Roll Call Notes Mollohan's Troubles

The Capitol Hill weekly Roll Call (subscription required) today reports on Alan Mollohan's political troubles.

Ethics Switch Eases Pressure, for Now

The decision by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) to step down as ranking member of the House ethics committee has ended, at least for now, an escalating controversy over his financial dealings, but in the long run his departure from the panel may undermine one of the most promising political messages House Democrats are wielding against Republicans in the midterm elections — that the GOP has been corrupted by 12 years of control of the House.

Roll Call then talks a little more about the allegations against Mollohan and the political trouble he faces at home. He can't be happy to hear a Democratic leadership staffer comment that he 'had to go:'

With the question of his service on the ethics panel resolved, at least for now, Mollohan still faces a growing scandal that threatens to loosen his hold on a seat that has been in the family for decades. Mollohan’s father, the late former Rep. Robert Mollohan (D-W.Va.), served for 18 years in the House. Alan Mollohan has been a Member since 1984.

The younger Mollohan has been dogged by questions over his personal finances since the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group, revealed earlier this month that it had filed a complaint with the Justice Department regarding the West Virginia Democrat.

The NLPC claimed that Mollohan had improperly reported his assets on annual disclosure forms filed with the House, a charge that Mollohan vehemently denied.

More seriously, Mollohan was accused of steering $250 million in federal earmarks to non-profit groups he founded or controlled. Officials from those groups in turn donated nearly $400,000 to Mollohan’s re-election campaigns...

In the end, while he was not forced out, Mollohan was faced with an increasingly nervous Democratic leadership that knew that if he continued serving as ranking member of the ethics panel, it could threaten the political gains made by the party since the scandal surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff began two years ago. A number of GOP lawmakers and former aides are under investigation by a DOJ task force in that case.

“Mollohan had to go,” said one Democratic insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s not that he has done anything wrong, necessarily. It’s that he may have done something wrong, and we just can’t have that while he serves” on the ethics committee.

The Rothenberg political report lists the Mollohan race as an opportnity for Republicans.

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