forgotston.com

Former Rep. Noble Ellington has been charged with violating the state Campaign Disclosure Law. See story here.

While recognizing that ignorance of the law is no defense for the law’s violation, Ellington nevertheless attempts to use it.

Despite being a lawmaker, apparently, Ellington failed to read the laws on which he voted.

Ignorance of the law on which one votes is even less acceptable that claiming to be ignorant of the law.

A lawmaker’s failure to read and understand the law which they require the rest of to abide should be an offense in and of itself.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am

Not the job of state employees

In his Sunday column, The Advocate’s Mark Ballard discusses the recent effort by Team Jindal to “set the record straight.” See article here.

“Setting the record” straight is correcting factual errors, not issuing opinions and making personal attacks by public employees.

What Team Jindal is doing is using state employees and state funds to lobby for the passage Jindal’s education reform legislation. Both of which are prohibited by law.

LA R.S. 43:31(D) states: “No …[state] employee… shall expend funds of …[an] entity of state government to … lobby for or against any proposition or matter having the effect of law being considered by the legislature ….”

LA R.S. 43:31 (F)(2) states: “Any person who violates the provisions of this Section shall be assessed a fine by the court of not more than five hundred dollars.”

Regardless, of anyone’s feeling about the issues, the law is the law. I find no exception for Team Jindal and they are not or should not be above the law.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am

A good ol’ boy

Yesterday the “Roads Scholar” announced that he had appointed a couple of former leges, Rickey Hardy and Mert Smiley, to the State Board of Pardons.

Membership on the Board is, by law, a full-time job with full-time salary. Additionally, the members cannot hold any other appointive or elective position. See law here.

The rest of the story

Not mentioned in Team Jindal’s press release was that, apparently, Smiley’s appointment is a temporary one. I say “apparently” because otherwise the appointment will be illegal. Last fall Smiley was elected as Assessor of Ascension Parish. He will not take office until January of 2013.

Hardy, who was defeated for reelection to the lege, will be rewarded with not only a job, but a nice boost in his retirement benefits. Hardy, a former local elected official, was one of a handful of leges who were “grandfathered” into the state retirement system.

Additionally, Hardy’s new gig will exacerbate the Unfunded Accrued Liability (”UAL”) of the State Employees’ Retirement system. If Jindal is serious about his just-announced, pension reform plans, he needs to stop making the problem worse.

Despite Jindal claims to be not like his predecessors; these appointments are examples of same-old-same-old.

C.B.

1 CB 7:00 am