Four Acadiana men including incumbents on the Lafayette City-Parish Council and Lafayette Parish School Board are facing fines from the state Ethics Board for failing to file financial disclosure forms by deadline.
[Update: City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand was fined $400 by the Ethics Board for failing to file a finance report indicating that he loaned his campaign money during the run-up to the October 2007 election. Bertrand says he was unaware that such a form was required. He tells The Independent he mailed a cashier's check covering the fine to the board this week, faxed a copy of the check to the board and expects his case to be removed from Friday's agenda.]
Four Acadiana men including incumbents on the Lafayette City-Parish Council and Lafayette Parish School Board are facing fines from the state Ethics Board for failing to file financial disclosure forms by deadline.
C-P Councilman Don Bertrand and the LPSB's Mark Cockerham, both of whom represent District 7 in Lafayette Parish, each face fines for failure to file supplemental reports that were due Feb. 17. The Ethics Board attorney handling both cases is recommending that orders be issued against Bertrand and Cockerham when the board meets on Friday in Baton Rouge. Cockerham was also subpoenaed to attend Friday's hearing.
The board is recommending that cases be continued against two other former candidates for political office: Stephen Ortego, who ran unsuccessfully in October 2007 for District 39 state representative and Kelly Scott, an also-ran in the April 2009 election for District 24 state senator. Ortego faces a $780 fine while Scott's fine has yet to be determined but could also run as high at $10,000. In both cases the board cites a failure to notify Ortego and Kelly of the fines in a timely fashion in recommending the continuances.