The Louisiana Ethics Board voted 6-4 Friday (Feb. 15) in favor of letting political candidates use their campaign funds to cover child care expenses during campaign events, reversing a previous decision the same board made late last year which some had criticized as sexist.
The board’s first child care decision was reconsidered at the request of Morgan Lamandre, a candidate for state representative in Baton Rouge, and the Louisiana Legislature’s Women’s Caucus. In November, the Ethics Board voted 5-2 that Lamandre could not use campaign funds to cover child care expenses during her campaign events. On Friday, it overturned that ruling.
Louisiana Ethics Board mum about campaign cash for child care decision coming Friday
The reversal comes after the board’s initial decision sparked public outcry and criticism from elected officials. A handful of attorneys and political scientists testified in support of Lamandre’s request Friday, saying that blocking candidates from using campaign funds for child care expenses would be an impediment to women running for public office.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, who selects ethics board members, urged the panel to change its mind after November’s meeting. Even Lamandre’s opponent in the statehouse race, Republican Rep. Rick Edmonds, said the ethics board made the right call in reversing itself Friday.
“Very happy about this ruling. This was necessary for the betterment of politics as a whole. We need to empower more people to run for office -- not make it harder,” Edmonds tweeted.
Comments board members made in November about Lamandre’s parenting duties had rubbed some elected officials the wrong way too. Ethics board member and former New Orleans State Rep. Peppi Bruneau had told Lamandre at it was her “primary responsibility” to provide for her children at the hearing a few months ago.
Critics also noted the ethics board had ruled in 2000 in favor of a man who had asked to use his campaign funds for child care. He and a handful of other men -- including U.S. Sen John Kennedy when he served as state treasurer -- have used their campaign money for child care while attending events over the years. The critics questioned why the ethics board wasn’t willing to extend Lamandre, a woman, the same flexibility.
Members of the ethics board balked at the suggestion that sexism played a role in their decision. They pointed out that no one on the current ethics board was serving when the child care issue had come up in 2000. It wasn’t the same group of people making the two decisions.
“I’m really getting tired of getting accused of being against females running for office,” said board member La Koshia Roberts, of Lake Charles, who opposed Lamandre’s request twice.
Roberts and other ethics board members said the issue wasn’t who was asking, but whether state law considered child care a “personal expense” that couldn’t be covered by campaign funds. Since the law is vague about what constitutes a legitimate campaign expense, it’s hard to make that call, they said.
"We are going to run into the same problem over and over again until the Legislature amends the law,” Roberts said.
Two New Orleans legislators have already said they intend to sponsor legislation that will specify that child care is a legitimate campaign expense. Sen. J.P. Morrell, one of the senators behind the effort, said he expected it would pass overwhelmingly.
The ethics board’s initial ruling still puzzles some folks who follow Louisiana campaign finance issues closely. What’s a legitimate campaign expense in Louisiana has been interpreted liberally over the years. Candidates are allowed to use campaign funds for community organization dues, meals, fuel, auction items, cell phones and flowers for constituents.
Then-Gov. Bobby Jindal used his state campaign account to cover much of his out-of-state travel to places such as Iowa and New Hampshire before he announced his failed presidential bid. Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, previously used his campaign funds to lease a luxury car. After that was publicized, Alario switched to leasing a Kia.
“Given the items the board has approved in the past as appropriate campaign expenses, including football tickets, it’s hard to understand how necessary childcare expenses associated with a female candidate running for office wouldn’t count as a permissible use of campaign funds," said Scott Schneider, the board’s former vice chairman who served during the Jindal administration, in December.
Not all elected officials were happy that the ethics board had reversed itself. State Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, said he believed the board had caved to political pressure, a troubling development from his perspective.
Lamandre may have been more successful Friday than she was in December because of changes she made to her request. She provided more specifics about when she would be using campaign funds for child care -- during door-to-door canvassing, debates and the like.
Board chairman Bob McAnelly had complained that Lamandre’s request in November had been too open-ended to approve. He said the child care ruling the board had made in 2000 was far more specific and therefore easier for the board to support. It had nothing to do with “male/female issues,” he said.
McAnelly shifted from a “no” vote for Lamandre in November to a “yes” vote after she provided more details Friday.
Joining McAnelly were John Meinert, of Baton Rouge, and Sarah Couvillon, of Alexandria. Both of them had voted in favor of Lamandre’s request in November as well.
Edward Dittmer, of Mandeville, also supported the request after being absent during the vote in November. Paul Harvey Colomb, of Lafayette, voted for Lamandre. He joined the board in December, and was not a member when Lamandre’s request came up last year.
Louis Leggio, of Baton Rouge, also voted “yes” on Lamandre’s request, after abstaining from the vote in November.
The four board members who voted against Lamandre -- Roberts, Bruneau, Liddell Smith of Shreveport and Jose Lavastida of New Orleans -- also had opposed her request in November.
Campaign money can’t be used for child care, Louisiana Ethics Board rules
