this state gets more bizarre everyday...here we have the chairman of the louisiana state senate & governmental affairs committee which is the committee that oversees governmental ethics, charged and fined $5,000 [3,853eur] for violating state ethics laws. according to the new orleans city business article (see link) senator c.d. jones has been "a lawmaker for more than 25 years," thats long enough that he should know every comma and period in the louisiana laws.
so, what excuse does state senator jones use? "the board said jones said he didn't realize the housing finance authority was a state agency that would require him to file the notice spelled out in ethics laws." lol. give us a freaking break please. this wasnt even the first time senator jones has been found unethical -- in 1998 he was fined $7,500 [5,780eur] "for a violation of the ethics code involving conflicts of interest." so how does our illustrious louisiana state senate reward senator jones? by making him chairman of the committee in charge of overseeing the louisiana state heh heh heh ethics board of coz. yeah that sounds about right. it would seem that being found guilty of ethics violations would make one automatically ineligible to serve on the very committee overseeing state ethics wouldnt it? well not here in louisiana. you see the fox guarding the hen house is standard operating procedure.
why was senator jones only fined the $5,000? this article says that he made $65,000 [50,052eur] so why not fine him the entire $65,000? who wouldnt pay $5,000 for $60,000 [46,216eur]? thats just a cost of doing business. we bet he would think twice next time. or would he?
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