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Ethics Board set to reconsider whether Louisiana candidates can pay for child care with campaign funds

The Advocate - 2/16/2019

Feb. 12--A state ethics panel is set to reconsider this week whether candidates for public office in Louisiana can legally use their campaign funds to cover child care costs when they are stumping for votes, holding fundraisers or taking part in other campaign-related activities.

Morgan Lamandre, an attorney who is running for a Baton Rouge-area House seat next year, was advised by state Ethics Board in November that she could be penalized if she uses her campaign fund to pay for child care. Her appeal of that ruling is slated for Friday.

If the Ethics Board rejects Lamandre's appeal, it would set a higher standard than candidates have been held to in the past. The earlier vote made national headlines and has been used to highlight issues that women face in politics.

"The use of campaign funds to pay for child care expenses you would incur as a result of your participation in campaign events and activities is not an allowable expenditure," the Ethics Board concluded in a 5-2 vote.

Political candidates in Louisiana routinely tap into their campaign accounts to pay for constituent gifts, athletic tickets, Mardi Gras trinkets and monthly cellphone bills, among other perks, without facing penalty.

In the past, male candidates in Louisiana have been allowed to include child care among those expenditures.

"I think most people, no matter how they view the actual issue, they see the fundamental unfairness of how the ruling was applied," Lamandre told The Advocate in a recent interview. "I think people see the unfairness to it."

Lamandre, a Democrat, said she's hoping her appeal -- officially slated to be heard on Friday -- is a success.

"I've definitely gotten a lot of public support," she said.

Gov. John Bel Edwards is among those who have sided with Lamandre in the dispute.

"Unfortunately, there are costs that candidates have to incur to run for office, and also to hold office," Edwards, a Democrat, said during his monthly call-in radio show in December. "Basic childcare seems to me to be a reasonable expense. ... I hope the Ethics Board will reconsider that decision."

Using campaign funds to cover child care drew a national spotlight when the Federal Election Commission last year ruled that it's legal for congressional candidates.

Louisiana, historically, has had few female legislators, compared to other states. About 14.6 percent of Louisiana's legislative seats currently are held by women. Only Oklahoma and Wyoming have smaller shares of female lawmakers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures' 2018 figures.

Anyone affected by the state Ethics Board's opinion -- any elected official or state or local candidate in Louisiana -- can ask the board to reconsider its ruling.

In her request for guidance from the state Ethics Board, Lamandre wrote that because state law does not explicitly allow for child care expenses to be paid out of campaign funds, she was "requesting an opinion to find out what circumstances, if any, may child care expenses be paid out of campaign funds."

A different slate of Ethics Board members in 2000 had issued an opinion that child care expenses could be covered by campaign funds when "they are related to your campaign" as long as the child care provider wasn't the candidates spouse or minor child.

Several candidates have included child care among their campaign expenses in the years since, including former Baton Rouge Metro Council member and ex-state lawmaker Darrell Ourso and U.S. Sen. John Kennedy. Both are Republicans, though Kennedy was a Democrat in 2000 when he noted $580 from his campaign account went toward "child care service during Los Angeles trip."

The Ethics Board, which levies fines against candidates that improperly use campaign dollars, is not bound to prior opinions or staff advice.

Lamandre and her husband both work full-time and have two young children, ages six and one.

"When my husband is available, he will be responsible for watching our children during the campaign but because of his work demands and frequent travel he will not always be available," she wrote in her initial request to the board for guidance. "Additionally, there are times when I may benefit from my husband's attendance at campaign events, child care will be required during these situations and since we do not have family that live nearby additional child care expenses will be incurred."

Ethics Board member Peppi Bruneau, a former House Republican from Lakeview who was one of the most vocally opposed to Lamandre's request, said he still feels that the board made the right decision.

"I don't respond to political pressure. I've been around the block too many times," he said. " You just have to look at the law."

Bruneau wasn't on the board when it gave prior opinions on the issue, but he has been on the board since other candidates reported child care expenditures.

"I look at each case individually and that's how I've always handled myself in public life," Bruneau said. "My conclusion is that's a personal expenditure."

After hearing Lamandre's story some state lawmakers have expressed interest in moving to explicitly address child care in the state's campaign finance laws when the Legislature meets again in April.

Lamandre, who expects to be on the ballot this fall, noted that an August date for any new law to take effect, as is the case for most legislation, would restrict her and other candidates during this election cycle.

"I would not risk using the funds for child care before the effective date of any legislation that is passed, so it would be helpful if the board would overturn their ruling," she said.

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