Posted on 04/26/2006 7:35:54 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A land deal involving a Democratic congressman and a defense contractor he helped receive a federal contract has come under scrutiny.
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a 12-term congressman from West Virginia, last year jointly purchased a 300-acre farm along his state’s Cheat River along with Dale R. McBride, chief executive of FMW Composite Systems Inc. of Bridgeport, W.Va.
Mollohan’s real estate holdings and financial disclosures have drawn the attention of federal investigators, and the farm purchase "is the most direct tie yet disclosed between Rep. Mollohan and a beneficiary of the federal spending he has steered toward his home state,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The $2.1 million contract awarded to McBride’s company was part of a much larger appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005 to fund the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mollohan is a senior member of the House subcommittee that controlled the legislation.
The funds were to be used to develop lightweight payload pallets for space-shuttle missions.
Over the past five years, Rep. Mollohan steered more than $200 million to a network of nonprofit groups in West Virginia, often through narrow spending provisions known as earmarks.
The Journal reported earlier this month that executives of these groups and companies had contributed regularly to Rep. Mollohan's campaigns and his family foundation.
In a Senate hearing in 2003, then-NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe denied seeking $15.5 million in earmarks that had been directed to the Institute for Scientific Research and other contractors in Mollohan's congressional district.
Now Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have begun asking questions in Washington and West Virginia about Mollohan’s holdings and whether they were properly disclosed, according to the Journal.
Mollohan has acknowledged that he may have made "inadvertent” mistakes in financial disclosure forms.
But the federal inquiry has widened to include a probe of Mollohan’s business ties to people who have benefited from earmarks, according to sources who spoke to the Journal.
Mollohan – who has resigned from his post as senior Democrat on the House Ethics Committee to focus on combating the charges – said "any claim whatsoever” that investments such as the farm "are in any way related to my actions as a member of Congress is categorically false.”
McBride said he and longtime friend Mollohan had spent several summers together on a farm and had jointly purchased the Cheat River farm for $900,000 "so that our kids and grandkids could have” some of those memories, and not as an investment.
--Mollohan has acknowledged that he may have made "inadvertent” mistakes in financial disclosure forms.
Would that work for me?
Potential political scandal involving "Cheat" River....how appropriate. I've been rafting on the Cheat....it's a nice area to visit if you're into the outdoors.
What he did is no different than what Duke Cunningham did. They are both crooked politicians and Duke is where he belongs and this guy should be prosecuted with the same swiftness and results.
Right after they snapped on the cuffs.
It was for the children so how could it be wrong? The Democrat response will be their textbook "nothing to see here move along" response.
FNC did an outstanding job of following the dots of corruption surrounding this man's dealings.
This sounds somewhat "brokeback" to me.....
Would that work for me?
------
No. You and I commit fraud and crimes. If you are in Washington, you "make mistakes" and suffer "oversights" and to use Hitlery's favorite.."I don't recall"...
That damn Republican Culture of Corruption!!! It clearly corrupted this honest decent democrat who otherwise was as pure as the wind driven snow. If only the democrat party controlled congress, this never would have happened. /sarcasm
Mullohan's rise is net assets raised the flag of suspicion -- and now here is the first smoking gun. He's toast.
Wonder if he made "inadvertent" mistakes on his TAX forms also?
I cheated for the sake of the children......that's been the Dem line for decades.
Query? What do you call a politician who champions strict ethical standards but in reality is in bed with recipients of Federal largess contolled by his committee?
Answer: A Democrat.
"...12-term congressman..."
Loser, welfare suck-up and lowlife who can't hold a job in the real world.
something in a name?
But he doesn't have a thing to worry about. - He a DimRAt
don't hold your breath
CULTURE OF CORRUP ... oh, wait, a Democrat? WITCH HUNT! WITCH HUNT!
All these politicians, Republican or Democrat, who line their own pockets in such a corrupt manner as Duke Cunningham or this character should be taken out, tarred and feathered, and hung from the nearest tree.
It would be very interesting to go back to his very first financial disclosure form, then add up the sum total of his legal earnings (salary and per diems etc.) through to the date of his last financial disclosure form. Compare the numbers.
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