The Louisiana Board of Ethics has come up with a counter-plan of its own, to offer as an alternative for House Bill 41's stripping it of its adjudicatory powers and turning them over to a governor appointed administrative law judge.
The plan, which is exactly what Gov. Jindal's Executive Council, Jimmy Faircloth, argued that the Board is lacking and which he praised the Office of Disciplinary Counsel for, calls for a division of the Board into two panels, one to recommend investigations and to come up with charges, when appropriate, and the other to decide innocence or guilt and impose thew punishment.(See: "Ethics Board to vote on restructuring").
Ethics Board members also had a few observations, concerning the proposed change to the Board's structure as well as HB 41. "Jindal’s plan injects politics into the process, said Ethics Board vice chairman John Greene of Mandeville. In addition, Greene said the Jindal proposal violates the Louisiana Constitution." id.
"If the counter-proposal is adopted, Sherburne said state law would need to be changed to lower the number of board members necessary to refer a matter to investigation. Under present law, it takes eight out of 11 board members.“It’s basically the way we operate today,” said board member Gwen Hamilton of Baton Rouge. But if firming it up and delineating it in state law would improve public perception, she said that’s what needs to be done." id. Central Louisiana's own, Board member Mike Johnson, "said the Ethics Board’s counter-proposal would be less costly than Jindal’s proposal, would be constitutional and would leave the judicial function in the hands of a panel of independent people instead of one person. “You have the same danger of perception,” added Johnson. “I think you have less quality,” Greene said." id.
Perhaps the best indication that we have, to show that the Ethics Board is doing its job, is that it is hated by politicians and the Louisiana Municipal Association.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
ETHICS BOARD 'S COUNTER-PROPOSAL TO HOUSE'S ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE PLAN!
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