| Appearance in connection with an advisory opinion request regarding whether a candidate may add a proviso on a report that states that the report is accurate to the best knowledge of the candidate. |
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Thomas Robichaux states that he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Louisiana House of Representatives, District 93, in the special election held May 1, 2010. After the election ended, he closed down and cleaned up the campaign headquarters. After the clean-up, he discovered that the two manila envelopes holding all receipts and copies of all donation checks were missing. He spent the next year or more searching every box, bag, container and storage unit where he believed that the documents may possibly be found, to no avail. He concluded that the envelopes in question had been thrown away in the trash. Because of this, He has been unable to complete the campaign finance disclosure forms required by law.
He has been working with his bank to re- create the account transactions through bank statements and copies of checks. However, this will still be an incomplete picture of the campaign, as all cash receipts are missing and checks that were deposited from donors may or may not be available by photocopy. Considering that a campaign finance report is an affidavit signed under penalty of perjury, as an attorney he believes he cannot sign the affidavit, as it is knowingly incomplete.
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R.S. 18:1495.4 provides that the candidate and his campaign treasurer, if any, shall be responsible for filing a report of all information required in this Section and R.S. 18:1495.5 with the supervisory committee at the times required in this Section. The candidate and his campaign treasurer, if any, shall certify, in each report, that the information contained in the report is true and correct to the best of their knowledge, information and belief, that no expenditures have been made and no contributions have been received that are not reported therein, and that no information required by this Part has been deliberately omitted.
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Adopt the advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Aneatra Boykin |
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