Lafayette City Marshal candidate Brian Pope was supposed to have filed his personal financial disclosure documents with the Louisiana Ethics Administration three days after qualifying. Over two months have passed, and Pope has still not submitted his paperwork.
State law requires candidates for public office submit their financial disclosure documents three days after qualifying ends — including their prior year’s salary, their spouse’s salary, investments, properties owned and whether they hold any positions with a nonprofit group. Qualifying for the city marshal’s race ended Aug. 22.
According to this report from The Daily Advertiser, Kathleen Allen, an administrator with the ethics administration, says Pope was first notified of the delinquency by certified mail sent Sept. 15. That notice was returned Oct. 27 unclaimed. A second attempt was made Oct. 31, when Louisiana State Police delivered a subpoena to Pope notifying him that he had until Nov. 21 to file.
Still, Pope did not comply.
Though Pope’s delinquent status won’t disqualify him from the Dec. 6 runoff against Kip Judice, it will result in fines — $100 per day up to $2,500 — and “further enforcement action” could be taken by the ethics administration, according to Allen.
“I might have missed that,” Pope tells The Advertiser, saying he thought the notice was for his campaign finance reports, which the candidate has submitted.
For Pope, who is still listed on the ethics administration web site as a delinquent filer, this isn’t his first time not following the rules, as seen with a district court ruling earlier this year forcing him to pay close to $7,000 in child support he owed to his ex-wife. (Read more on that story here.)