The Justice Department is apparently not finished looking into the personal finances of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., according to The Washington Post.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Justice Department is apparently not finished looking into the personal finances of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., according to The Washington Post.
On Friday, the Post reported that the U.S. Justice Department told the House ethics panel to suspend its investigation of Mollohan. Federal investigators often ask House and Senate ethics committees to suspend investigations when they are looking at the same allegations.
Mollohan, West Virginia's congressman from the northern district, is one of more than 30 lawmakers named in a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July and leaked to the Post this week.
The federal investigaton dates back to April 2006, when the conservative-funded National Legal Police Center filed a 500-page report on Mollohan and his relationship with the Vandalia Heritage Foundation. The center refused to release the report publicly, saying some items it contains might not be accurate.
On Friday, Mollohan released a brief statement through a spokesperson to the Gazette-Mail: "As I have said a number of times in the past, I do not know whether any investigation is ongoing or not. I have not been contacted."
The NLPC is financed in large part by three Scaife family foundations, according to Media Transparency, a Web site that researches conservative organizations. The Pittsburgh-based Scaifes are one of the nation's wealthiest families. Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire, started the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 1992.
Mollohan helped set up the Vandalia Heritage Foundation in 1998, then found federal funding for it. Laura Kuhns, a former Mollohan staffer, continues to run the organization. In 2006, Kuhns' salary was more than $100,000. She and Mollohan bought adjacent North Carolina beachfront houses as investments.
He also helped set up and fund other nonprofits. Between 2002 and 2006, Mollohan channeled at least $202 million in federal funds to five nonprofit groups created with his support, according to audits filed with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In that time, Mollohan and his PAC received more than $146,000 from people affiliated with the nonprofits.
In May 2006, federal prosecutors issued a grand jury subpoena for financial records at the Canaan Valley Institute, which Mollohan was instrumental in setting up.
The institute, based in Thomas, Tucker County, helps communities restore streams and set up local wastewater-treatment systems in nearby regions of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as in West Virginia, according to its Web site.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Justice Department is apparently not finished looking into the personal finances of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., according to The Washington Post.
On Friday, the Post reported that the U.S. Justice Department told the House ethics panel to suspend its investigation of Mollohan. Federal investigators often ask House and Senate ethics committees to suspend investigations when they are looking at the same allegations.
Mollohan, West Virginia's congressman from the northern district, is one of more than 30 lawmakers named in a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July and leaked to the Post this week.
The federal investigaton dates back to April 2006, when the conservative-funded National Legal Police Center filed a 500-page report on Mollohan and his relationship with the Vandalia Heritage Foundation. The center refused to release the report publicly, saying some items it contains might not be accurate.
On Friday, Mollohan released a brief statement through a spokesperson to the Gazette-Mail: "As I have said a number of times in the past, I do not know whether any investigation is ongoing or not. I have not been contacted."
The NLPC is financed in large part by three Scaife family foundations, according to Media Transparency, a Web site that researches conservative organizations. The Pittsburgh-based Scaifes are one of the nation's wealthiest families. Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire, started the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 1992.
Mollohan helped set up the Vandalia Heritage Foundation in 1998, then found federal funding for it. Laura Kuhns, a former Mollohan staffer, continues to run the organization. In 2006, Kuhns' salary was more than $100,000. She and Mollohan bought adjacent North Carolina beachfront houses as investments.
He also helped set up and fund other nonprofits. Between 2002 and 2006, Mollohan channeled at least $202 million in federal funds to five nonprofit groups created with his support, according to audits filed with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In that time, Mollohan and his PAC received more than $146,000 from people affiliated with the nonprofits.
In May 2006, federal prosecutors issued a grand jury subpoena for financial records at the Canaan Valley Institute, which Mollohan was instrumental in setting up.
The institute, based in Thomas, Tucker County, helps communities restore streams and set up local wastewater-treatment systems in nearby regions of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as in West Virginia, according to its Web site.
In June 2007, Roll Call drew attention to a $1 million appropriation by Mollohan, claiming it would be used to purchase more land for the 19,000-acre Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County. The Capitol Hill newspaper indicated that if such a purchase were made, it could increase the value of a residence and a lot Mollohan owns in Tucker County.
In August 2007, the House killed funding for the Canaan Valley Institute, which was to receive $1.5 million for three projects in an Agriculture Department funding bill.
The three earmarks won initial approval from the House Appropriations Committee, but were killed by a procedural vote at the recommendation of the chairman, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
"We had determined that, because they were in controversy, for the good of the House, they should not be considered at this time," Obey said at the time.
In May 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general questioned $3.2 million the Canaan Valley Institute spent from five federal grants.
Auditors urged the EPA to recover the money unless the institute can provide sufficient documentation to support the spending, according to the report.
About $1.7 million of the disputed spending is linked to the institute's method of calculating "indirect costs" - such as facilities and administration -- of the EPA-funded programs. Another $1.1 million in disputed costs involved the organization's method for reporting its direct costs, such as employee benefits and travel.
Since 2006, Mollohan has paid more than $200,000 in legal fees to the Washington-based law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evan and Figel, according to campaign-finance reports. The last payment was for $3,300 in July.
Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.
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Somehow, I think that if this were SMC, our resignation would have been ask for.