FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2012
Contact: Jason Doré
225-389-4495

Recall Leaders Fail to Follow Ethics Laws

Ninety days after officially filing recall petitions with the Secretary of State’s office, recall leaders have failed to produce the proper campaign finance reports, in adherence to Louisiana ethics law.

Louisiana law states that “any person, including a political committee, who receives and accepts any contribution, loan, or transfer of funds, or makes any expenditure in support of or in opposition to the recall of a public officer shall be required to file reports of such contributions and expenditures (LA R.S. 18:1486A(2)).” The campaign finance law goes on to require a finance report be filed “not later than the forty-fifth day after the official filing of the copy of the recall petition with the secretary of state…if the aggregate amount of contributions, loans, and transfers of funds received and accepted or expenditures made equals or exceeds two hundred dollars at any time during the aggregating period (LA R.S. 18:1486B & C(2)a).”

“They’ve purchased ads in Lagniappe magazine alone exceeding $1,000, billboards, yard signs, T-shirts, and other campaign materials, but have not disclosed who is funding these divisive efforts as required by Louisiana law,” said LAGOP Executive Director Jason Doré. “The recall leadership is also paying to retain Kevin Shanon to run their statewide efforts, which has touted a great success so far. However, we cannot confirm this because they have not released the exact number of signatures, nor returned the public records request we filed last Friday.”

Recall leader Angie Bonvillain has repeatedly denied her groups responsibility to disclose the recall efforts funding and spending.

Bonvillain has also indicated she will refuse to disclose the number of signatures or make the signed petitions available for public review despite a state law which reads, “Upon the signature of the first elector, the recall petition, including the name, address, and signature of each elector who has signed thereon, shall be a public record. The chairman, or the vice chairman when acting as the chairman, shall be the custodian thereof (LA R.S. 18:1300.5B).”

“Given the secrecy of these groups, we felt it was necessary to shine light on these efforts by making last week’s public records requests,” Doré said. “We will not stand idly by while union leaders and their allies abuse the recall process for political purposes by attacking those who supported reforming Louisiana’s broken public education system.”

Today, the Republican Party of Louisiana is sending an official request the Louisiana Ethics Administration Board asking them to investigate the recall leaders failure to file campaign finance disclosure reports in accordance with LA R.S. 18:1486.

In accordance with Louisiana’s public records law, recall leaders have until tomorrow to respond to the public records request.