AG Landry Says Conflict of Interest Charges are ‘Attack Against Conservatives’

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry says conflict of interest accusations regarding his position on the board of an oil services company are nothing more than a media "attack against conservatives."

Landry, in his annual personal annual financial disclosure revealed that he he earned between $50,000 and $100,000 as an independent board member for oil services company Harvey Gulf. The company, is owned by Landry friend and contributor Shane Guidry, The revelation of Landry's position on the board has provoked claims of conflict of interest by the AG's critics, something he denies.

"Everything we do is transparent. It's above board," says Landry, "This is basically a board seat that...I worked for this company way back when as a lawyer and (Guidry) came to me and had an opportunity and said, 'I could use some help in this particular area,' I've been involved with businesses and we disclose all of those according to the law in our financial disclosures. It's really about nothing."

And further explanation from Community Energy Services website:

"Landry...joined the board in 2019, Guidry said (that) Landry’s job is a few hours a month...and is primarily aimed at helping the company avoid violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal anti-corruption law. Landry has remained on Harvey Gulf’s board of directors after (the board) went down from seven to five members this month amid a recapitalization."

And Landry emphasizes that the position on the board violates none of the state's conflict of interest rules. "The only thing that the Attorney general is not allowed to do is to actually practice law outside of his job and that's not what I'm doing."

And Landry adds that there are political motivations to the accusations. "This is a game the media down in Baton Rouge (plays) to try to discredit the great work that we do. The liberal media hates conservatives like myself. I think this is part of the bigger national media narrative is just to beat down conservatives. They can't beat us on the issues so they attack us personally."