Attorney General Jeff Landry’s camp is defending him against charges that he violated Louisiana state ethics laws, claiming that an exception granted by the law allowed the frontrunner in the 2023 gubernatorial race to accept a free roundtrip airplane flight to and from a conference in Hawaii.
According to the Louisiana Board of Ethics, Landry violated a state law prohibiting elected officials from taking anything of value related to his position as a public officer. The gift in question is the use of a private airplane belonging to GOP donor Greg Mosing to attend the 2021 Conference of Western Attorneys General. The ethics board also accused Landry of not disclosing the flights in his filings with the board.
However, Landry campaign spokesperson Kate Kelly says another provision of the Louisiana ethics law permitted Landry to accept the flights. Kelly cited Louisiana Revised Statute 42:1115.2, which reads:
The provisions of R.S. 42:1111 or 1115 shall not preclude the acceptance by a public servant of complimentary admission, lodging, and reasonable transportation, or reimbursement for such expenses, if the agency head of the public servant's agency certifies each of the following:
(1) The public servant's acceptance of complimentary admission, lodging, and reasonable transportation, or reimbursement for such expenses, is either of direct benefit to the agency or will enhance the knowledge or skill of the public servant as it relates to the performance of his public service.
(2) The agency head approved the public servant's acceptance of complimentary admission, lodging, and reasonable transportation, or reimbursement for such expenses, prior to acceptance.
According to Kelly, Landry, as the head of the Department of Justice, approved his own acceptance of the free flight to attend a conference related to his job.
Subsection B of the above statute states:
Any public servant who accepts complimentary admission, lodging, or transportation, or reimbursement for such expenses, shall file with the Board of Ethics, within sixty days after such acceptance, a certification, on a form designed by the board, disclosing all of the following:
(a) The date and location of complimentary admission, lodging, or transportation and a brief description of its purpose.
(b) The name of the person who gave, provided, paid for, or reimbursed in whole or in part the admission, lodging, or transportation.
(c) The amount expended on his behalf or reimbursed by the person for admission, lodging, and transportation.
(2) The certification required by this Subsection shall include the certifications of the agency head required by Subsection A of this Section.
When asked of Landry filed such a disclosure with the Ethics Board, Kelly said Landry did not file that document, known as a File 413.
"He would have been submitting a form to himself for his own approval," Kelly said.
She also referred to a statement she gave LAPolitics.com on Saturday, which said, in part, “Attorney General Landry has always, in good faith, complied with the rules and regulations of the Board of Ethics."
