Mollohan Under Fire

WHEELING - U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan has been named one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress by the public interest group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In a report released earlier this month, Washington-based CREW cited Mollohan's "ethics issues" that "stem primarily from misuse of his position on the Appropriations Committee, from which he has steered hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to family, friends, former employees and corporations in exchange for contributions to his campaign and political action committees" as a reason for his inclusion on the most corrupt list.

CREW says Mollohan also is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. This is the fourth consecutive year Mollohan has made the group's most corrupt list.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said most of the elected officials on the list are under investigation.

"Most of the investigations obviously have to do with money. That somebody accepted money in return for some kind of legislative assistance or misused their authority and their power to improve their financial status or that of their families," Sloan said.

Allegations of corruption - and reports of a subsequent federal investigation - surfaced against Mollohan, D-W.Va., more than three years ago. That's when the National Legal and Policy Center in Washington issued a report outlining allegations concerning the congressman's dealings with nonprofits in the state and his personal wealth.

No charges have ever been filed against Mollohan, and there has never been an official announcement that he has been cleared of any allegations. The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to respond to repeated queries for comment from the Sunday News-Register over the past several months.

It was the National Legal and Policy Center that first began asking questions about Mollohan's dealings and personal wealth in April 2006. At that time, their findings were turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.

But Ken Boehm, chairman of the NLPC, told the Sunday News-Register that he isn't concerned there have been no announcements from either agency pertaining to Mollohan.

He noted that the federal case against former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich took more than five years before charges were announced. The case was expedited when Blagojevich, who was to appoint the successor to President Obama's former Senate seat, allegedly was found to be offering the seat for financial profit to himself.

Boehm also made reference to the federal case against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, which was put together quickly.

"It was rushed, there were a lot of mistakes, and the case was overturned," Boehm said of the Stevens case. "And now the people who did the investigating are being investigated.

"But these are different people (investigating Mollohan), and they know how to do their jobs. They don't give out press releases telling where they are on a case for obvious reasons. At some point, they'll tell us what we need to hear."

The National Legal and Policy Center, founded in 1991, is a non-partisan organization that promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action. The center touts the virtues of smaller government and of elected officials who have "character, morality and common sense."

Allegations Against Mollohan

It was first reported by the NLPC in spring 2006 that Mollohan had earmarked $369 million in federal grants to his district for 254 separate projects between 1997 and 2006, and that more than $200 million of that money was directed to five nonprofit organizations staffed by friends and colleagues of Mollohan.

The nonprofits were:

The key employees at the five nonprofits, along with other staff and contractors, contributed a total of $397,122 to Mollohan's campaign and political action committees.

Along with questionable earmarks, the National Legal and Policy Center raised concerns about Mollohan's personal finances and real estate holdings.

The National Legal and Policy Center found in 2006 that between 1996 and 2004, Mollohan omitted or undervalued as many as 260 of his personal assets on financial disclosure forms required of all members of Congress.

The forms, nevertheless, showed a rise in Mollohan's personal wealth from less than $500,000 in 2000 to at least $6.3 million in 2004.

Mollohan attributed much of the increase in his personal wealth to an inheritance from his father, the late U.S. Rep. Robert Mollohan, D-W.Va.

But the figures still didn't add up, Boehm said.

Boehm did much of the initial investigation and found that Robert Mollohan had left his estate primarily to his widow, Alan Mollohan's mother.

And Boehm acknowledged that while the worth of Alan Mollohan's real estate holdings in Washington, D.C., and Bald Head Island, N.C., did more than double between 2000 and 2004, it still did not cover the increase in his reported personal wealth.

"It's a classic case of a congressman directing millions to the people he has financial and political ties to," Boehm said. "That, in itself, shouldn't be allowed. It's a slippery slope. And it looks like if you're a friend of a congressman, you get the checkbook.

"He appears to get so wealthy so fast, and he doesn't have an explanation. That kind of return is what you get on a winning lottery ticket."

Mollohan Still Waiting

Mollohan was the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee in 2006 when the allegations against him first surfaced. At that time, he stepped down from the committee at the request of now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

After the Democrats took control of Congress at the beginning of 2007, Mollohan was named chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies - the committee that sets the budget for both the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.

Mollohan vowed at that time he would abstain from any votes pertaining to the agencies while he was under investigation. This year, he nevertheless participated in approving their appropriations.

The congressman is adamant in pointing out that he has never been informed that he is being investigated by the government.

"I can't give you a status of what I don't know anything about," Mollohan said of the investigation. "No one has ever contacted us about it at any time - then or now.

"I can give you the status of the people who perpetrated" the reports of an investigation. "I can give you a status of what kind of political attack you can expect when you do your job on the Ethics Committee and do appropriately address the concerns - even when they involve the majority leader."

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, was majority leader when Mollohan served on the House Ethics Committee. DeLay was under scrutiny then for his dealings with imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the same scandal that sent former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, to federal prison.

Mollohan, meanwhile, suggests his own situation falls into the category "Good deeds that offend powerful people may result in a reaction you didn't anticipate."

Looking Toward 2010

The National Republican Congressional Committee has the charge of recruiting Republican candidates to run for Congress and directing their ensuing campaigns.

Legal problems surrounding a 14-term Democratic congressman would be of extreme interest to them in their cause, but officials there are aware of no recent legal activity being waged against Mollohan.

"He hasn't been charged," said NRCC spokesman Andy Sere. "But he hasn't been cleared, either."

Sere acknowledged that recruiting quality political candidates to run against long-time incumbents can be a chore, and that this results in "slower-developing races."

"But I am confident at this point that we will have a credible Republican challenger to Congressman Mollohan," he said.

Among those thus far filing as pre-candidates to run against Mollohan in 2010 are Republicans Cindy Hall of Wheeling, Randy Smith of Terra Alta, W.Va., Thomas Stark of Parkersburg and Daniel Scott Swisher of Washington, W.Va., which is near Parkersburg. Democrat R.J. Smith of Dallas in Ohio County said he will challenge Mollohan in the primary election.

None of these candidates has previously held office.

Late last week, current state Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, told the Sunday News-Register he would run for Mollohan's seat next year.

Sere sees the NRCC in 2010 as highlighting Mollohan's recent "no" vote to take all federal funding away from the embattled Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now organization. Mollohan was one of 75 Democrats who voted against pulling ACORN's funding.

"He is certainly not helping his cause with what he is doing in Washington," Sere said of Mollohan. "He is being put in a tough spot.

"The Democrats are in control of the White House, and poll after poll shows West Virginians are not happy with the direction they are taking the country."

Sere noted that Mollohan did vote against recent "cap and trade" legislation before the House, which was opposed by most West Virginians. The bill passed by a 219-212 vote.

"But he didn't make his position known until a couple of days before the vote, and he didn't lead the fight against it," Sere said. "He just stood by and let it happen without saying a word.

"Congressman Mollohan consistently ranks as one of the least independent Democrats in his party. West Virginia is a conservative district, and it is hungry for more independent leadership than what he is providing."