Louisiana ethics board declines to waive Jeff Landry’s $100 late fine

Gov. Jeff Landry (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)

The Louisiana Board of Ethics has declined Gov. Jeff Landry’s request to waive a $100 fine for filing his 2023 annual campaign finance report one day late. 

The board’s decision Friday comes just a few months before Landry, who has been at odds with the board for years, will gain more power over its makeup. 

Without public discussion, board members voted to reject Landry’s waiver. State ethics staff advised members to turn down the governor’s request. In general, the ethics board is far less likely to waive fees for elected officials and candidates who have previously incurred late fees.

A few years ago, Landry was forced to pay a $2,500 fine when he filed a campaign finance report for his 2019 attorney general race inaccurately, according to an ethics staff information released this week. The $2,500 fine is the maximum automatic penalty a candidate can receive for this type of offense. 

Landry’s longtime campaign treasurer and brother, Benjamin Landry, submitted this week’s request to waive the $100 fine.

Benjamin Landry said in a letter to the board that the report in question had been submitted by its Feb. 15 deadline. But due to “unknown technological issues,” it was never transmitted to the ethics staff. The form was then turned in again on Feb. 16, when it was successfully received. 

State law requires the ethics board to automatically fine candidates for major political offices $100 per day when they turn in campaign reports late.

The governor is also in another, more serious dispute with the board over whether flights he took as attorney general on a political donor’s plane in 2021 should have been publicly disclosed.

The board charged Landry with ethics violations over the matter in August 2023. Lawyers for the governor and the board have been in closed-door negotiations for over a year about what the appropriate sanction should be. 

In 2022, the board also reprimanded Landry for using his campaign funds to pay his car loan but didn’t assess him any formal penalties. 

A new law Landry pushed lawmakers to pass gives the governor more freedom to appoint who he wants to the ethics board in January. At that time, the board membership is expected to change to be more favorable to Landry.