[StBernard] Louisiana Supreme Court orders St. Bernard Parish Judge Jacques Sanborn to pay $2, 400 for late disclosure filing

[Westley Annis]

Louisiana Supreme Court orders St. Bernard Parish Judge Jacques Sanborn to
pay $2,400 for late disclosure filing

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 5:21 PM     Updated: Tuesday,
November 30, 2010, 5:24 PM

 The Times-Picayune 

The Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered that St. Bernard Parish Judge
Jacques Sanborn pay a fine of $2,400 for failing to file his 2008 personal
financial disclosure form on time.

The Supreme Court handed down the ruling Tuesday.

The deadline for the 2008 disclosure statement, required for all elected
officials and other state administrators, was May 15, 2009. Because Sanborn
had filed for an extension of his federal income tax return he was also
allowed an extension for filing the disclosure statement. But he did not
file the disclosure form until Feb. 17, 2010, which was beyond the alloted
time, the Supreme Court found.

The Louisiana Judiciary Commission had recommended to the Supreme Court that
Sanborn be fined $2,400 -- $100 per day -- for the 24 days between the
deadline outlined in a delinquency notice sent to the judge and the time he
responded, in late January 2010.

A call to Sanborn's office in Chalmette Tuesday afternoon was not returned.

The Supreme Court, in its ruling, said Sanborn testified that he did not
respond in writing to the notices he had been sent by the Judicial
Administrator's Office about his delinquent disclosure form. He testified
that he instead had telephoned the judicial administrator's office regarding
another extension. However, the Surpreme Court said there is no written
record of any communication between Sanborn's office and Judicial
Administrator's Office.

The court said Sanborn's conduct was "undeniably negligent and frankly
inexcusable for an elected judge of this state,'' but that it nevertheless
did not find that he willfully and knowingly violated the rule for turning
his disclosure form in on time.

The Judiciary Commission had also recommended Sanborn pay $828 in costs, but
the Supreme Court opted not to make him pay the costs.

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