WAILUKU - More than eight months after state officials warned that he could face high fines for failing to file any campaign finance reports for the 2010 election cycle, former Maui County Council Member Bill Medeiros still has not filed the reports.
Medeiros, who now works as an executive assistant to Mayor Alan Arakawa, said Tuesday that he hadn't filed the reports because money had apparently been lost or stolen from his campaign account last year. He said Campaign Spending Commission officials were aware of the issue.
"I don't know if it was stolen or lost, but our campaign files - we couldn't find everything," he said. "We've been working with the bank to try and get back records on it."
Article Photos
Medeiros
Medeiros is facing a complaint by the commission over his failure to file four required campaign finance reports in 2009 and 2010, as well as a supplemental report in 2011. His case is scheduled to be heard by the Campaign Spending Commission at a meeting today in Honolulu.
Gary Kam, general counsel for the Campaign Spending Commission, said he has had "some discussions" with Medeiros about the issue, and was aware of the situation.
It's not the first time Medeiros has been cited by the commission.
Three years ago, he agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for failing to file eight campaign spending reports for the 2008 election cycle, some of which were more than 600 days overdue.
In 2010, Medeiros narrowly lost his East Maui residency seat on the Maui County Council to Council Member Bob Carroll.
Maui police Lt. Wayne Ibarra said Medeiros filed a police report two months ago reporting a theft that occurred between April 2009 and March 2010.
Asked why he waited so long to file the police report, Medeiros said he had filed one earlier, but it had apparently been lost.
"The person that I filed it with didn't have a record of it, so I had to refile," he said.
Ibarra said he couldn't confirm whether an earlier report had been filed.
County spokesman Rod Antone said the Mayor's Office was aware of Medeiros' situation and has been in contact with the Campaign Spending Commission about it.
"Bill has promised to resolve this, and we would like to give him the chance to do so," Antone said.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.
