Anzelmo v. LOUISIANA COM'N ON ETHICS FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

435 So. 2d 1082, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8825
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 28, 1983
Docket82 CA 0924
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 435 So. 2d 1082 (Anzelmo v. LOUISIANA COM'N ON ETHICS FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anzelmo v. LOUISIANA COM'N ON ETHICS FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, 435 So. 2d 1082, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8825 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

435 So.2d 1082 (1983)

Thomas P. ANZELMO, Sr., et al.
v.
LOUISIANA COMMISSION ON ETHICS FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, et al.

No. 82 CA 0924.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 28, 1983.
Rehearing Denied August 23, 1983.

*1083 David A. Marcello, New Orleans, for plaintiffs-appellants Thomas P. Anzelmo, Sr., et al.

R. Gray Sexton, Louisiana Com'n on Ethics for Public Employees, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellee Louisiana Com'n on Ethics for Public Employees.

Before COVINGTON, LANIER and ALFORD, JJ.

ALFORD, Judge.

This is an appeal of rulings by the Louisiana Commission on Ethics for Public Employees and the district court that the Commission has jurisdiction over Thomas P. Anzelmo, Sr. and Donald Anzelmo, who challenged the jurisdiction of the Commission after being charged with violations of Sections 1113(A), 1114(A) and 1119(A) of the *1084 Code of Governmental Ethics, La.R.S. 42:1101 et seq.

These charges are based on the fact that the professional law corporation which employs the Anzelmo brothers, McGlinchey, Stafford, Mintz and Cellini, represents the City of New Orleans on a contractual basis, and the Anzelmos' father, Salvador Anzelmo, is the City Attorney for New Orleans and head of the City's Law Department. The alleged violations are of the following provisions.

No public servant, excluding any legislator and any appointed member of any board or commission, member of such public servant's immediate family, or legal entity in which he has a controlling interest shall bid on or enter into any contract, subcontract, or other transaction which is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.

La.R.S. 42:1113(A).

Other than a legislator, each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives any thing of economic value directly, through any transaction involving the agency of such public servant or who derives any thing of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through a person which (1) is regulated by the agency of such public servant, or (2) has bid on or entered into or is in any way financially interested in any contract, subcontract, or any transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant shall disclose the following....

La.R.S. 42:1114(A).

No member of the immediate family of an agency head shall be employed in his agency.

La.R.S. 42:1119(A).

A public hearing on this matter was scheduled for September 17, 1982. At this time the Anzelmo brothers' petition for a temporary restraining order based on the Commission's lack of jurisdiction was denied and hearing began with arguments concerning the question of the Commission's jurisdiction. After considering the various arguments, the Commission found that the exercise of jurisdiction over the Anzelmo brothers as persons other than public employees under La.R.S. 42:1101 et seq. was proper. After considering other preliminary matters, the Commission then continued the hearing until October 22. The Anzelmos requested a preliminary injunction, which was denied by the district court, and a stay of further proceedings pending disposition on appeal, which was granted by the district court. Subsequently this appeal was filed and oral arguments were heard.

JURISDICTION OVER OTHER PERSONS

Appellants contend that the trial court erred in finding that the Commission has jurisdiction over persons other than public employees and raise several arguments in support of their contention. They first argue that the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 requires the legislature to enact a code of ethics that will apply only to public servants, as evidenced by Article 10, Section 21 of the 1974 Constitution, as well as the Constitutional Debates.

We find, however, that such was not the purpose of the constitutional mandate. Article 10 Section 21 of the 1974 Constitution provides:

The legislature shall enact a code of ethics for all officials and employees of the state and its political subdivisions.

There is no language in this Article which forbids the promulgation of a code of ethics that is applicable to persons other than public servants. "The Legislature is supreme except when restricted by the Constitution; it may do everything that the Constitution does not prohibit." Kane v. Louisiana Commission on Governmental Ethics, 250 La. 855, 199 So.2d 900, 903 (1967). Therefore, since the Constitution does not prohibit the legislature from enacting a Code which regulates the conduct of persons other than public servants, the inclusion of other persons in the Code is constitutional. Furthermore, the purpose of *1085 such a code, as discussed in the Constitutional Debates, is to establish ethical standards for public servants and to protect against conflicts of interest. The concern expressed in the debates over whether the Code should include local public officials and employees or be limited in its application to state public officials and employees dealt with problems of interference with home rule, not a desire to formulate a very narrow Code of Ethics. Vol. VII, Records of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1974: Convention Transcripts, p. 1280. Additionally, it was stated that the details of the Code would be left up to the legislature. Id., at 1276, 1284 and 1290. It must be presumed that since the Article did not prohibit the legislature from including other persons in the ambit of the Code, the legislature can constitutionally include such persons in the Code.

The appellants' second argument is that the jurisdictional section of the Code[1] strictly limits the jurisdiction of the Code to public employees, as there is no reference to any persons other than public employees in this Section. This argument must be rejected, however, because such a limited construction of this Section would render the Code inapplicable not only to persons other than public employees, such as the Anzelmo brothers, but also to elected officials, as they, too, were not referred to in this Section. The provisions of the Code should be construed so as to effectuate legislative intent whenever possible. See Louisiana Independent Auto Dealers Association v. State, 295 So.2d 796, 802 (La.1974). The section in question enables the Commission to administer and enforce the provisions of the Code. Read as a whole, it provides for the regulation of the conduct of not only public employees, but also that of elected officials and persons other than public servants. If the intention was anything less, the legislature would not have included sections in the Code that deal with persons other than public servants, or more particularly, members of a public servant's immediate family.

A law must be construed as a whole. Every part of a Statute must be given effect where such a result can be reasonably achieved. It cannot be presumed that the Legislature enacted meaningless clauses and phrases. [citation omitted]

Groves v. Board of Trustees of Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana, 324 So.2d 587, 594 (La.App. 1st Cir.1975), writ denied, 326 So.2d 378, 380 (La.1976).

The policy of the Code, which indicates legislative intent, was declared as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
435 So. 2d 1082, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 8825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anzelmo-v-louisiana-comn-on-ethics-for-public-employees-lactapp-1983.