Nov 2

2018

Missing Maziarz funds remain a mystery

The office of Sen. George Maziarz did such a poor job tracking spending from his campaign account that it’s impossible to know exactly what became of up to $350,000, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Thursday in explaining why he isn’t pressing charges against anyone who handled the money.

Maziarz, who did not seek re-election in 2014 after being charged with unrelated campaign finance law violations, had accused his campaign treasurer, chief of staff and office manager of stealing the funds for their personal use.

The state Board of Elections first looked into the matter and found the campaign’s financial records in disarray, Flynn said.

“The state Board of Elections definitely said there were some shenanigans going on,” he said.

The district attorney said his office’s investigation came to the same conclusion.

“The bookkeeping, the record keeping, the overall supervision of funds was pathetic,” Flynn said.

“There’s definitely some smoke here, and usually when there’s smoke there’s fire. But I can’t prove the fire beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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