Board asks for veto of lobbyist bill

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 1, 2009 - Page: 11A

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The Louisiana Board of Ethics asked Gov. Bobby Jindal to veto legislation that would expand opportunities for lobbyists to bust a $50 cap when they are wining and dining legislators and other public officials.

Signing the legislation into law would weaken basic standards of ethical conduct for public servants “more than they are already,” board chairman Frank Simoneaux wrote in a letter to Jindal made public Tuesday.

Simoneaux said House Bill 591 would also create “inequitable and unequal treatment of persons” because public servants are barred from accepting small gifts such as cookies and cakes while others can dine extravagantly at the expense of those seeking to influence them.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, is sitting on Jindal’s desk awaiting action. It was approved in the final days of the 2009 legislative session.

Based on conversations he’s had with Jindal’s office, Ellington said Tuesday he does not expect a veto. Ellington said he does not think most ethics board members understand the special circumstances, such as “state nights,” that face lawmakers and other officials attending conferences.

“The $50 deal does not bother me. It’s the different circumstances,” said Ellington. “Nobody wants to get caught in a gotcha.”

Ellington filed the legislation because he was dissatisfied with an ethics board interpretation of an exception to a new state law that set a $50 limit per event on wining and dining. The ethics board advised that the $50 spending limit could only be exceeded for official events of the state, regional and national meetings.

But Ellington and other lawmakers said that’s not what they intended when they passed the new law last year. Ellington filed legislation to “clarify” what was intended.

HB591 started out allowing the $50 limit to be topped for events or gatherings held while the meeting was going on.

By the time it won final legislative passage, the legislation would allow lobbyists to spend more than $50 per person when 10 or more people associated with the organization are invited to a gathering at a conference.

His staff said Jindal was unavailable when asked if the governor would veto the measure. But Jindal’s press secretary, Kyle Plotkin, said, “We are not inclined to override.”

In his Jindal letter, Simoneaux cited state laws governing the conduct of public servants, including those that ban others giving them things of economic value for the performance of their public duties and another similar law that prohibits acceptance of gifts by persons seeking to influence passage or defeat of legislation.

Prior ethics opinions have banned library employees from accepting “small tokens of appreciation” from library patrons such as cookies and cakes and police officers from accepting similar tokens from citizens.