WHAT'S IN HIS WALLET?
West Virginia Watchdog has been keeping an eye on that incorrigible rogue, Rep. Alan Mollahan ($-WV).
The Incredible Mollohan Money Machine keeps on pumping out good stuff to all those in the loop: donations for Mollohan, federal earmarked millions for those in the loop and sweetheart deals for all.
It's springtime and roads in WV are full of potholes--but the Mollohan Money Machine chugs along.
Originally posted at DBKP: Alan Mollohan: Incredible Perpetual Money Machine Fills Campaign Coffers
FROM Mollohan Business Allies Continue Donations:
Campaign donations from business allies of 1st District Rep Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) continue despite the controversy the cycle of earmarks and donations have raised over the years.
The big donors to Mollohan last quarter, which ended on March 31, 2010, were those he has steered earmarks to or leased office space to at the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center in Fairmont, W.Va. This includes $19,200 from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hytner and Mr. and Mrs. James Cava with Information Manufacturing Corp. For the entire 2009 year the Hytner’s donated a total of $16,900.
IMC received over $84 million in Mollohan-directed earmarks between 2000 and 2008. The contracts were for work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose budget Mollohan controls. IMC has received over $300 million in federal contracts between 2000 and
2009. Mollohan also received $4,800 from the National Interest Security Company, which bought IMC in 2007.
Northrop Grumman, which maintains offices at Mollohan Innovation Center, donated $10,000 to Mollohan. The company received nearly $151 Billion in federal contracts between 2000 and 2009.
SWEET!
[ABOVE: Mollohan's beachfront home is a sweet deal. Just part of the perks]
For more on the curious circumstances surrounding Mollohan's property purchases--as a partner with the same people who got millions of earmarked money; What a coincidence!--see:
* Alan Mollohan: Corruption, Cronies and Crocks of Earmarks in WV
* Monday Money Mollohan Report: Alan Mollohan Weekly News
Mollohan's campaign coffers may be filling up with crony-itized donations and the Justice Dept might have dropped its four-year-long probe into Mollohan's money machine, but the Congressman still is rated one of Washington's Most Corrupt--for the fifth year running!
Mollohan was cleared of any wrongdoing by the U.S. Justice Department, while details of the investigation have not been made clear. Ethics questions brought to light by the National Legal and Policy Center focused on Mollohan’s rapid rise to wealth, as well as the earmarks he steered towards five non-profits agencies in West Virginia he helped form and who are ran by former staffers and business partners. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Mollohan as one of the 15 most corrupt politicians in Congress.
Check it out: CREW's 15 MOST CORRUPT.
Meanwhile, the questions surrounding the "Overnight Millionaire"--as the 22nd-richest member of Congress is known--have taken their toll. Mollohan is now being challenged in the 1st District Democrat primary and a host of Republican challengers have also come forward.
Historically, Mollohan has gone into elections unopposed.
Are WV-1 consituents finally ready to throw some sand in its gears?
by Mondo Frazier
image: DBKP file
