Legislators’ attorneys said they are likely to appeal the ruling.
By: Julie O’Donoghue – Louisiana Illuminator
A Baton Rouge judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday from state lawmakers meant to block the Louisiana Board of Ethics from hiring its new administrator.
The decision paves the way for the board to move forward with selecting its top staff member at its Friday meeting.
Judge Kelly Balfour of the 19th Judicial District Court said he was sympathetic to the legislators’ argument that the search for an ethics administrator should have been more robust and transparent. But he saw no state law violation that allows him to stop the board from moving forward with the hiring.
“Where’s the law for me to say what they’ve done was wrong?” Balfour asked during Monday’s court hearing, which lasted less than an hour.
“I can’t rule on ‘I don’t like the way they handled things,’” he added.
Gov. Jeff Landry and the Louisiana Legislature rewrote state laws earlier this year to give them more control over the ethics board in January. Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, had also asked the ethics board to delay hiring a new administrator until appointees from him, Landry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, joined the board next month.
The current board is made up of appointees from former Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republican legislative leaders who are no longer in office. Those board members ignored Henry’s request and proceeded with their search for a new administrator in earnest, interviewing finalists for the job in November.
Senate President Pro Tempore Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, and Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, then filed a lawsuit attempting to block them from doing so. Their attorney argued in court Monday that the ethics board needed to be stopped because its hiring process hadn’t been conducted properly.
Gray Sexton, representing Barrow and Cathey, alleged the board had violated Louisiana public meetings law 10 times when discussing the selection of a new administrator during meetings this fall. The whole process was done so secretly that legislators weren’t aware it was taking place until the job application deadline had passed, he said.
Balfour countered that this civil lawsuit was not the proper vehicle for handling open meetings enforcement. The Office of the Attorney General would be responsible responsible for those duties.
Also, nothing requires legislators to be informed when hiring for the ethics administrator position is underway, the judge said.
“It’s almost like y’all are mad they didn’t answer your letter,” Balfour said.
Balfour also said he was worried that legislators, in particular, were bringing the lawsuit in question.
It raised concerns over violation of the separation of powers doctrine, in which one branch of government isn’t supposed to have undue influence over another, he said. The ethics board is part of the executive branch of state government and isn’t under the Louisiana Legislature’s direct control.
“Does President Henry need to know [they are hiring a new ethics administrator]?” Balfour asked. “Do they need to answer the Senate?”
Barrow said after the ruling that she wasn’t sure whether Balfour’s decision would be appealed yet. If it is appealed, it would have to be done before Friday’s ethics board meeting.
The board is replacing longtime ethics administrator Kathleen Allen, who is retiring Dec. 27.