Rep. Mollohan(W.VA) Steps Down From Ethics Committee(600K to 26Mil in 6 yrs?)

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) temporarily relinquished his position as the top Democrat on the House ethics committee Friday, two weeks after questions surfaced about his financial dealings.

“I have reluctantly concluded that the interests of both the [ethics] committee and my constituents would best be served by my temporarily stepping aside as ranking member while I deal with this attack,” the West Virginian wrote to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) Friday.

Pelosi accepted his request in a press release, praising his work and calling the attacks “an attempt to deflect attention from the long list of Republican criminal investigations, indictments, plea agreements, and resignations.”

Still, it was Pelosi who placed a telephone call to Mollohan Friday morning to ask for his temporary resignation, a Democratic source said.

House Democrats have come under increasing pressure to demote Mollohan. The editorial boards of the Washington Post, and the New York Times, as well as the liberal-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have all weighed in against him. The National Republican Congressional Committee last week began sponsoring automated calls in four Democratic districts urging constituents to demand that their congressman ask for Mollohan’s resignation.

Mollohan remained defiant in his letter to Pelosi. He called the allegations “meritless,” “frivolous” and “a concerted, politically motivated attack on my ethics.”

The charges stem from a complaint filed with federal authorities by the National Law and Policy Center.

To fill Mollohan’s post, Pelosi passed over the next ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Ohio), opting instead to elevate Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.). Tubbs Jones faced ethics questions over a 2001 trip to Puerto Rico which was initially reported as having been partly paid for by a lobbyist, a violation of House rules. Tubbs Jones has since amended her filings...

Pelosi ALWAYS responds to more and more and more democrats caught in scandal and illegality with "this is to deflect from the continuing Republican culture of corruption". Let's see. There's DeLay, who had one charge dismissed, and the other, conspiculously STILL hasn't gone to trial, where the prosecuter democrat admitted he didn't have the evidence he said he did to get the GJ to endict. And there's cunningham, who is in jail for doing what many high ranking democrats have done and are still holding office this very day. And there'e Rove, who wasn't charged because there was no evidence to suggest he did anything wrong. And, well. That's it for Republicans. The rest are democrats. Jefferson, Reid, Kennedy, the lib dem woman who hit the police officer, and Pelosi herself, and on and on and on and on and on, and now this guy. There sure are a lot of democrats involved in the Republicans culture of corruption.

Two things I have learned in life , I would like to pass it on to Ms. Pelosi. Not that she will listen.

"Dont start no crap there wont be no crap."
Meaning: Once you start attacking people, you become a target your self. Nancy has cried this politics of corruption crap knowing full well that both parties are on the take and it was a matter of time before the Republicans started striking back.

"Live by the Sword. Die by the Sword"
Meaning if you live in a glass house and throw stones someone will throw them back at yours. Nancy and the Dems started this battle of corruption, they got Tom delay, They were after Karl Rove Paybacks are hell. When you start these battles of attacks against your peers it will come back to haunt you.

Democrat Congressman Alan Mollohan represents a northern West Virginia district gave President Bush 57.70% of the vote in 2004. Under ordinary circumstances, Mollohan would be very hard to beat, since his socially conservative, economically liberal issue positions are generally popular in the district and since West Virginians sure like to reelect House incumbents. But Mollohan's apparent inability to keep his hands out of the cookie jar will make him a tempting target for the GOP this November. State Delegate Chris Wakim will be the toughest challenger Mollohan has ever faced, and he deserves the support of every conservative.

http://www.wakimforcongress.com/

Mollohan is the paradigm crooked Congressman using earmarks and "foundations" for government fraud. All of the House earmarks should be examined for fraud----and all of their "foundations."

On a congressman's salary, Rep. Alan Mollohan's (D-W.Va.) net worth increased from about $100,000 in 2000 to $11.4 million in 2005, at the same time he was directing millions of government dollars in "earmarks" to nonprofit organizations in his district that are run by his business partner and some campaign contributors.

Duh----can you say kickbacks?

A closer examination revealed that Mollohan and his wife had more than $2,000,000 in real estate investments with Mollohan’s former staffer, Laura Kuhns, and her husband.

Kuhns also ran a nonprofit, Vandalia Heritage Foundation, which had received more than $28 million in Congressional appropriations earmarks with Mollohan's help from 2000 through 2005. Kuhns was also on the board of other nonprofit groups which had received over $100 million in earmarks of federal funds during the same period with Mollohan's help.

Mollohan's 2000 Financial Disclosure Report listed his income-producing assets as being worth from $179,012 to $562,000 with liabilities of $170,000 to $465,000. Among the liabilities was Visa credit card debt listed as $45,003 to $150,000. Just four years later, Mollohan's 2004 Financial Disclosure Report showed him with assets worth $6,313,025 to $24,947,000 offset by liabilities in the $3,665,011 to $13,500,000 range. It also showed him owning an oceanfront beach house on Bald Head Island, NC which was valued at $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. NLPC found that Mollohan was renting the beach house during the summer of 2005 for $11,975 a week.

Freedom of Information Act documents revealed thousands of pages of real estate, financial and legal documents. Slowly a picture of Mollohan's finances emerged that was sharply different from the one being portrayed in Mollohan’s Financial Disclosure Reports.

Using NPO's to siphon off monies is a classic swindle. The IRS has documented numerous financial scams by so-called "non-profits" and "foundations." Any number of financial frauds can be hidden in a non-profit (or Foundation) by calculatedly wrapping oneself in high-minded ideals with the intent of engaging in tax fraud.

The IRS should determine whether Mollohan's NPO is properly accounting for all its activities derived from government grants, and whether it is inflating legal costs, and whether it is using government grants for the purposes stated. Taxpayers need to know whether this NPO is engaged in Enron-style accounting and spending practices using government grants---which could be grounds for government fraud charges.

Let's tell it like it is----"earmarking" the practice of adding on to a Congressional appropriations bill ---- to fund a Congressman's own "foundation" is government fraud. Period.

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