2023-887 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ethics Board No. 2023-887 Page 5 of 8 (13) "Person" means any individual, partnership, limited liability company or corporation, association, labor union, political committee, corporation, or other legal entity, including their subsidiaries. 3. The following provisions proscribe the penalties that may assessed if a violation of the CFDA has occurred: §1505.2. Contributions; expenditures, certain prohibitions and limitations J.(1) Any candidate, treasurer, or chairman of a political committee who violates any provision of Subsection H or I of this Section shall be assessed a penalty of not more than five thousand dollars or the amount of the violation,whichever is greater, except that the penalty for a knowing and willful violation shall not be more than ten thousand dollars or two hundred percent of the violation, whichever is greater. "Knowing and willful", for purposes of this Subsection,means conduct which could have been avoided through the exercise of due diligence. The civil penalties provided for in R.S. 18:1505.5 shall be inapplicable to violations of Subsection H or I. Enforcement of Subsections H and I shall be in the same manner provided for in Part VI of this Chapter. V. OPINION: It is the opinion of the BOE that Holly Sanders, in her capacity as a candidate for the office of Lafayette Parish School Board Member, District 8, in the October 14, 2023 election, violated Section 1505.21(1)of the CFDA by virtue of expending campaign funds to pay her wholly-owned website design and social media management business, High Standards Business Solutions, for work she personally performed on her campaign. If this matter proceeded to a public hearing before the Ethics Adjudicatory Board("EAB"), and the EAB found a violation of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act, the EAB could impose a fine in accordance with Sections 1505.2) of the CFDA. In this particular situation, it is the conclusion of the BOE that the interest of the public would be served by, and the parties have