From the New York Times:
As lawmakers have increasingly slipped pet projects into federal spending bills over the past decade, one lawmaker has used his powerful perch on the House Appropriations Committee to funnel $250 million into five nonprofit organizations that he set up.
Those actions have prompted a complaint to federal prosecutors that questions whether any of that taxpayer money helped fuel a parallel growth in his personal fortune.
The most ambitious effort by the congressman, Alan B. Mollohan, is a glistening glass-and-steel structure with a swimming pool, sauna and spa rising in a former cow pasture in Fairmont, W.Va., thanks to $103 million of taxpayer money he garnered through special spending allocations known as earmarks.
The headquarters building is likely to sit largely empty upon completion this summer, because the Mollohan-created organization that it was built for, the Institute for Scientific Research, is in disarray, its chief executive having resigned under a cloud of criticism over his $500,000 annual compensation, also paid by earmarked federal money.
The five organizations have diverse missions but form a cozy, cross-pollinated network in the forlorn former coal capitals of north-central West Virginia. Mr. Mollohan has recruited many of their top employees and board members, including longtime friends or former aides, who in turn provide him with steady campaign contributions and positive publicity in their newsletters.
In previous interviews, Mr. Mollohan acknowledged that he had failed to pay 2004 taxes on income from rental properties in Washington and North Carolina, resulting in a state lien of $8,948.28 being filed on Dec. 1. He said the case was resolved by final payments of all taxes, interest and penalties by January.
Sounds pretty sleazy, doesn't it?
From the Washington Times:
"I believe it would be prudent at this point for Mr. Mollohan to resign from the ethics committee until this investigation is completed," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, New York Republican and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
...House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi should ask Mr. Mollohan to step aside at least temporarily while the investigation continues.
"The speaker should join me in directing the ethics committee to get to work and not cast aspersions on the independent and distinguished ranking member," said Mrs. Pelosi, who has been a vocal critic of the ethical lapses she sees among Republicans.
"Since the conduct of all members sitting on the ethics committee needs to be above reproach, it would be inappropriate for him to retain his position during the course of the investigation," the group said. "If Representative Mollohan does not voluntarily step aside, we ask Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to remove him and appoint a new member immediately."
The committee has been stalled since last year, with Democrats refusing to convene because, they say, of objections over how Republicans have operated the panel.
"We were wondering why the ethics committee was being held up for more than a year. Now we may know the reason," said Ron Bonjean, spokesman for Mr. Hastert.
Looking for a bit of humor?
Look no further than the DNC website.
This week, the Democratic National Committee's Podcast features an interview with U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter of New York, the Ranking Democrat on the House Rules Committee. Slaughter takes on the Republican culture of corruption, noting its growing impact despite the retirement of former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
..."Even though [DeLay's] gone and not running the place, he set up this culture of corruption here...the culture continues, we're going to have to do some heavy cleaning to get the Congress back up in shape," said Slaughter.
Funny.
Want something else to laugh about?
Go to the Washington Post's account of the story.
Republican House leaders, determined to deflect Democratic charges that the GOP has fostered a "culture of corruption," immediately called for action against Mollohan.
..."Speaker Hastert and his Republican cohorts are responsible for the most corrupt Congress in history, and the American people are paying the price at the gas pump, at the pharmacy and with record-high deficits," [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi countered.
Talk about deflection!
The fact is no political party has a monopoly on corruption.
It's a failed strategy for the Dems to set themselves up as ethically superior to Republicans when they are not, not even close.
__________________________________
On April 15, the Washington Post's editorial board grudgingly called for Mollohan to step aside, at least until his "issues" are sorted out.
FOR THE GOOD of the House, for the good of his party and in the interest -- however remote the possibility at this point -- of resolving the paralysis of the House ethics committee, the panel's ranking Democrat, West Virginia Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, should step aside while legitimate questions about his own conduct are resolved.
...Mr. Mollohan describes himself as the victim of an "entirely partisan, political" attack by a "politically motivated, ultra-conservative organization," the National Legal and Policy Center. We have little doubt that hardball, partisan politics are behind the charges against Mr. Mollohan, who has embarrassed Republicans with his refusal to accede to the GOP leadership's efforts to neuter the ethics panel by stacking its membership, weakening its rules and politicizing its staff. And the pious assertions from this very leadership that Mr. Mollohan should step aside are especially hard to take coming from a crew that tried to rewrite its rules to let Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) stay in power after he was indicted.
Nonetheless, this needs to be sorted out, and Mr. Mollohan should step down while that happens. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who's so far responded by denouncing efforts to "cast aspersions on the independent and distinguished ranking member," should move to replace Mr. Mollohan temporarily with another Democrat similarly committed to restoring the credibility of the ethics committee.
The Post can always be counted on to entertain.
It is hilarious that in the face of the charges against Mollohan, the board prefers to focus on Republican corruption.
Although the board tried to find a way to reconcile the reality of Mollohan's actions with his claims of political victim status, it just couldn't do it.
I suspect that Pelosi and the Dems don't want the corrupt Mollohan to step aside in disgrace.
That wouldn't fit their presentation of Dems being lily-white and Republicans being the embodiment of all that is unethical and dishonest.
Poor Democrats.
Reality bites.
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