Gov. Jeff Landry has again failed to disclose to the state Ethics Board a flight he took on a donor's private jet, even as a different case against him over a similar undisclosed flight remains pending.
On May 9, Landry went to Eagle Pass, Texas, to visit Louisiana troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border. He flew on a plane owned by Boysie Bollinger, an influential Republican business owner and top ally.
Under ethics board deadlines, Landry had 60 days — until July 8 — to report the flight. As of Friday morning, he had not filed a disclosure, according to a state database.
Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry, questioned the need for a published story on the matter. She also said the governor will file necessary paperwork once the Board of Ethics offers guidance on official travel.
“With everything going on right now in the state and in our country, it’s amazing what The Advocate deems as newsworthy,” Kelly said in a statement. “That being said, the governor intends to file whatever paperwork is necessary under the law, if any, once the Board of Ethics establishes guidance for permissible travel by constitutional officers of this state.”
Louisiana statute requires all public servants to disclose complimentary lodging, transportation and admission. Not all flights need to be disclosed, but those that are campaign-related or for official business do, Kathleen Allen, the state’s Ethics Administrator, has said.
Landry has previously run afoul of the Board of Ethics, which accused him of failing to disclose a donor flight he took to Hawaii in 2021.
In 2022, the board scolded him for spending $12,000 in campaign cash on a car note. It said the payment violated campaign finance laws but took no action against Landry.
Last fall, reporting by The Advocate | The Times-Picayune found he also had not disclosed other flights from top backers. After the paper asked about the trips, the Louisiana Republican Party began reporting some of the trips on campaign finance disclosures.
It is unclear whether those flights were for official or campaign business. The ethics board only rapped him for one. The governor was scheduled for an ethics board hearing on Thursday about that flight, but the meeting was postponed to Sept. 24 at 10 a.m., Allen said in an email.
The delay comes weeks before a new law takes effect that will give Landry more say over who sits on the board, and that may also make it more difficult for that board to meet.
Landry stumped for the law in the regular legislative session that ended in June. Currently, the board has 11 members. Of those, the governor appoints seven, but he must choose his appointees from a list that university leaders provide.
Senate Bill 497, effective Aug. 1, strips the role of university leaders in the process. It also increases the number of board members from 11 to 15, of which Landry will select nine.
Because it does not add the four new members until January, the new law could temporarily make it more difficult for the board to reach a quorum, which it needs to meet. The law increases the number of members required for a quorum to a majority of 15, or 8 of 11 existing members.
A higher threshold of 10 members, or two-thirds of the board, is needed to refer a matter to investigation, according to Allen.
The Louisiana Illuminator first reported the law’s possible impact on the board’s ability to conduct its business.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the board needs 10 members, not 11, to refer a matter to investigation.