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| Councilman Brandon Shelvin |
[Update: SB 195 passed the full Senate unanimously and has been assigned to the House & Governmental Affairs Committee.]
Among the roughly three dozen bills the state Senate will consider when it convenes at 4 p.m. Tuesday is a proposal by state Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport, that could have implications for Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Brandon Shelvin, assuming he seeks re-election this fall.
Jackson’s Senate Bill 195, if passed into law, would require that a person running for office in Louisiana cannot qualify to run until all outstanding fines levied by the Louisiana Ethics Board are paid in full. Among the many hundreds of people on the board’s website identified as owing collectively hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines is Shelvin, who, according to the board, was fined $2,000 in 2007 in connection with his successful bid for the District 3 council seat but has only ponied up $100 toward settling his debt; Shelvin still owes the board — and by extension Louisiana taxpayers — $1,900. The councilman was fined, according to the website, for failing to file a supplemental campaign finance report.
Shelvin’s financial woes have been well chronicled by this newspaper over the last couple of years. He has been the target of numerous lawsuits, typically for defaulting on bank loans. Read more about that here, here and here.
SB 195 has already cleared the Senate & Governmental Affairs Committee. If the full Senate approves it, the bill would then move to the House.
Also listed on the Ethics Board’s website as owing fines for filing campaign finance reports late are Marcus Allen and Chris Obafunwa; both were primary election candidates in the 2003 election for Lafayette city-parish president — an election Joey Durel won in a runoff. According the board, Allen owes $4,240; Obafunwa is on the hook for $1,800. Neither has made any payments to the board to resolve the debt.
The fines levied against Shelvin, Obafunwa and Allen pale in comparison to many other candidates, notably former Orleans Parish School Board member and perpetual office seeker Jimmy Fahrenholtz, who owes more than $31,000 in fines. JoAnn Gines, a Shreveport attorney and former unsuccessful candidate for district judge, owes more than $23,000 dating all the way back to 1994.
JUNE 16 This story in the Advocate tells us that the state Department of Education is taking a look at the Course Choice program. They're doing that because the legislature (probably responding to reporting by Tom Aswell, who does not work for the Advocate) ordered them to make sure that these private companies aren't signing six-year-olds up for high school Latin classes without their parents' knowledge or consent.
JUNE 17 Columnist James Gill writes about the recent complaint of death row inmates at Angola: it's hot as you-know-what in their cells, with the heat index topping 120 for months. Since we're not executing people anymore (Gill opines) then we should probably officially end the practice of putting people on death row. The prisoners, by the way, are not asking for cool breezes: they only ask for clean water and a temp that doesn't top 88.
JUNE 17 Here's blogger Ian McGibboney's take on the Baton Rouge plan to give bus tickets to homeless people who have a home with family who live far away. Taken from one point of view, it could be a good solution for some people. But McGibboney raises some good points here, including this one: Why not improve opportunities for everybody in Baton Rouge so these people can find the jobs they came to BR for?
JUNE 17 Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry talks here about the Zimmerman trial, but the real topic is the concept of a black man being more dangerous, somehow, than a white man in a fight. It is an interesting discussion, and one that may enlighten people who think that racism doesn't exist because nobody's keeping black folks from eating at the Woolworth lunch counter.
JUNE 17 Here's an interesting column from Baton Rouge Business Report's publisher, Rolfe McCollister, about anger against the government. It's brewing because of recent revelations about the IRS and the GSA, he says. It's readable, not just for the subject, but because of McCollister's collection of sources: Huffington Post, National Review and Wikipedia. That's a combo you don't see every day.
JUNE 17 In this American Press post, Jim Beam talks about the high school diploma track that lets kids who aren't interested in university get what they want and need out of high school. The diplomas get kids ready for technical school, Beam explains, and then he goes on to give some of the numbers. Some of these numbers might really surprise people who think technical school is second best. And, Beam adds, a college diploma does not guarantee anybody a job.
JUNE 17 The Washington Post reports here that OSHA is going to investigate the explosion that occurred last week in Donaldsonville, shortly after the other fatal accident in Geismar. As soon as the site is safe, State Police will be pulling out of the Donaldsonville plant to make way for OSHA investigators, the story reports. (Hey, here's an idea: why don't they go a couple miles down the road and figure out what happened when that massive sinkhole started sucking up land.)
JUNE 17 Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board of Supervisors in this post, taking a look at the many ways board members have served Gov. Jindal and not their university or their students. The board members are esteemed members of their fields, but can't seem to do anything but say "yes" to Jindal, regardless of the cost to LSU, Mann opines.
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