Ethics board fines Dow for giving state workers airplane ride

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dow Chemical Co. must pay a $2,500 fine for flying three employees of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System to Texas to look at a training program like one Dow wanted for its workers, the state Board of Ethics has ruled.

LCTC was considering a training program for Dow employees in Hammond like the program at a technical college in Lake Jackson, Texas.

“Dow was seeking to develop a partnership with the agency,” the board wrote in an opinion released Friday. It said Dow broke a state ethics law by providing the free flight.

In other action Friday, the board:

• Approved an agreement under which ex-Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission chief Roger Richard paid a $1,000 fine to settle a case involving his receipt of a perk from a port-related business. The business executive involved also paid a $1,000 fine.

• Fined Charles Martin $5,000 for bidding on property at a sheriff’s auction run by his brother, St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin Jr. Relatives cannot benefit from transactions under the control of their next-of-kin.

The Dow and Richard cases were worked out behind closed doors. The board did not discuss either in public.

Richard and Tom Lange, senior vice president of Associated Terminals, were fined because Richard and his wife stayed at a condo owned by Lange’s wife while Lange held a contract with the port.

Charles Martin said during an ethics board hearing that he represented a third party when in June 2004 he successfully bid on property the sheriff had seized for non-payment of taxes. Charles Martin said it was a routine, open auction “not tilted in favor of anyone.”

But ethics lawyer Alesia Ardoin said the law bans Martin from entering into the transaction because his brother was in charge of it. “The submission of the bid would be the violation,” Ardoin said.

Ardoin said Martin spoke to the ultimate property owner about a potential lease of the property prior to the sale. She said Martin now leases the property for $1,000 a month and made improvements to it.