§ 23-17. Political activities of parish employees.

(a)

Any person employed in the service of the parish is hereby prohibited from engaging in any activity of a political nature.

(b)

No employee in the service of the parish shall pay or promise to pay any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political purpose, or solicit any assessment, subscription or contribution from any political purpose, or solicit any assessment, subscription or contribution from any parish employee, including but not limited to the selling and/or subscribing to political fund raising cocktail parties, suppers and dinners and/or testimonials.

(c)

No person shall give, render, pay, offer, solicit or accept any money, service or other valuable consideration for any appointment, proposed appointment, promotion or proposed promotion to, or any advantage in a position in the unclassified service of the parish.

(d)

No employee in the service of the parish shall be an officer or member of any national, state or local committee of a political party, factional political club or organization, candidate for nomination or election to any public office.

(e)

No employee in the service of the parish shall make any political speech or political statement on behalf of any candidate, faction or party, as a part of any campaign for the nomination or election of public officers, or shall take part in the management or affairs of such groups, except to exercise his right as a citizen to express his opinion privately, to cast his vote for whom he pleases, and to serve as a commissioner or an official watcher at the polls in any election.

(f)

Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be reported to the ethics board, whose duty it shall be to make a thorough investigation concerning the alleged violations.

(g)

It shall be the duty of any employee or parish official who knows of any activity in violation of this section to report the violation to the ethics board.

(h)

It shall be unlawful for any employee or any elected parish official to knowingly participate in violation of provisions of this section, and such action may be punishable by the maximum penalty allowed by law.

(i)

None of the prohibitions in this section shall apply to the parish president or his administrative assistants, members of the council or their administrative assistants, other elected officials, members of advisory boards or other unpaid bodies who are not parish employees, or to organizations who are engaged by the parish on a contractual basis rather than as employees; provided, however, that no such person shall knowingly participate in the violation of any of the provisions of this section by any employee of the parish to whom these prohibitions apply.

(Code 1961, § 13-6; Ord. No. 16397, § 1, 4-10-85; Ord. No. 24011, § 3, 5-11-11)

State Law reference— Prohibitions against political activities,, Const. 1974, Art. 10, § 9; advisory opinions on political activity, R.S. 42:1382.

Note— Formerly § 23-2.