by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Candidate Raymond Mundo initially withdrew his candidacy as mayor of Mangilao, stemming from a misdemeanor committed over 15 years ago. But less than 24 hours later, Mundo rescinded his withdrawal, hoping to move forward with his campaign.

"Last night Mr. Mundo had informed the commission that he was going to withdraw his candidacy for mayor of Mangilao," noted Maria Pangelinan, executive director of the Guam Election Commission, "and then this morning he came in and dropped off a letter saying he's rescinding his withdraw." On Friday, Mundo had submitted documents from the federal court noting that he was convicted of a misdemeanor. The documents were sent to the GEC's legal counsel, which after review determined Mundo's crime, although small, would in result in a disqualification in running for public office finding the crime one of moral turpitude.

Mundo attended last night's GEC board meeting to discuss the matter. "And he wanted to minimize the trouble that the family could go through, and he immediately wanted to close the case hence he was convicted of the misdemeanor," Pangelinan said.

According to documents, Mundo's withdraw stemmed from a 1995 misdemeanor offense of theft of government property involving the misuse of an access card belonging to the U.S Coast Guard, which was used to make long-distance telephone calls worth $148. "They gave me probation time for one year and I did 40 hours of community service. but I was never behind bars," said Mundo.

He contends he didn't know the phone card belonged to the Coast Guard. The GEC only requires candidates to include local police clearance and a clearance from the Superior Court of Guam. The misdemeanor was under the federal court.

"Like the other mayors who are running, they got criminal records," Mundo said. "That's the only thing I have, a slap in the wrist because what I did."

Mundo says he withdrew his candidacy only after hearing the Commission's legal opinion, adding, "They should at least give me the benefit of the doubt to run but they said I have to step down, so I was kind of under pressure and I wasn't in the right mind at that moment."

During last night's meeting, the board made it known that Mundo could run again should he get his conviction expunged which would take a presidential pardon to remove it from Mundo's record. Mundo has since made met Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo's office, seeking advice and is even trying to get in contact with President Barack Obama.

"Go ahead and see if you can see if you can get it expunged from President Obama, which he's a Democrat, and I'm running too as a Democrat party [sic], so I'm hoping he can help me out," said Mundo.

Mundo's letter has since been sent to the GEC's legal counsel currently under review. But according to Pangelinan, based off of legal opinion last night, Mundo is still disqualified from running. "As far as the Commission is concerned, as far as its ministerial duties, the law states that anybody committed of a crime of moral turpitude is disqualified from running for public office." KUAM News asked Pangelinan if Mund's crime was considered such, to which she replied, "That was the legal opinion given to us last night."

The GEC will hold its next regular meeting next Wednesday.