BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Baton Rouge state Rep. Michael Jackson said he would fight state ethics charges related to his law firm doing legal work for the state’s insurer of last resort.
Jackson said Tuesday he plans to ask the Ethics Adjudicatory Board to dismiss charges on the grounds that they were untimely filed by the Louisiana Board of Ethics.
The board is a three-person panel that decides cases of alleged ethical misconduct.
“It’s the first step in the process we have to do,” Jackson said. “I really want to explain my side of the story &hellip but it’s better to give a chance for the process to work itself out.”
Jackson’s appeal would be the third high-profile case to be challenged by elected officials who claim the charges against them were untimely filed.
The adjudicatory board heard two similar appeals last week in the cases of state Rep. Rick Gallot, chairman of a legislative ethics oversight committee, and Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre.
The panel’s presiding judge gave no indication when a ruling would be forthcoming.
The decision is being watched closely because it could affect other pending cases.
The issue revolves around whether a new law giving the ethics agency a year to bring charges from the time complaints are made or investigations begun applies retroactively or prospectively.
In documents made public Monday, the Ethics Board alleged that Jackson failed to disclose his law firm’s receipt of $46,929 from Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in 2006. The insurer is underwritten by tax dollars.
The income was missing from a personal financial disclosure statement that was required by law to be filed by July 1, 2007.
Nearly two months later, Jackson amended the statement to reflect the income by Jackson Bell Attorneys at Law, LLC.
The board also alleges potential violation of a law that bans legislators, their spouses or businesses in which they have an interest from entering into contracts or subcontracts with state government unless they are competitively bid or negotiated.
The amended report that Jackson signed contends the work was done according to normal procedures in state law for the procurement of professional personal consulting and social services.
 
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