By Justin Rood, TPMmuckraker.com
November 30, 2006
The leadership ambitions of two senior Democrats have already been deep-sixed for their murky ethics histories. Here's a third Democrat heading for a powerful post whom folks may want to keep an eye on.
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is under investigation by the FBI. And he's set to assume a top post which would put him in control of the FBI's budget. Neat trick, eh?
The FBI's probing Mollohan for possible violations of the law arising from his sprawling network of favors and money which connects him to good friends via questionable charities, alarmingly successful real estate ventures, and hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked funds.
The investigation appears to be active and ongoing. We're told that the Feds continue to gather information on the guy. Yet the Democrats look poised to make Mollohan the chairman of the panel which controls the purse strings for the entire Justice Department -- including the FBI.
With the House under GOP control, a Republican (FBI champion Rep. Frank Wolf) chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies, and Mollohan is the ranking Democrat. But if custom is any guide, in January when the House becomes Democrat-controlled the two men are likely to switch seats.
Some folks find that problematic.
"Mollohan should definitely be recusing himself from all appropriations decisions regarding the Justice Department, including the FBI," said Melanie Sloan, director of the left-leaning D.C. watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). For Mollohan, there is the danger of even appearing to manipulate the Justice Department's budget in response to its probe. For the FBI, it creates possible charges of soft-pedaling their investigation in exchange for favorable funding, Sloan said.
By the same token, she added, GOP Reps. Jerry Lewis (CA) and John Doolittle (CA), who are also appropriators under federal scrutiny, should recuse themselves from overseeing the same matters. Her group named Mollohan, Lewis and Doolittle as among the most corrupt lawmakers of 2006.
Mollohan's chairmanship of the panel "just represents a situation that shouldn't happen," said Ken Boehm of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, whose own investigation into the long-serving lawmaker brought many of his questionable practices to light. "Somebody shouldn't have leverage over the institution that's investigating him."
Ultimately, the decision to give Mollohan the chair rests not on custom but on Rep. David Obey (D-WI), incoming chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, which oversees Mollohan's panel and several others. Combined, those powerful panels oversee hundreds of billions of dollars of discretionary government spending each year.
After news of the FBI probe broke in April, Mollohan gave up his seat on the House Ethics Committee. But his position and activities on the Appropriations committee did not change.
Obey's office did not immediately return my call; neither did Mollohan's.