State ethics charges against a Baton Rouge lawmaker have been brought erroneously and should be thrown out, the legislator’s attorney argued Friday.
The charges against state Rep. Michael Jackson and his law firm were filed too late, lawyer Charles Patin said. In addition, there is no legal foundation for the bringing of one of the charges. “There can be no valid complaint at the end of the process,” Patin told a three-member ethics adjudicatory panel.
Jackson, No Party, is facing ethics charges related to legal work his law firm did for the state’s insurer of last resort — the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The Louisiana Board of Ethics alleges that Jackson failed to timely disclose $46,929 in income from Citizens when he filed a 2006 personal financial disclosure report.
