Could Franklinton's maintenance manager run for Washington Parish Council while keeping the town job?

Plain-English summary

In 2015, the Louisiana Attorney General concluded that Franklinton's maintenance manager was not prohibited from running for a Washington Parish Council seat. The Dual Officeholding Law applied to simultaneous holding, not candidacy alone. The AG also analyzed the hypothetical of holding the town job and parish seat together and found no applicable prohibition on the facts supplied.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did merely running for parish council trigger the dual-officeholding ban? A: No. The AG said the law applied when both public positions were held at the same time.

Q: What if the manager won and kept the town job?
A: On the facts given, the AG found no applicable dual-officeholding prohibition on those two roles.

Q: Did the opinion decide ethics-law restrictions?
A: No. It expressly limited its answer to the Dual Officeholding Law.

Background and statutory framework

The maintenance post was town employment, while a parish council seat would be an elective office in a different political subdivision. The AG said it did not decide separate Louisiana government-ethics restrictions and referred those questions to the State Board of Ethics.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 42:61.
• La. R.S. 42:64.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/15-0062

Original opinion text

ffiltate of 1liOUilliana
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. BOX 94005
BATON ROUGE
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
70804-9005
ATIORNEY GENERAL

July 28, 2015
OPINION 15-0062

Ms. Ellen M. Creel
78 Dual Officeholding

Attorney, Town of Franklin
La. R.S. 42:61 et seq.
981 Cleveland Street
The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law
Franklinton, LA 70438
do not prohibit the manager of the Maintenance Department for the
Town of Franklinton from running for councilman for the Washington Parish Council.

Dear Ms. Creel:

Our office received your request for an opinion regarding whether the manager of the Maintenance Department for the Town of Franklinton ("Town") is prohibited from running for councilman for the Washington Parish Council ("Council").

The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law, found at La. R.S.
42:61 et seq., govern questions concerning the ability to hold two or more public offices and/or positions simultaneously. As an initial matter, your request notes that the manager of the Maintenance Department is "running" for the office of councilman and therefore is not currently holding both positions at the same time. The Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law is applicable only when both public positions are held simultaneously. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. 14-0086.

However, in the interest of assisting you, we proceed with the analysis as "if both positions were simultaneously held by the same individual. Classifying the correct nature of the positions held is essential for the purposes of applying the dual officeholding provisions.

The Town, located in Washington Parish, operates under a Mayor and Board of Alderman form of government. 1 According to the information provided to this office, the position of manager for the Maintenance Department for the Town is a position of

I 1861 La. Acts No. 96, §1.

Page 2

OPINION 15-0062
Ms. Ellen M. Creel
Page 2

"employment"." The position of manager for the Maintenance Department for the Town is classified as "full time" employment for purposes of the dual officeholding laws.3

The Council is the legislative body of the Washington Parish government. The Council is comprised of one councilman from each of seven districts in Washington Parish. A councilman holds a "part time" "elective office" for the purposes of the dual officeholding laws."

The Town and the Council are considered separate political subdivisions of the state for the purposes of the dual officeholding laws."

The most applicable provision of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law is La. R.S. 42:63(0), which provides in pertinent part:

No person holding an elective office in a political subdivision of this state shall at the same time hold another elective office or full-time appointive office in the government of this state or in the government of a political subdivision thereof. No such person shall hold at the same time employment in the government of this state, or in the same political subdivision in which he holds an elective office....

La. R.S. 42:63(0) does not prohibit the simultaneous holding of an elected office and employment in different political subdivisions."

This office has consistently opined that the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law does not prohibit a local elected official from holding employment in a separate

2 "Employment" means any job compensated on a salary or per diem basis, other than an elective or appointive office, in which a person is an employee of the state government or of a political subdivision. La. R.S. 42:62(3). 3 "Full time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment and which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five hours per week of work. La. RS. 42:62(4). 4 "Part time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment which is less than the number of hours of work defined in this Section as full time. La. RS. 42:62(5). "Elective office" means any position which is established or authorized by the constitution or laws of this state or by the charter or ordinances of any political subdivision thereof, which is not a political party office, and which is filled by vote of the citizens for this state or of a political subdivision thereof. La. R.S. 42:62(1). 5 "Political subdivision" means a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. In addition for the purposes of this Part. mayor's courts, justice of the peace courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, clerks of court, coroners, tax assessors, registrars of voters, and all other elected parochial officials shall be separate political subdivisions. La. R.S. 42:62(9). 6 Based on the information provided to our office, none of the specific "incompatible office" prohibitions contained in La. RS. 42:64 are applicable to the factual scenario of your request.

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OPINION 15-0062
Ms. Ellen M. Creel
Page 3

political subdivision. See La. Atty. Gen. Op. Nos. 09-0126, 08-0032, 93-0201 and 92­ 0525.

Based on the applicable provisions of law, our prior opinions and the information you have provided, it is the opinion of this office that the provisions of the dual officeholding and dual employment laws do not prohibit the manager of the Maintenance Department for the Town of Franklinton from running for councilman for the Washington Parish Council.

Please note that our expressed opinion relative to state law is limited to an examination of the dual officeholding provisions. Further, it does not address the potential applicability of the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, La. R.S. 42:1111 et seq. Advisory rullnqs addressing questions under the Ethics Code are within the jurisdiction of the Louisiana State Board of Ethics. The Board may be contacted at the following address: P.O. Box 4368, Baton Rouge, LA 70821, phone: 225-219-5600.

We hope that this opinion adequately addresses the legal issues you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATIORNEY GENERAL

BY: 'l!)ack1.(/YU)
Madeline S. Carbonette eCQ./IJygJ~
Assistant Attorney General

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