Arrowhead CU To Pay Fine For ContributionReporting Errors

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - (08/29/05) Arrowhead Credit Union is being finedafter it failed to report 124 campaign contributions for a total of$104,441.50 it made between January 2000 and June 2004. PeteAguilar, Arrowhead's vice president and director of governmentalrelations, told The Credit Union Journal some contributions duringthe time period were reported, but others were not. He said the CUdiscovered the discrepancy in January and immediately reported itto the California Fair Political Practices Commission. “Oncewe found the problem, we fixed it,” Aguilar said.“We're going to put it behind us and move on.” BecauseArrowhead self-reported its failure and demonstrated it was takingsteps to correct its internal processes, the CU was allowed toenter the FPPC's Streamlined Enforcement Program, Aguilarexplained. According to documents on the FPPC's website, ArrowheadCU will be fined $3,444.41 at the commission's Sept. 1 meeting. TheCU said in a statement it has taken two “importantsteps” to ensure no future reporting errors: it created a newcompliance manager position to coordinate compliance with campaignfinance laws and other financial institution reportingrequirements, and it issued an internal operations policy manualoutlining the campaign contribution reporting process as requiredby the FPPC and how the process will be followed.