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Following last week's launch of anti-Democratic attacks by the prostitute-loving Dick Morris (who admitted his commercials were full of factual errors), a new group of rightwingers is airing "issue ads" against Rahall and Mollohan.
This week, the West Virginia Republicans can count on help from the American Future Fund.
A quick look into the past of the future fund shows it's made up of the expected Lee Atwater disciples:
- Former spokesman for the House GOP in Iowa, Tim Albrecht, who also worked on Mitt Romney's failed presidential campaign.
- Ben Ginsburg, legal counsel for the group. You'll remember Ginsburg as chief outside counsel for the Bush Cheney campaign in 2004. He, of course, had to resign his position when it was revealed he was advising the Swift Boat smear effort and contradicting the Bush campaign's claim that they had nothing to do with "outside" attacks on Sen. John Kerry.
- and Larry McCarthy, media strategist for the group - best known for producing the racist-as-hell Willie Horton ad for Bush Sr.'s campaign against Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.
The West Virginia Democratic Party has a strong slate of candidates running for office, in some cases against each other. In most of the primary races I intend to remain neutral, but people can take their own stances.
Two notable exceptions I'll state upfront. I strongly support the re-election of Nick Rahall and Alan Mollohan to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated: with the ads he is running, coal baron Don Blankenship wants to split Democrats. He knows he has no chance of winning those two House races. (He's willing to throw his vacation buddy Spike Maynard out as the Republican sacrificial lamb to lose to Rahall. Some friend you got there Spike. You two deserve each other.)
Blankenship's real agenda is at least twofold: 1.) to push the Overton window his direction no matter who is running and 2.) weaken Mollohan and Rahall for any future senatorial races by attacking them now and making them spend campaign resources now.
I'm not playing Blankenship's game. We've got two fine representatives for West Virginia in Mollohan and Rahall - I've long wished Rahall in particular was my representative instead of Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito - and those two gentleman have my support.
As always, I speak for myself. The rest of the fine community members of this group blog are free to disagree or agree.
The Charleston Gazette's Paul Nyden has a good, detailed story on the federal investigation of U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV01) who was cleared of any wrong doing after years long probe that began under the highly politicized Justice Department under George W. Bush.
Reports about that investigation surfaced after the National Legal and Policy Center -- a Falls Church, Va.-based organization with ties to right-wing groups -- filed a formal complaint against Mollohan with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on Feb. 28, 2006.
The NLPC launched a public campaign against Mollohan in April 2006, shortly before West Virginia's May 9 primary elections.
Over the years, the group has targeted other political leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., former Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and billionaire author and activist George Soros.
The group routinely criticizes labor unions and also attacked AARP for opposing Social Security privatization.
Founded in 1991, the NLPC received $1.43 million in foundation grants between 1995 and 2005. Three foundations affiliated with the conservative Scaife family in Pittsburgh gave NLPC $1.18 million of that total.
Mollohan became the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee in January 2003.
Mollohan believes NLPC filed its 2006 complaint against him because of the major role he played in preventing Republican leaders from weakening House Ethics Committee rules.
There was never anything to the charges made by the group. If there was anything, under Karl Rove's direction, the DOJ would have brought charges against Mollohan.
Instead they aimed a smoke machine at Mollohan and then tried to claim there must be a fire -- all tied to defeating him in the 2006 election as opposed to tied to actual wrong doing. The GOP and their right wing allies went after Mollohan because he wouldn't make life easy for Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff.
For those of you who read what this blog frequently, you know I criticize Democrats more than Republicans because Democrats are the ones in power. When Republicans were running government in Washington, I spent more time pointing out how misguided their ideas and political philosophy are. Now, what the GOP says or does is largely irrelevant.
As we enter Election Season 2010, it's good to remember all the ways that Democrats who represent West Virginia do a good job. For example, the majority (though not quite all) of my disagreements with Reps. Mollohan and Rahall are around the single issue of coal. I feel they over-emphasize the importance of coal to West Virginia and under-represent the interests of the other 90% of the state's economy.
But, putting that aside, there are many ways that Reps. Mollohan and Rahall do a great job of looking out for the interests of the average West Virginian. This is something that all liberals and progressives in the state should be proud of. I was reminded of that this week when the NAACP released their score card for 2009 votes on a broad range of civil rights issues.
The NAACP score card covers votes on issues related to economic justice--things that directly and indirectly make a positive impact on the lives of West Virginians.
Thank you Rep. Alan Mollohan and Rep. Nick Rahall for a job well done in 2009.
The field for the West Virginia Representatives to the U.S. House is complete. Here's the candidates who have filed for office in each of the three district races.
The Candidates
WV-01
Alan B. Mollohan (Democrat) from Fairmont, Marion County
Mike Oliverio (Democrat) from Morgantown, Monongalia County
Cindy Hall (Republican) from Wheeling, Ohio County
Patricia VanGilder Levenson (Republican) from Wheeling, Ohio County
David B. McKinley (Republican) from Wheeling, Ohio County
Sarah Minear (Republican) from Morgantown, Monongalia County
Thomas Stark (Republican) from Parkersburg, Wood County
Mac Warner (Republican) from Morgantown, Monongalia County
WV-02
Virginia Lynch Graf (Democrat) from Charles Town, Jefferson County
Shelley Moore Capito (Republican) from Charleston, Kanawha County
WV-03
Bruce Barilla (Democrat) from Bluefield, Greenbrier County
Nick Joe Rahall II (Democrat) from Beckley, Raleigh County
Lee A. Bias (Republican) from Barboursville, Cabell County
Marty Gearheart (Republican) from Bluefield, Mercer County
Conrad G. Lucas II (Republican) from Huntington, Cabell County
Elliott E. "Spike" Maynard (Republican) from Williamson, Mingo County
What to expect
WV-01 While six different Republicans bloody each other up to face the incumbent Alan Mollohan he'll have, on paper at least, just as tough a challenger in the Democratic primary. The primary challenge from the conservative Democrat Oliverio may be a blessing in disguise for Mollohan if it brings out Mollohan supporters early and awakens a campaign apparatus that was dormant when he ran unopposed two years ago. The national GOP want WV-01 to be a high profile race, but with the recent clearing of Mollohan of any criminal wrong-doing in a long-simmering FBI probe, Mollohan can now focus on building up a war chest. Rep. Mollohan may have to campaign harder than usual, but with the advantages of incumbency he should have no returning for another term.
WV-02 After facing a well-supported and well-financed challenge by DCCC-recruited strong challenge by DCCC-supported* candidate Anne Barth in 2008, Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is breathing a major sigh of relief this year. The DCCC and state Democrat party was unable to recruit any high profile candidates for this race. Democrats are lucky that grassroots activist Graf has stepped up to challenge Capito, so the seat remains contested. Graf benefits from no primary challenge so can immediately focus on Capito and a general election campaign. Capito has 'bought a landslide' two cycles in a row, Graf can only hope Capito is complacent and gets caught by surprise if the Graf campaign catches fire.
* Updated: In my haste earlier, I may have left the wrong impression. To clarify: Anne Barth was well supported by the DCCC once she entered the race; State Sen. John Unger was the original DCCC-recruited candidate up until he unexpectedly dropped out just prior to the filing deadline. Also, although Anne Barth did well with fund-raising, she was still out-spent by Rep. Capito by around 3:1.
WV-03 Incumbent Democratic Nick Rahall will have no problem dispatching Barilla in the primary. Former Democrat Spike Maynard is widely expected to be well funded by Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship and prevail in the Republican primary field. A Rahall vs. Maynard general election will almost certainly be a hugely negative, substance free affair. This race will draw national interest--after all, can you think of any other congressional candidates who have inspired Grisham novels? In the end, the interest will benefit Rep. Rahall's fund-raising and he'll be returned for yet another term.
West Virginia Republicans last hope for defeating Rep. Alan Mollohan fell as the Justice Department ended the investigation into him with no charges. Despite all the noise by the GOP, the four-year investigation that went on for years under the political machinations of the Bush "Justice" Department has come to an end.
The Justice Department has shuttered its nearly four-year investigation into the personal finances of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), freeing the 14-term lawmaker to pursue what could be a tough bid for reelection without the lingering cloud of a federal criminal probe.
Tough reelection? Let's hope the Republicans believe their own propaganda. If the Republicans can find an opponent who didn't lie to boost his or her resume like their past challengers have done and if the RNCC provides HUGE amounts of money to a potential challenger will I believe the Republicans really think they have a shot. The WV GOP will make a lot of noise, but look for Rep. Shelley Moore Capito to help squelch any national GOP efforts to recruit and fund a real challenger to Mollohan. She does not want a potential rival for other offices in the state to come from within the state party that she controls.
In any event, a Republican challenger would have to get by Mollohan, who has been highly effective despite the mud thrown at him by the Republicans.
In a statement, Mollohan said the investigation was sparked by a conservative watchdog group's partisan actions. The probe was launched when he was serving as the top Democrat on the House ethics committee.
"For nearly four years, in the face of a politically-motivated assault on my character, I have continued to fight for jobs and the working families of West Virginia. With this behind me, I am more determined than ever to stand up for the people of the First Congressional District and fight for what matters," Mollohan said.
If I was Rep. Alan Mollohan hearing the GOP noise machine winding up, I'd be thinking: "Oh, please don't remind anyone of all those appropriations I've brought home to West Virginia."
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
Good afternoon, West Virginia Blue readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos.
Our fearless leader has his own open thread on the front page, but these stories are a bit more focused and we do have The Most Important News of the DayTM
I'm too pissed about the amendment forced through for a vote by Bart Stupak (D-Mich) to write a full-fledged diary about it. There's a lot of excellent coverage at FDLACTION (emphasis mine):
Multiple sources are reporting that Stupak's anti-abortion amendment, that would basically prevent all insurance plans sold in the individual and small group market from covering elective abortion, is expected to pass. It would be the most far reaching restriction place on abortion at the national level in years. Moments ago on MSNBC, Bart Stupak (D-Mich) affirmatively said that his amendment will pass.
I warned last week that Reps. Rahall and Mollohan were actively supporting Rep. Stupak. If you're unhappy about that, contact them now and urge them to vote against the Stupak amendment. Tell them health care reform is no time to limit access to legal health care procedures.
(We're not there yet, but if the Stupak amendment passes it's fine with me if any liberal legislators decide to vote against the entire bill because of it.)
Update Call Rep. Capito, too. She's a member of the pro-choice Republican woman's caucus. She is supposedly pro-choice (even though most of her supporters think otherwise). This is the moment of truth. Call and make sure her office knows you are paying attention.
The core premise of health reform is that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. Yet for the millions of women whose current insurance plans include coverage for abortion care, that promise may be broken today.
Congressman Stupak wants to place new restrictions on abortion and deny women this coverage. However, the House bill being voted on today already contains a compromise that reflects the status quo and current law: It prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion but still allows women to use their own money to buy the coverage they need.
We recently discussed the lingering ethics questions regarding Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV).
This week brings a small revelation. Via TPMMuckraker, here's a summary of the story the Washington Post broke this week.
But nearly all of the new stories show that the members in question were cleared of wrongdoing, and it's worth asking how much new information has really come to light.
There are a few new details on the probes of Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Alan Mollohan (D-WV).
It also contains some potentially bad news for Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV). The Post reports:
The Justice Department has told the ethics panel to suspend a probe of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), whose personal finances federal investigators began reviewing in early 2006 after complaints from a conservative group that he was not fully revealing his real estate holdings. There has been no public action on that inquiry for several years. But the department's request in early July to the committee suggests that the case continues to draw the attention of federal investigators, who often ask that the House and Senate ethics panels refrain from taking action against members whom the department is already investigating.
The Post article concludes its section on Mollohan:
Mollohan said that he was not aware of any ongoing interest by the Justice Department in his case and that he and his attorneys have not heard from federal investigators. "The answer is no," he said.
As I said in early October:
I've read CREW's report on Rep. Mollohan each year they've included him on their list and I certainly don't like the sound of their allegations. But, I can never get a sense if there's any "there" there. And, as the years pass the only new damning information we learn is about how politicized the Bush Dept. of Justice was--nothing new has come out about Rep. Mollohan.
West Virginia voters deserve a prompt resolution to the investigation on Rep. Mollohan. If there was any wrong-doing, prompt action is warranted. If there was not, Rep. Mollohan deserves to have the cloud over his head lifted.
Fairness WV's statement on today's historic Senate vote on the passage of the Hate Crimes Bill is at the fairnesswv.org site. This is the first piece of major legislation to recognize the entire LGBT community. It allows US Attorneys to prosecute crimes that might not otherwise be prosecuted by local law enforcement because of stereotypes and prejudice. Fairness thanks out entire congressional delegation for supporting the bill. Although Senator Byrd was not present for the final vote for the bill, he voted for cloture earlier in the day. Senator Rockefeller, Congresswoman Capito, Congressman Mollohan, and Congressman Rahall all voted for the bill. Fairness WV lobbied all five of our federal legislators.
I think it is important to hold Congress accountable. I like the idea behind the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report. Congress does a poor job of policing itself for ethics violations and voters rarely punish incumbents for all but the most egregious of violations, so it is laudable for any organization to attempt what CREW does.
A government watchdog group has released its annual list of the most corrupt members of Congress and it includes eight democrats and seven republicans. Melanie Sloan is CREW's executive director. She says lawmakers are automatically put on the list if they're under federal investigation.
"Most of the investigations obviously have to do with money. That somebody accepted money in return for some kind of legislative assistance or misused their authority and their power to improve their financial status or that of their families."
CREW says the list is smaller than last year and most of those on it are under investigation, including Senator Roland Burris and Representative Jessie Jackson Jr.
And, this is where a good idea falls apart in implementation. A major flaw in CREW's list is the presumption that a legislator under investigation is necessarily corrupt.
President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton were not corrupt just because there was on politically motivated investigation opened into a land deal in Arkansas. Likewise, no Congressperson is corrupt just because a politicized Bush administration Dept. of Justice opened an investigation about them.
This brings me to this year's list.
The 15 most corrupt members of Congress
* Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
* Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
* Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
* Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
* Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
* Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
* Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
* Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
* Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
* Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
* Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)
* Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
* Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN)
* Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
* Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
It's quite likely that at least a few of these members are indeed corrupt. Odds are good that one or more will be charged with wrong-doing before their term of office ends. (The publicly available information about Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), and Rep. Don Young (R-AK) are all cringe-inducing.) It's also quite likely that one or two will have open investigations closed for lack of evidence or lack of merit.
Rep. Mollohan
Several years ago the Bush administration Dept. of Justice announced an investigation into Sen. Alan Mollohan. During that election cycle, the RNC invested heavily in his district as a targeted pick-up opportunity. It was all for naught--the investigation has not resulted in any charges and Rep. Mollohan cruised to re-election.
I've read CREW's report on Rep. Mollohan each year they've included him on their list and I certainly don't like the sound of their allegations. But, I can never get a sense if there's any "there" there. And, as the years pass the only new damning information we learn is about how politicized the Bush Dept. of Justice was--nothing new has come out about Rep. Mollohan.
Representative Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV) is a fourteen-term member of Congress, representing West Virginia's 1st congressional district. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee, where he is chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; he is also a member of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies and the Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
Rep. Mollohan's ethics issues stem primarily from misuse of his position on the Appropriations Committee, from which he has steered hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to family, friends, former employees and corporations in exchange for contributions to his campaign and political action committees. In addition, Rep. Mollohan misreported his personal assets on his financial disclosure forms. He is currently the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The congressman was included in CREW's 2006, 2007, and 2008 reports on congressional corruption.
Earmarking of Funds for His Personal Benefit
Over the past ten plus years, Rep. Mollohan has earmarked $369 million in federal grants to his district for 254 separate programs. Between 1997 and 2006, $250 million of that total was directed to five nonprofit organizations that were created by Rep. Mollohan and staffed by his friends. During the same period, top-paid employees, board members and contractors of these organizations gave at least $397,122 to Rep. Mollohan's campaign and political action committees.
If Rep. Mollohan accepted campaign donations in direct exchange for earmarking federal funds to the nonprofits run by these donors he may have committed bribery and honest services fraud in violation House rules prohibiting dispensing special favors and engaging in conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House.
In June 2004, Rep. Mollohan, his wife, and two top aides took a five-day trip to Bilbao, Spain. The trip, arranged by the West Virginia High Technology Consortium and costing over $36,000 ($7,800 of which constituted the Mollohans' expenses), was paid for by a group of government contractors to whom Rep. Mollohan funneled more than $250 million in earmarked funds. By soliciting funding for his trip to Spain from TMC Technologies one month after TMC received a $5 million contract as a result of an earmark from him, Rep. Mollohan appears to be in violation of the illegal gratuity statute as well as House travel rules.
Rep. Mollohan continues to maintain a close relationship with several companies that either have office space in the complex run by a non-profit sponsored by the congressman or are clients of Robison International, a lobbying firm that has been a major campaign supporter.
Also, Rep. Mollohan's family foundation has received free rent and administrative services from a Mollohan backed non-profit while it accepted donations from companies supported by the congressman through earmarks.
Financial Disclosure Forms
Between 2000 and 2004, Rep. Mollohan went from owning assets of less than $500,000, generating less than $80,000 in income in 2000, to at least $6.3 million in assets earning $200,000 to $1.2 million in 2004. As of 2005, Rep. Mollohan's reported personal assets were worth at least $8 million and his liabilities were in excess of $3.43 million. In June 2006, Rep. Mollohan was forced to file two dozen corrections to his past six financial disclosure forms. If Rep. Mollohan knowingly filed inaccurate financial disclosure statements he broke the law prohibiting false statements.
(Their report continues with more details on the Dept. of Justice investigation.)
West Virginia voters deserve a prompt resolution to the investigation on Rep. Mollohan. If there was any wrong-doing, prompt action is warranted. If there was not, Rep. Mollohan deserves to have the cloud over his head lifted.
Money and Politics
As the CREW executive director noted, the tap root of ethics problems in Washington is money. One way to minimize the corrupting role of money in politics is public financing of elections. Another is to further lengthen the time limit between working in Congress and lobbying Congress. Recent reforms to make the earmark process more transparent are another helpful step.
CREW is working towards laudable objectives. I hope their efforts bring greater attention to those Congresspeople with the most egregious behavior and encourages the Obama Dept. of Justice to make well-informed decisions about case files opened by the politicized Bush administration.
Debate and votes on amendments have been going on over the lasttwo days. My understanding is that this claws back the fees and subsidies to private banks for making student loans, re-invests 88% of those the savings back into community colleges, schools in areas with natural disasters and increases in Pell Grants, then returns $10 billion over ten year to the General Fund. Some colleges already have decided to skip private banks.
Agreeing to the Rule for Debate #703 241-175 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
And since there are no funds for ACORN in the bill, Rep. Issa (R-CA) has a motion to recommit and amend the bill to defund ACORN. (I consider it a cheap trick.) #718 345-75 Mollohan NO
Rahal NO
Capito AYE
Final Passage H.R. 3221 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes #719 253-171 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
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This week brings a small revelation. Via 
