FERRIDAY – State Rep. Bryant Hammett said he takes care to keep his work as an engineer and as a lawmaker separate and does not solicit state funds for public projects on which he is working.

&uot;I&160;don’t do (engineering) work on any capital outlay projects, for instance, like the Vidalia riverfront project,&uot;&160;said Hammett (D-Ferriday), a Louisiana legislator for nine years. &uot;The&160;only work like that I’ve done was on the Vidalia Industrial Park project.&uot;

Hammett’s comments were made in response to a Friday (New Orleans) Times-Picayune article stating that in 1999 he received $719,958 in income from government agencies, the most of any state lawmaker.

According to House financial disclosure forms, that income included $319,760 from Concordia Waterworks District No. 1, $161,994 from the Department of Transportation and Development, $67,123 of Town of Vidalia and $64,817 Town of Clayton.

But Hammett said the only reason his income from the Waterworks District was so high was that, after more than seven years of planning, most of the work on the district’s improvement projects was done in 1999. &uot;That’s just how it happened to fall,&uot;&160;he said.

According to a 1995 opinion from the State Board of Ethics, Hammett’s work for state agencies is not against state law as long as the contracts are &uot;competitively negotiated through a request for proposal process.&uot;

And work on local projects, even those that receive state funds, does not violate state law because the contracts are not with state agencies, staff member Maris LeBlanc McCrory wrote for the board.

&uot;And I’m careful when I&160;work with a government agency on engineering projects that I&160;let them know I’m wearing my engineer’s hat, not by representative’s hat,&uot;&160;Hammett said, although he added that he believes his knowledge of government process makes him a better civil engineer.

He said he has only added one government agency to his list of clients since he took office – the Town of Urania in LaSalle Parish. &uot;So I’m not trying to solicit work from new entities,&uot;&160;he said.

Finally, Hammett said he takes exception to the idea that people who do business with government should not serve as lawmakers.

&uot;It would be very difficult to have someone in business who didn’t do business with government to some extent,&uot;&160;Hammett said.

&uot;If business people weren’t allowed to run, the only legislators would be independently wealthy or would be there because they needed the money,&uot;&160;he added. &uot;The guy in the middle wouldn’t be represented.&uot;