U.S. Rep. Mollohan the target of federal investigation

20 May 2007 // FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Neither a federal investigation into his finances nor watchdog groups on the left and right calling him one of the most corrupt men on Capitol Hill has stopped U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan from bringing home the bacon.

Motorists winding through hill country south of Morgantown, near the Democrat congressman's hometown here, can't miss the gleaming Interstate 79 Technology Park that sprouted through his efforts.

The steel skeleton of a new Commerce Department building stands next to a NASA software facility, easily spotted because of the 20-foot white rocket mounted in front.

Across the goose pond, at the center of it all, the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center commemorates the park's creator in large bronze letters over the doors.

Inside, past a bust of Mollohan, is another of his creations. The West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, which Mollohan founded, oversees federally funded projects and contracts steered to the state's northernmost congressional district, thanks to Mollohan's powerful post on the House Appropriations Committee.

To take one example, there is the $9.6 million Navy contract the foundation won last year to make BomBots.

Essentially souped-up, remote-control trucks, a BomBot can dump a 10-pound explosive charge on a roadside bomb to blow it up. Costing about $5,000 each, the BomBot is easy to replace if it doesn't get away in time. The Navy bought more than 2,000 for its Marines to use for clearing the perilous roads of Iraq.

BomBots were developed not in West Virginia but at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. But it was Mollohan who funnelled $3.75 million in Defense Department grants to the foundation to test the machines, which eventually led to the manufacturing contract, according to a foundation press release.

In a state where a considerable pillar of the economy rests on U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd's legendary federal largesse, Mollohan, 64, has built a formidable reputation of his own.

Finances at issue

The 13-term congressman, who succeeded his father in a seat the family has held for more than 40 years, has directed nearly $500 million in grants and contracts to his district in the last decade -- much of it to the high-tech foundation and a few other tax-exempt organizations he founded -- according to Citizens Against Government Waste.

The fiscally conservative watchdog group named Mollohan "Porker of the Year" for 2006. But some say the congressman is responsible for more than just pork.

Mollohan is under federal investigation, as are several tax-exempt organizations with links to him. No charges have been filed.

Morgantown's Dominion Post, citing unnamed sources close to the investigation, reported that a grand jury began hearing testimony about Mollohan's finances in April.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group that has investigated Hillary Clinton and Jesse Jackson, sent a 500-page complaint about Mollohan to the U.S. attorney in Washington last year.

It said Mollohan omitted or misrepresented personal financial dealings on required disclosure statements, according to Ken Boehm, the center's chairman.

Boehm said the center's complaint also focused on real estate purchases Mollohan made with people heading companies or organizations that received federal funds he earmarked.

"I don't know of another member of Congress, current or past, who earmarked money to organizations associated with his business partners. It's just too far over the line," Boehm said.

New House and Senate rules promise to identify sponsors of earmarks -- spending tacked on to appropriations bills anonymously by legislators on both sides of the aisle to finance pet projects. It remains to be seen whether the transparency rules will put a brake on such spending.

Last year, Mollohan corrected what he said were "inadvertent errors" on his financial reports. He explained a jump in his reported assets, from less than $600,000 in 2000 to more than $6 million four years later, as the result of appreciated real estate holdings and an inheritance from his father of a share in a Morgantown hotel.

Meanwhile, as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department's budget, he has recused himself from considering Justice Department matters until the investigation ends. He stepped down from the House Ethics Committee last year.

A Mollohan spokesman declined to comment for this story.

Cozy relationships?

Other Mollohan creations receiving federal money and contracts are the Institute for Scientific Research, a software designer the high-tech foundation is partially absorbing; the Canaan Valley Institute, a water quality group; the MountainMade Foundation, involved in promoting locally made crafts; and the Vandalia Heritage Foundation, which restores old buildings.

The organizations' directors and heads of high-tech companies involved in federal contracts linked to Mollohan are key contributors to his political campaigns and to the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation, named after the congressman's father.

Nearly half the Mollohan family foundation's revenue came from companies and groups that received shares of at least $179 million in federal contracts steered to them by Mollohan, Bloomberg News reported last year.

Mollohan counters that the pork accusations by saying the money went to deserving applicants.

Still, the liberal activist group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington included Mollohan in its list of the 20 most corrupt legislators on Capitol Hill.

"Just because he brings home the bacon doesn't make him a fantastic congressman. What he does betrays his constituents," said group spokeswoman Naomi Seligman Steiner.

"He's abusing his power. He's abusing his position. He's breaking ethics rules. He's possibly breaking the law," she said.

In any case, the moderate Democrat, who split with his party to support a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border and an amendment banning flag burning, trounced his Republican challenger in November, 65 percent to 35 percent.

Thousands of jobs

Scott Tharp, 74, has been an attorney in Fairmont for 48 years. He knew Mollohan when the congressman practiced law in the crumbling but still attractive former coal boomtown, perched on hills above the Monongahela River.

Despite being a Republican, and despite the allegations, Tharp voted for Mollohan in November.

He said the congressman has been good for the region's economy. Tharp's son works as a security guard at the NASA building in the technology park, for one thing.

"We're all a bit selfish and provincial, so I think most people are happy with the job he's done here," Tharp said.

In a region still recovering from a long decline in mining and manufacturing, the high-tech sector provides optimism.

Mollohan's northern West Virginia district boasts 18,000 technology jobs paying an average yearly salary of $53,000, according to an October report by a Michigan consulting firm commissioned by the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation.

Add to that the $179 million that has been -- or will be -- spent on construction at the I-79 Technology Park.

The park's crown jewel is a large silver-colored building with an observation tower that stands above the surrounding hilltops like a lighthouse.

At more than $100 million -- nearly all paid for with money steered there by Mollohan -- the state-of-the-art research facility is mostly empty, the four-story parking garage containing only a couple dozen vehicles one recent afternoon.

James Estep, the foundation's president and CEO, said in an e-mail that he is pitching the facility to several federal agencies.

Having lunch in the pizza and sub shop across the street from Fairmont's stately courthouse, retired coal miner Roger Merriman, 55, praised Mollohan.

Merriman is a longtime Democratic Party activist who remembers voting for a Republican once -- Ronald Reagan. Mollohan is special, Merriman said, adept at spreading the federal money around and personally concerned about his constituents.

He recalled how the congressman's staff helped him shepherd a Social Security benefit claim when he had to quit working after his third heart attack.

Merriman predicted nothing would come of the federal investigation.

"I think Congressman Mollohan is going to be the congressman from the 1st District for as long as he wants to be," he said.