause you’re the Board of Ethics, and that is unacceptable,” he said. 

Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, suggested the House committee use its subpoena power to force the ethics board chairwoman, La Koshia Roberts of Lake Charles, to appear at a future meeting. The board has levied thousands of dollars of fines against Marcelle for filing her campaign finance reports late.

Beaullieu told Marcelle the committee would look into that option.

Legislators allege the ethics board violated government transparency laws when its members discussed the hiring of an administrator to replace Allen behind closed doors. They said the matter should have been discussed openly at a public meeting.

In their lawsuit, Sens. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, and Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, also allege the ethics board broke the law by not taking the required vote to go into a private session to discuss the administrator position.

Allen pushed back on these accusations Wednesday, telling lawmakers she believes the board has complied with state open meetings law requirements.

She attributed the confusion to all the ethics board meeting minutes not having been posted publicly yet. A review of those missing records would show board members acted correctly, she said.

“Anything we did during [the private] executive session I feel like is appropriate,” she told lawmakers.

Outside of picking a new ethics administrator, Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, lobbed a personal accusation at Allen. 

“You have a history of not including African Americans [on the ethics board’s staff],” Larvadain told Allen.

“I take offense that I have excluded African Americans. I have never directed an employee to exclude anyone based on race or gender,” Allen responded.

Approximately 20% of the ethics board staff is African American, Allen said, but over 30% of Louisiana’s population is Black.
Black employees are underrepresented in white-collar state government jobs, such as those seen at the ethics boards, and Black legislators often question agencies about the makeup of their workforce. 

In the new year, when Landry gains more control over the ethics board, it will lose some of its current independence.

Landry and the legislators approved a new law that allows them to pick the members of the ethics board directly starting in 2025. 

Previous governors and legislative leaders were required to select board appointees from lists of candidates that leaders of Louisiana’s private colleges and universities recommend. The old system was an attempt to insulate the board from the outside political pressure.