Louisiana ethics board hires new top staff member on a temporary basis after pushback

The Louisiana Board of Ethics voted one of its own staff attorneys in as the state’s new ethics administrator Friday after unprecedented pushback from legislative leaders and Attorney General Liz Murrill to filling the position.

The appointment of David Bordelon was made on an interim basis, however, allowing the board to reverse itself when new members Gov. Jeff  Landry and lawmakers appoint join the board in 2025. Bordelon will start the job after Dec. 27, when longtime ethics administrator Kathleen Allen retires. 

Bordelon’s temporary designation could last up to a year before the board would be expected to give him the job permanently or hire someone else.

The interim nature of Bordelon’s appointment eases the objections some state lawmakers have raised to the board’s hiring of an administrator before new appointees join the ethics board. It will also protect Bordelon’s employment status.

Ethics board members wanted to give Bordelon the job on a temporary basis because he would still be entitled to his current job under civil service rules if the board decided to pursue a different administrator next year. 

“I think it’s a win. I can live with the board’s decision,” said state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, who had personally asked the board to delay hiring a new ethics administrator. “I much prefer this to making a hire on a permanent basis.”

The ethics board investigates local and state government officials – everyone from the governor to small town employees – for potential corruption, conflicts of interest and campaign finance violations. It can fine and charge public servants with violating the state ethics code, though its ability to fully enforce those laws remains relatively weak.

Currently, the ethics board is made up of appointees from former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and legislators from the previous term. State lawmakers did not want the ethics administrator hired before Landry and current lawmakers put their own people on the board as soon as next month.

“We want your executive director to have the clear support of the board,” Beaullieu told board members Friday. 

Criticism and scrutiny of the ethics board has skyrocketed since Landry took over as governor in January. He has had a fraught relationship with the board for years after being reprimanded multiple times for ethical and campaign finance problems.

Presently, the governor is in an ongoing dispute with the current board over ethics charges he faces for not disclosing flights he took to Hawaii on a political donor’s private plane while attorney general.

Two state senators filed a lawsuit to block the board from voting in a new administrator this month, but judges refused to intervene in the hiring before Friday, despite an appeal made directly to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Murrill, as attorney general, has also launched an investigation into whether the ethics board violated government transparency laws.

In the spring, Landry and lawmakers rewrote state laws to give themselves control over the ethics board on a faster timeline than previous governors and legislators. They expanded the board from 11 to 15 members starting in January, allowing them to seat as many as seven new members instead of just three next year.

The governor and lawmakers also opened up the law such that Landry and lawmakers can select members to the ethics board directly instead of having to go through an outside vetting process.

Previous governors and lawmakers could only appoint new members to the ethics board from a list of people nominated by the leaders of Louisiana’s private colleges and universities. Government transparency advocates, who opposed the recent ethics law changes, had championed this outside involvement, saying the college administrators’ role helped insulate the board from political pressure.

In recent months, however, legislators have accused the board of conducting investigations that are too aggressive and even biased against Republican officials, though the Republican-led Legislature picked some of the current ethics board members in the previous term.

Democrats  also faced steep ethics fines in recent year when the former Democratic governor’s appointees were on the board.

Ethics board members on Friday pushed back against the allegations of bias and misconduct from lawmakers.

Board member Mark Ellis suggested it was the legislators, governor and attorney general, not the ethics board, who were attempting to inject politics into the board’s activities.

“Would the only reason [to delay picking the ethics administrator] legitimately be to politicize the board?” Ellis, an Edwards appointee, asked Beaullieu. “I just want that addressed.”

“This is an attempt not to politicize it and have the new board take effect,” Beaullieu responded.

“So you think the board is politicized now?” Ellis said.

“No I do not. … My recommendation is to have the new board appoint the executive director,” Beaullieu said.