Tag: Morgan Lamandre

Copyright 2018 CNN (CNN) - A Louisiana mom, running for office for the first time, thought about taking her kindergartner and her 1½-year-old along with her on the campaign trail. So, Morgan Lamandre asked the board that oversees election rules if she could use political donations to cover child care expenses that wouldn't exist if she weren't running. Candidates in other states, particularly mothers, have made similar bids this year and won. "Nobody forces you to run for public office. 'An important bridge to cross' Already, Lamandre's case has spurred a push among Louisiana lawmakers to write an allowance for child care expenses into state election law. The episode follows similar requests in at least six states from mothers hoping to use political contributions to hire sitters while they worked to get elected. "This is an important bridge to cross because women don't feel like the opportunity is there for them because they have a family, they have responsibilities. "When you still have people writing the rules that are of a different time, it's very hard for a 30-something mom who's choosing to seek public office while working full time and raising kids to do that," Agnew said. Brasted noted that the Louisiana Ethics Board's own staff attorney reminded members weighing Lamandre's appeal that the same panel in 2000 allowed a male lawmaker to pay for "childcare (babysitting) expenses ... from campaign funds since they are related to your campaign." "There's already certain opportunities for a certain class of people to be able to run for office that others wouldn't, so this gives the opportunity for two working parents to be able to run for office that wouldn't otherwise have the extra funds to be able to run for office," Lamandre told the Ethics Board.