INDReporter

Ethics board delays action on late fees

by Walter Pierce

Hearings to be reset for CPC member Bertrand and former District 40 candidate Soileau.

The Louisiana Ethics Administration has delayed action on obtaining orders for payment of late fees against Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand as well as state representative candidate Anthony Soileau. In both cases, the board ruled that neither candidate had been properly served with notification of the hearing.

According to Ethics Board documents, Bertrand is on the hook for $400 for failing to file a campaign finance disclosure report on time last year. He had until Nov. 5, 2009 to pay the late fee. Last July, Bertrand requested a "good cause" waiver of the fee, which the board in September 2009 declined to grant.

Soileau owes the state $240 for being four days late filing a campaign finance report last year. Soileau was one of 10 candidates in the Aug. 1, 2009 primary for the District 40 seat. A second candidate in that race, Quincy Richard Sr., paid the board $600 on Feb. 24 to settle a late fee in connection with the election, which was won in an Aug. 29, 2009 runoff by Ledrika Johnson Thierry over Anna Simmons.