Former state Sen. Bodi White quits as aide to Jeff Landry

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Former state Sen. Bodi White has quit as Gov. Jeff Landry’s legislative liaison after a staffer to Landry lied to him about financing for a bill and that in turn caused White to provide misinformation to a senator and former colleague, he said Tuesday.

“I can’t work with people who make me lie,” White said, referring to Lance Maxwell, Landry’s chief legislative liaison. White had been working for Maxwell since Landry became governor in January.

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White said the trouble in the Capitol began on Wednesday when he advised Sen. Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, that House Bill 114, which the governor wanted, carried a $336,000 cost. White said he wanted to make sure Womack knew this because Womack chairs the Senate Finance Committee and would need to make sure that it received funding.

HB 114 by Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur, would require an annual canvass of registered voters to ensure that everyone on the rolls is properly there. This bill is a priority for Landry after then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, his predecessor, vetoed a similar measure three times for fear that it would remove active voters from the rolls who simply hadn’t voted recently.

White said that Maxwell told him the House had provided the money for HB 114. But having served as chair of the Finance Committee for the past four years, White checked himself and found that the House hadn’t funded it.

He said he and Maxwell had a heated conversation, and then he quit.

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