Commission continues ethics inquiry on Masek
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Public Offices Commission will resume deliberations Thursday over accusations that state Rep. Beverly Masek improperly used money from campaign and legislative office accounts for personal expenses.
The commission deliberated Monday behind closed doors for more than two hours. Masek, R-Willow, is accused of using money from campaign and legislative office accounts for personal expenses such as buying home heating oil and repaying a truck loan.
The commission has 10 days from the hearing Monday to issue a decision.
Eric Musser, a former legislative aide for Masek, filed a complaint against her in May. Musser told the Anchorage Daily News he filed after noticing irregularities in Masek's year-end financial disclosure report in early 2003 and after she had refused to submit an amended report.
Staff investigators with APOC reviewed 10 of Musser's allegations and found justification for eight. They recommended that the commission levy a civil fine of $7,200. In all, the agency's staff says, Masek used her office account for more than $7,300 in personal expenses.
Masek denies the accusations. Elected in 1994, she lost in the primary election last week to political newcomer Mark Neuman.
In the open hearing, Masek's attorneys said that her record keeping may have been spotty on occasion but that she did nothing wrong. Any money in her personal office expense term account that was spent questionably was personal money she had deposited there and was free to use as she chose, said attorneys Phillip Eide and Jack Miller.