Louisiana has a long and colorful history of government corruption, which has left us with a state brand associated with a lack of integrity and transparency in government - despite meaningful progress in recent years. Business executives nationwide suggest this brand image is a significant obstacle to economic development here.

Our national image could take decades to improve if we make only incremental progress in this area. However, with a broad and activist coalition and an aggressive reform effort, we can make dramatic improvements and our state could become a national model for governmental ethics laws and enforcement in 2-3 years.

Success with this effort would not only improve enforcement of ethics laws and cause Louisiana to become known for honest, transparent, and accountable government, but would also move us to the top of national, independent, third-party evaluations of state ethics laws. Success would also enable us to vigorously counter negative historical assumptions held by some business prospects.