By Pat Culverhouse
District A Minden City Councilman Carlton “Buddy” Myles has been disqualified from taking his seat when the 2027 version of the city council takes its oath.
Myles, who was unopposed after filings closed earlier this month, was declared ineligible this week by the state’s Board of Ethics (BOE), which claimed he owed outstanding fines at the time he qualified for office.
A lawsuit filed in 26th Judicial District Court by the Board Friday claims Myles owed a fine of $500 when he filed on Aug. 7.
According to the suit, Myles was fined for “…his failure to timely file his required 2025 supplemental campaign finance disclosure reports arising our of his candidacy in the October 12, 2019 election.”
Louisiana R.S. 18:492(A)(5) provides an action objecting to the candidacy of a person who qualified as a candidate “shall be based on the grounds that the defendant falsely certified on his notice of candidacy that he does not owe any outstanding fines, fees or penalties pursuant to the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act.”
Myles said Tuesday the result of his disqualification was “honestly, an oversight on my end. It is nothing out of the ordinary. I was simply moving a little too fast in other things I’m trying to accomplish.”
Myles said he is heavily involved in business and volunteer work and failure to take care of the imposed fines was a result of his focus on those things.
He said all of the fines imposed by the BOE have been settled. In its lawsuit, the BOE acknowledged Myles paid the remaining outstanding $500 late fee on Aug. 10, three days after the filing deadline. On Aug. 11, the BOE sent Myles a letter confirming the payment.
Myles’ term of office ends Dec. 31 and the new city council will have 20 days to appoint a replacement until a special election can be called to fill the four-year term. Technically, the new council could appoint Myles since the fines have been paid.
Myles said he will be able to qualify as a candidate for the Dist. A seat if a special election is called to fill the vacancy. A March date reportedly would be the earliest such an election could be scheduled.
It’s a lesson learned, and it’s a lesson for any other potential political candidate, Myles said.
“It is a lesson for me and all other candidates, and I’ll just pick up the lesson God’s trying to teach us and move on,” he said. “I don’t even call it unfortunate. It is what it is. We’re on the other side of it now and we’ll move on.”
(Bonnie Culverhouse contributed to this story.)