Fascist takeover: Gov. Jeff Landry, in dispute with ethics board, signs law giving himself more control over it

https://lailluminator.com/2024/06/17/gov-jeff-landry-in-dispute-with-ethics-board-signs-law-giving-himself-more-control-over-it/

Gov. Jeff Landry, in dispute with ethics board, signs law giving himself more control over it

BY: JULIE O'DONOGHUE - JUNE 17, 2024 4:55 PM

Gov. Jeff Landry has signed a new law to give him control over the Louisiana Board of Ethics, even as a dispute between him and board members continues.

The ethics board charged Landry last year with failing to disclose flights he took to and from Hawaii on a political donor’s private plane while Landry was attorney general. Landry and the board are still in negotiations about what an appropriate punishment for his violation should be, with the next status conference in his case scheduled for July 5.

A few weeks after that meeting however, a new ethics board statute, sponsored by Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, will take effect Aug. 1. Under the new law, Landry and future governors will be able to appoint the majority of the members of the board directly, with far less input from outside sources. Transparency advocates described the board changes as very troubling.

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The ethics board is just one of several state entities Landry sought greater control over through changes in state law this year. He was also behind a new provision that allows him to pick the chairs of more than 100 state boards and commissions immediately. With the Legislature’s permission, he also changed the process for picking the state public defender management board to give the governor more power.

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