Louisiana legislators earn big money from government agencies — but some kept secret
His biggest client, bar none, is the
In 2016, the
Martiny, a
"People can write down whatever they want," said
Martiny isn't the only one whose forms don't tell the whole story.
State Sen.
The same goes for state Rep.
Martiny, LaFleur and Dwight all say they are following the law.
Gov.
But the laws appear to be easy to circumvent because they allow public agencies to route money through third parties -- including a public official's own private firm -- removing, in effect, any onus for meaningful disclosure.
"The notion that you could get public money and not report it in our flim-flammery of an ethics system is ridiculous," Stonecipher said. "What they do for a living matters, and people who pay those taxes should always know."
*
The gap between Martiny's pay and what he disclosed came to light recently during a contentious election for
Martiny, the sole owner of the firm, said he employs between three and five other attorneys at any given time. He said the firm handles about 40 cases from the
From 2005 to 2016, the
In an interview, Martiny said the money he disclosed over the years -- the
The other
"Quite frankly, I don't like that I have to disclose anything," Martiny said, "but they say that you have to disclose any money paid to you directly from a public agency, and that's what I report.
"I've done that since I was in the Legislature. No one has ever questioned it. No one has ever audited it."
Martiny said he cleared his reporting process directly with the state Ethics Board.
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Law Enforcement Program operates on the public dime. It's run by a board of sheriffs who are public officials. It must abide by public records laws and is subject to auditing by the state Legislative Auditor's Office. But it's not technically considered a "political subdivision," like a sheriff's office or a local government entity is, according to a 2015 state Attorney General opinion.
And according to ethics laws, public officials need disclose in detail only the money they receive from political subdivisions or from the state. The law also requires elected officials to identify the private sources of their income, but they don't have to list the exact income they receive, only broad salary ranges that max out at "more than
"This is a lot of money unreported," he said of Martiny's income. "If this is income from a political subdivision that is just passing through a third party, that's worth the Legislature taking a look at. Especially if it's routine, and it's large sums of money."
*
Because public money is often paid to elected officials indirectly, particularly through contracts with private firms, it's easy for legislators not to report it on their disclosures.
LaFleur, for example, isn't just a bond attorney. He's also a member of the state
LaFleur said in an email that he is in total compliance with the law, even though his personal finance disclosures don't mention his array of public contracts. He said public finance work makes up less than 10 percent of his income from the law firm. (The LaFleur in the law firm's name is not him.)
"I make all required disclosure regarding my personal income, including my wife's income and income related to other business interests," he said. "None of the clients represented by the law firm I work for are prohibited by law."
Dwight, whose online biography calls him the general counsel for the
Dwight said the
"When I first got elected I called and asked what the rules were," he said, adding that he was told, "If you don't own the firm, you don't have to disclose it."
Some lawmakers said they disclose any public money they receive in an abundance of caution, even if the law doesn't require it. State Sen.
Ward noted that he's not an employee of the
"But it just makes me more comfortable to lay it all out there, since this is public money, and try to be as transparent as possible," Ward said. "It seems to me that's the better way to go."
*
When Jindal ran for governor in 2007, he campaigned on a promise to overhaul
Upon taking office, Jindal's administration helped usher in laws that required elected officials to disclose their personal finances, curbed out-of-control lobbyist expenditures and established rules on the entry of government officials into the private sector.
At the time it was passed, the
Before the ethics reforms were put into place, Scott said, "you didn't even know what legislators were doing."
"You didn't know what their income sources were at all. None of their bios would tell you very much," he said.
But it didn't take long for Jindal's "gold standard" to begin losing its luster.
Within a year, the chairman of the state legislative committee whose job it was to oversee ethics laws was charged by the new state Ethics Board with seven violations. The board charged that it was a conflict of interest for then-state Rep.
Gallot, who is now Grambling's president, eventually got all of the charges dropped because the Ethics Board waited too long to prosecute them. Under a law that was pushed by Gallot's committee, the deadline to pursue charges by the Ethics Board shrank from two years to one.
By 2015, the
What's become apparent over the years is that even if a lawmaker is caught breaking the rules, at worst the offender faces a late fee.
Allen, the ethics board administrator, said there's no penalty under the law for listing incorrect information on personal finance disclosures. If her staff of five finds mistakes, or if complaints are filed about falsehoods, the office can issue a seven-day notice to update the information accurately.
If lawmakers don't file the change by the deadline, they can be subjected to a late fee of
Allen also acknowledged that her staff is primarily looking for surface-level mistakes, such as missing information, and making sure the forms are correctly filled out. It does not routinely investigate the veracity of the reports in any detail.
Even obvious mistakes often go unnoticed.
For instance, legislators sometimes fail to report the salaries they earn for the office they hold -- the position that triggers the reporting requirement in the first place.
During the recent
But nobody called out the omission until this year's campaign.
It's perhaps a minor mistake, but Stonecipher says it shows lawmakers and other elected officials that no one is watching.
"Worn as it is, the question still screams ... how fast do people drive when they know there are no speed traps or police?" he asked. "As fast as they want to."
The Advocate is teaming up with ProPublica, a nonprofit news organization in
___
(c)2018 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
Visit The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. at www.theadvocate.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
BRIEF: Wells Fargo acknowledges $1 billion federal settlement offer
Poll: Medicaid expansion, criminal justice changes are popular in Louisiana
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News