Today was kind of a tough day for Democrat Congressman Alan Mollohan, representing West Virginia‘s 1st District.

First, a story from The Washington Post:

For three years, Rep. Alan Mollohan has chaired the important Appropriations subcommittee that controls the Justice Department‘s $65 billion budget. At the same time, he has been under a Justice Department investigation, according to documents and two sources briefed on the probe.

The investigation has centered on the West Virginia Democrat’s finances and nonprofits he created and helped fund in his district, and has put him in the unusual position of wielding control over an agency at the same time it is probing his conduct and contractors he helped while in office.

Some congressional watchdog groups, including the one whose complaints about Mollohan triggered the probe, think the House leadership has created a clear conflict of interest by allowing Mollohan to continue to chair the subcommittee.

“There are a hundred ways he can influence what happens with the department’s funding — without one vote. Everything goes through his committee,” said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group that alleged in a complaint that the congressman had not reported the nature and increasing value of his real estate investments. “If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.”

Mollohan spokesman David Herring said the congressman dealt with the issue in 2006 by recusing himself from voting on specific budget accounts for the FBI, the attorney general’s office and other investigative functions. Herring declined to release the letter describing that recusal to House leaders.

Herring also said Mollohan is not aware of the Justice Department inquiry and has not been contacted by investigators.

The Washington Post – Mollohan, under Justice Department probe, chairs appropriations subcommittee

My only problem with this story is it doesn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know. The Washington Post revealed this information in an article on Oct. 30, 2009 (West Virginia Watchdog, “BREAKING: Justice Dept. Still Investigating Mollohan”).

Leaked House Ethics Committee documents released by The Washington Post revealed that the Justice Department had asked the committee in July 2009 to halt their investigation of Mollohan while Justice continued their criminal probe. That probe began in 2006 after the National Legal and Policy Center filed their complaint, alleging that Mollohan was hiding his true assets and steering earmarks to non-profits he helped to found.

Where is the original reporting on Mollohan? Every year since 2006 Mollohan has made the corrupt politician list compiled by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Media outlets would regurgitate this list every year with no updated content, despite the fact that Mollohan was continuing the actions that had gotten him in trouble in the first place. The only news outlet to do new reporting on Mollohan was West Virginia Watchdog and I’m proud of that work. National news outlets have ran with our Mollohan investigations because the reporting is sound and we’re thankful for their support.

Now more names have joined the growing list of Republican candidates willing to take on Mollohan. From The Charleston Daily Mail:

Four Republicans have filed pre-candidacy forms. They include Cindy Hall, Randy Smith, Thomas Stark and Daniel Scott Swisher.

State Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, announced earlier this fall he plans to enter the race.

Add to the list two more.

David McKinley, a former state lawmaker and GOP chairman, said he is considering a run against Mollohan.

Mac Warner, a Morgantown landowner and developer who had a 23-year career in the military, said he would spend Thanksgiving finalizing a decision about whether to run.

GOP preparing to challenge Mollohan for seat  – State News – Charleston Daily Mail – West Virginia News and Sports -

Seven Republicans, holy smokes. That’s not counting the one Democrat, R.J. Smith, who is also a precandidate. Now the Cook Political Report has upgraded West Virginia’s 1st Congressional District from “Safe Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.” There are six months to go until West Virginia’s primaries in May and just under 12 months until the 2010 general elections, so that classification could change again.

Even Democrat Nick Rahall, representing West Virginia’s 3rd District, has some early competition in the form of Republicans Lee Bias and Marty Gearheart. Last week we announced that Logan County Delegate Ralph Rodighiero, a Democrat, is also running against Rahall (West Virginia Watchdog, “BREAKING: Rodighiero to Run Against Rahall”). West Virginia Blue seems to believe Rodighiero was coaxed to run to take away votes from Rahall so that a more prominent Democrat can swoop in and knock Rahall out. We shall see.

So what could hurt Rahall and Mollohan? Their support for government-run health insurance, their 11th hour votes against cap-and-trade (a decision that should have been a lot easier for these coal state Democrats), and their overall ignorance of their constituents; mostly Democrats but conservative ones who feel abandoned by the congressmen they’ve supported for almost 30 years.

It seems clear that West Virginians want new leaders who will truly represent their interests.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Robert Byrd Becomes Longest-Serving Member Of Congress (huffingtonpost.com)
• Leak Offers Rare Peek at Ethics Probes (online.wsj.com)
• Ethics Probes Only Focus on Black Lawmakers (unaskedadvice.wordpress.com)