| Advisory Opinion request regarding the Touro Bouligny Security District (TBSD) contracting with a company that may be represented by a law firm that employs the husband of the Chairman of the security district. |
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Ms. Guichet is the current Chairman of the Touro
Bouligny Security District ("TBSD") Board. She was first appointed to the TBSD
Board in 2019 by State Representative Mandie Landry and elected Chair in May of
2022. Her husband, Joseph Guichet, is an attorney and shareholder with the law
firm Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin, and Hubbard, and owns about 10% ownership interest. Ms. Guichet and her husband do not have a community property agreement. Ms. Guichet's husband's firm handles insurance
coverage cases for a number of insurance companies, including Travelers. The
TBSD Board has been attempting to secure a Directors and Officers ("D&O")
insurance policy, as well as an Employees Practices and Liability Insurance
("EPLI") policy since June 1, 2022. Prior to Ms. Guichet joining the board, the TBSD board
was insured by Travelers for general liability. Gallager Insurance was the
brokerage agency that secured this policy that was allowed to lapse in 2019.
The TBSD Board has attempted using
Gallager to secure insurance through companies that have no relationship with her husband's law firm. Fourteen agencies have declined to provide coverage. One
offered coverage at over $10,000 per year and another at over $9,000 per year.
When the TBSD last had insurance coverage with Travelers in 2019, the cost was
$1,098.00 for annual coverage.
Ms. Guichet asks whether it is an ethical conflict for
TBSD to secure insurance through Travelers or another company that her husband
may represent now or in the future.
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La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) provides that no public servant and no
legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest
in excess of twenty-five percent, shall receive anything of economic value for
or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any
person during his public service unless such services are:
(d) Neither
performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would
be prohibited by R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B) from receiving a gift.
La. R.S. 42:1115(A)(1)
provides that no public servant shall solicit or accept, directly or
indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person
or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public
servant knows or reasonably should know that such person:
(1)
Has or is seeking to
obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public
servant's agency.
La. R.S. 42:1115(B)
provides that no public employee shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly,
anything of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any
officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public employee
knows or reasonably should know that such person:
(1) Conducts
operations or activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency.
(2) Has
substantial economic interests which may be substantially affected by the
performance or nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
La. R.S. 42:1114A
provides that other than a legislator, each public servant and each member of
his immediate family who derives any thing of economic value, directly, through
any transaction involving the agency of such public servant or who derives any
thing of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through
a person which (1) is regulated by the agency of such public servant, or (2)
has bid on or entered into or is in any way financially interested in any
contract, subcontract, or any transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction
of the agency of such public servant shall disclose the following:
(1) The amount of
income or value of any thing of economic value derived;
(2) The nature of
the business activity;
(3) Name and
address, and relationship to the public servant, if applicable; and
(4) The name and
business address of the legal entity, if applicable.
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Adopt the proposed Advisory Opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Mallory Guillot |
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