Board Says Former La. Insurance Dept. Employees Took Jobs That Violated Ethics Law

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Two former Louisiana insurance department employees violated an ethics law that requires public servants to wait two years before entering into a financial relationship with their previous employers, according to a settlement approved by the Board of Ethics.

Kenneth “Jamie” Babineaux, a nephew of Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and Wendi Pounders were computer specialists at the state Department of Insurance until 2001. After resigning from the department, they were hired in separate contracts to work for Jet-Net Inc., the company that built and maintained the agency’s Web site, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Associated Press.

Pounders received $108,360 and Babineaux received $175,308 from Jet-Net to be subcontractors for the company, assisting with maintenance of the department’s Web site, for about 21/2 years.

The agreements were entered into the same year that the two left the Department of Insurance.

The ethics board recently voted 5-2 to accept the “consent opinions” worked out by the board staff with Pounders and Babineaux that fined them $5,000 each, but suspended half of that payment. Jet-Net also was ordered to pay a fine of $5,000, of which $2,500 was suspended.

In the consent opinions, Pounders and Babineaux say they did not deliberately violate the state ethics law. The Jet-Net opinion says that Michael Mayer, described as an agent of the company, thought he followed the law when hiring the two former state employees as subcontractors.

Blanco did not have any involvement in the board’s decision, spokeswoman Denise Bottcher said.

The potential problem with the Jet-Net subcontractors was first highlighted in an audit of the Department of Insurance in December 2002 by the state legislative auditor.