BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal will pay a $2,500 fine for violating the state's campaign finance disclosure laws, rather than wait for a public hearing before the state ethics board to determine if a violation occurred, his spokeswoman said Thursday.

Alex Brandon / Associated Press

Bobby Jindal.

The Louisiana Board of Ethics was looking into whether to fine Jindal for late disclosure of more than $118,000 in campaign aid he received from the state Republican Party when he was running for governor last year.

The board had scheduled a public hearing on the matter for July 10.

But Melissa Sellers, the governor's press secretary, said Jindal intends to pay the fine rather than dispute it in July.

"We're going to pay the fine and move on, move forward," she said.

The issue comes only weeks before Jindal calls lawmakers to the state Capitol for a special legislative session on ethics reform. The governor campaigned on a platform of transparency in government.

Jindal amended his campaign finance report in September after an ethics complaint claimed the Republican candidate should have reported direct mail sent on his behalf by the state GOP as an "in-kind" contribution to his campaign.

Sellers said the governor amended his report "out of an abundance of caution," though his campaign lawyers said the matter wasn't a violation of the state's campaign finance laws.

The complaint with the ethics board was filed in August by Chris Stow-Serge, a past president of the Tulane University College Democrats.

It involved six expenditures by the state Republican Party in June on behalf of the Jindal campaign to a Florida firm that does direct mail pieces. The more than $118,000 in spending was reported by the state GOP in its campaign finance report for the spending period, but didn't show up as a contribution on Jindal's campaign finance forms for the same reporting period.

"In-kind" contributions can be anything of value, like food, meeting space and other items provided to a candidate beyond a direct cash contribution.

Jindal's Baton Rouge-based campaign accountant, William Potter, said the campaign finance filing error was his fault. But he said he amended Jindal's campaign finance reports when the issue was raised.

"The problem with in-kind contributions is they don't run through your checking account. I missed this one. So, as soon as I found out, I filed an amended report," Potter said.

Potter said he received a registered letter Wednesday notifying the campaign of the ethics charge against Jindal. The charge was first reported Thursday by The Advocate newspaper of Baton Rouge.

It was unclear when the fine would be paid to the ethics board office. Sellers said the governor's chief of staff has instructed Potter to pay the fine as quickly as possible.

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