Terms Of Disparagement

The Louisiana Disciplinary Board proposes a one-year suspension for a campaign conviction

At Respondent’s guilty plea, Respondent voluntarily elocuted to providing $1760 to an individual, identified as Paul Camacho, for the purpose of printing and distributing a campaign “flyer” anonymously disparaging Respondent’s election opponent, Theodore, “Trey” Haik, III. Because state law requires that the person(s) publishing election materials must disclose their identity on the advertisement, in an effort to conceal Respondent’s connection to the campaign material, Respondent enlisted Mr. Camacho as an intermediary and provided him with the flyer and necessary cash with instructions to print and distribute the flyer, which he later did. The flyer which Respondent provided to Mr. Camacho does not identify Respondent as the author or source of the material as required by law.

Sanction

Respondent’s misconduct here is similar to that of Mr. Richmond in that he violated campaign rules, in this case rules for disclosing the names of the publishers of advertisements and for reporting the expense of the advertisement in question, and then provided false statements about same in later investigations. However, as in Ms. King’s case, Respondent’s conduct was both knowing and intentional. Respondent also plead guilty to a misdemeanor criminal offense as did Ms. King. Additionally, Respondent here attempted to convince a third party to sign a false affidavit which he intended to submit in connection with the ODC investigation. In so doing, he also deceived his own attorneys in connection with the information sought to be included in the affidavit. Considering the circumstances presented and the jurisprudence discussed above, the Board recommends that Respondent be suspended for one year.

(Mike Frisch)