Congressional money handlers could face new restraints

Clarksburg Newspaper risks committing Journalism but saves Itself at last!

The Clarksburg Exponent Telegram attempts a journalistic high wire act by talking about Mollohan's problems without discussing the problems for which he is under investigation. The Sunday edition for April 30, has the headline, "Expert: Tough to police earmarks".

This is not breaking news. Unfortunately no one, let alone members of congress seem to be interested in policing them; and finally, the gist of the complaint against Mollohan is that 250 deficiencies exist in his mandatory financial filings with Congress.

One or two, ok; three or four, well, maybe; but come'on, 250 lapses causes an investigation. The staff writer, Gary A. Harki, is playing a shell game with the underlying facts causing the investigation. The article changes the subject to say, "hey, look how much money is going into the district".

The New York Times editorial had it right, "The congressman created what looks like a patronage machine that rewards him with campaign contributions from grateful nonprofit executives who often owe their jobs to him — one of them at a $500,000 salary paid by federal earmark." This is what a good local newspaper should address.

How about an investigation piece on how Mollohan's 300 Acres along the river will benefit as the Canaan Valley Institute improves his water?

Part of the allegtions against Mollohan is that his friends who run the non-profits also benefited. Harki senses no irony that the heads of the nonprofits, who benefited, come to Mollohan's defense. Isn't that a little like asking the Younger brothers if Jesse James was a bad guy?

Is it better to be a Christian or a Muslim in Harrison County?

A few weeks ago, Board of Education candidates were discussing the "Head of Christ" portrait hanging in the corridor of Bridgeport High School.

We Christians believe that our religion is one of Peace and Love. One fellow, adamant in his righteousness, said that if anybody desired to take that picture down he would meet him in the parking lot after the public meeting. That was not an invitation to prayer but an invitation to be beat up by someone who disagreed with you

Muslimism has been described in the press as being a religion of Peace and Love. The week before the meeting described above, many millions of my countryman were outraged to hear that an Afghanistan man was to be put to death because of his conversion to Christianity. Other than a difference in degree (death vs getting beat-up) there is no difference between the implementation of these two religions of Peace and Love as advanced by the people involved.

The difference in America is the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights which would make such behavior as murdering or beating up people with whom you have a religious difference a crime. The courts have interpreted the constitution in such a manner as to ensure that religion is a matter of conscience. And on matters of conscience there is no such thing as majority rule.

One might think that the whole debate over this portrait thing would lead to an opportunity by the community leaders to re-teach this generation of adults the meaning of civics. Ironically, a government board with the word "Education" in its title proposes to play on the ignorance of an impassioned group rather than do what they think they do best, which would be to educate. That in itself is reason enough to vote them all out of office.

New York Times -- F.B.I. Set to Present Subpoenas to Lawmaker's Nonprofits

By JODI RUDOREN

The F.B.I. has notified three nonprofit organizations created by Representative Alan B. Mollohan and financed primarily through special federal appropriations he steered their way that they should expect subpoenas soon for financial and other records.

Mr. Mollohan, Democrat of West Virginia, stepped down from the House ethics committee last week over accusations of financial impropriety that stem largely from a complaint the conservative National Legal and Policy Center has filed with the United States attorney in Washington.

The nonprofits at issue are the Vandalia Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Scientific Research and the Canaan Valley Institute. The F.B.I.'s notification to them has occurred over the last two days and signals that the bureau is looking deeper into the 500-page complaint, which among other things suggests ties between the special appropriations, or earmarks, and Mr. Mollohan's personal real estate investments.

Mr. Mollohan's office did not return repeated calls yesterday. Nor did Vandalia's president, Laura Kurtz Kuhns, whose ownership of vacant lots on Bald Head Island, N.C., with Mr. Mollohan and their spouses is a prime focus of the conservative group's complaint.

Though Ms. Kuhns could not be reached, an official of Mr. Mollohan's network of nonprofit groups confirmed that Vandalia had been told to expect a subpoena. And leaders of the two other nonprofits — Kiena L. Smith, Canaan Valley's executive director, and James L. Estep, president of the Institute for Scientific Research — said they planned to cooperate fully with the F.B.I.

Mr. Estep said an investigator for the bureau called the institute's office yesterday to get confirmation of the mailing address and warn of a coming "informational subpoena."

Mr. Estep, who also heads the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, a nonprofit created by Mr. Mollohan that has not been contacted by the authorities, added: "They're welcome to come into either organization, and we will provide whatever they want and answer whatever questions they have. We have nothing to hide."

Ms. Smith said her receptionist took a call Wednesday in which an F.B.I. representative promised a subpoena for financial records within "a couple of days."

"We have 10 public audits, it's fine," she said. "Anybody can look at our records. They're public information."

Parents

Parents. Do you allow your children's grandparents to run your family? Then why would you allow them to run your school system? Just a thought as I listen to a candidate on the Tim Brady show.

On the Importance of having someone saying you have Good Character

Al Capone and John Gotti used members of the clergy as character witnesses. How can you think badly of someone when a respected man of the cloth comes to their defense. If you, dear reader, ever choose to go on a crime spree have enough criminal-common sense to tithe to a church, give to the poor and donate to charities and hospitals. This is a matter of civic duty that will cause your accusers to have a tough time convincing a jury that you are capable of committing crimes to enrich yourself. Part of your defense strategy would be to call upon the administrators of your largesse to voluntarily disclose to the media what a great and generous guy you had been; even if it was not your money that you gave away. I always liked John Gotti's sponsored Italian Pride Day where the great contributions of Italian-Americans were reviewed and the existence of the Costra Nostra was denied. All of this comes to mind as I read Father Thomas Acker's hagiography of Alan Mollohan in the State Journal.

John Raese's Reagan focus anchors Campaign in the Past

The Charleston Gazette - Editorials

You Are Where You Live

"This is a link to Hotline which is one of the sources for the story which raised questions as to John Raese's place of residence. The link was provided by an anonymous commenter responding to a piece that I wrote about the young Mr Hamrick's radio appearance. You can look there for the writer's entire comment. There is much more to the article than what I pasted here. ....G"

John Raese, a well-known West Virginia industrialist, lives with his wife Liz and two daughters in a sun-baked mansion abutting the intercoastal waterway in Palm Beach, Co. Florida.

The Raeses love their home; Liz Raese volunteers at her daughters' school nearby. And for the past several years, Florida law has rewarded their fealty by subtracting $25,000 from their tax assessments -- a homestead exemption that any permanent resident of the state can claim.

WHAT?

High Fuel Prices Blamed for Expensive Gas by Scott Ott (2006-04-22) — A spokesman for the U.S. oil industry today said the cost of gasoline at the pump has increased lately due to the high cost of fuel. Industry expenses have increased substantially for company cars, corporate jets, tank trucks, ocean-going oil tankers, shipping refinery parts and other operations dependent on petroleum products, the unnamed industry source said. “When the high price of fuel jacks up the cost of delivering gasoline to the consumer, we need to recover that cost some way, and that means higher prices at the pump,” he said. “That’s just petroleum economics 101.”

16 Day Deadline! We move News at the Speed of Covered Wagons!

I can not let this pass. On April 7, 2006 the Wall Street Journal published a front page article on our own Congressman, Alan B. Mollohan. The following day April 8, The New York Times had a front page, above the fold, article on our congressman. All concerning the violation of ethics charges made against him, the co-chairman of the Ethics Committe in the House of Representatives.

Sixteen days later, the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram gets around to writing their first editorial concerning the allegations. The paper did carry a small number of Associated Press stories in the last two weeks, but, and let's be careful here, the news story they did on Sunday's front page ("Vandalia CEO mulls lawsuit amid allegations") was not much more than a "let's circle the wagons" effort for Laura Kuhns to explain that she did nothing wrong as CEO of Vandalia. It adds nothing in the way of news that was not all ready covered in other news stories. In fact, the story liberally quotes from other newspapers. It is interesting that the headline references mulling a "lawsuit amid allegations". The story doesn't discuss that. You can read the article without understanding what she plans to sue over. In my reading of the outside-Clarksburg news sources no one has accused her of anything criminal. Does she protest too much?

The Waldo Hotel, The Mollohan Hotel and Vandalia

It is refreshing to see the Clarksburg Newspaper take an interest in a story that affects Harrison County, the Vandalia Development Corp and Congressman Mollohan all on the front page of the same newspaper on the same day. I was wondering if this was some anniversary issue where they attempt to relive some perceived glory days of Clarksburg journalism. Now, what are the chances that the Exponent-Telegram will follow up with meaningful analysis?

Here are some ideas with which they can follow-up if their new found impetus for journalism continues. Just a couple of short years ago Vandalia referenced some study they had commissioned with respect to the Waldo Hotel in which they claimed it would cost $12 million to refurbish the hotel. Today's front page article quotes Ms Kuhn's as saying that it will now take $20 million to refurbish the hotel. Has anyone asked her about the source for the new estimate? Has another bid been sought; has someone else provided a professional estimate or engineering analysis? Or, is CEO, Ms Laura Kuhns, making this up as she goes along?

Based on the Wall Street Journal article, The New York Time's article, the Washington Post's article (most of which have been referenced on this blog) and other articles from across the country, Vandalia has received over 90% of its budget from Congressman Mollohan's earmarks. It doesn't have a record of raising money any other way than to have it handed to them from Mollohan. Suddenly, Vandalia Heritage Foundation is looking for "private investors to fund renovations" to the Waldo Hotel. This is code for "we can't do it; but we'll string you along for as long as we can."

I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised for their success. It seems to me, however, that the CEO is posturing Clarksburg for a let down. Let's assume that the ear-marks for Mollohan's 5 non-profits are going to dry up because of the recent bad publicity. That means no ear marks for the Waldo Hotel and no revenue stream for Ms Kuhn. So the price of the renovations is jacked up from $12M to $20M. Now let's make it more difficult and announce that we need private investors to put up the money. Aside from the fact that Vandalia is a private investor itself and it doesn't seem anxious to invest any more, where are these private investors going to come from? They haven't been there before.

Do you think the new Clarksburg City Parking Garage will make the difference? The garage was planned specifically because of promises by Mollohan's representatives to upgrade the hotel. I heard that first hand from the old City Manager in 2001. The City kept its part of the bargain to make Vandalia's an economic success by dedicating resoures and changing the physical character of Pike Street to accomodate the hotel. Get ready for a let down. Sometime after the general election there will be another announcement that no investors had been found, but they are going to keep looking and looking and looking.

Let's cut to the chase and honor our member of congress in the fashion that he so much desires. Rename the Waldo Hotel, "THE MOLLOHAN HOTEL". It will then stay in the forefront of his thoughts.

In the meantime, consider that Laura Kuhns is just the wrong person to get this job done. The person we need is Barbara Mollohan, the wife of our congressman. She has a proven record with real estate in downtown areas. If she can do for "The MOLLOHAN HOTEL" what she did for the "Remington" at Foggy Bottom in Washington, DC. , then Pike Street has a bright future ahead of it.

You can go to the local newspaper here and register at their site, should you care to.

Mollohan Steps Aside

The top Democrat on the House ethics committee, Alan Mollohan, will leave the panel -- at least temporarily -- while he defends his own financial conduct, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday.

A Party with One Candidate

Earlier in the year there was some fear and trepidation among the local Democrats that Mr Blankenship was going to spend a lot of money in Harrison County to defeat members of the legislature to punish incumbents who were not falling in line with his desired tax revision proposals; sales tax on food, among others. The point was also to change the party balance in Charleston.

Good plan except for the part that the Harrison County Republican Party has no candidates who can win. Or, candidates, period. There is a Republican vacancy for the State Senate seat and 3 of 4 vacant seats essentially remain for the House of Delegates. Jay Wolfe's name is on the ballot but it is said that he has dropped out and will not campaign.

Who does that leave?

It leaves an 18 year old Liberty High School senior, Danny Hamrick, to carry the Republican banner as the GOP representative to the public to appraise and critique the incumbents' performance while attempting to engage the public in an alternative vision of what the state government could be doing.

I wonder if die-hard Republicans have a feeling similar to the Cavalry- mounted Polish generals who watched in amazement as the German tanks rolled across the horse-drawn army in 1939 as the German's defeated Poland. The German's were not right; they were better equipped, armed and prepared. Not to mention the element of surprise.

So, why vote for Danny? Because. Check out the voting record of the incumbents. Is there one who has never deviated from the direction of the Democratic Party leadership? Is there one candidate who is good at back-slapping, glad-handling, griping and grinning, but who has never originated a piece of legislation who has never opposed a position held by his committee's chairman or the Speaker of the House? Who never gives a direct answer to what he's for or against? In other words, an incumbent who has made no difference if he ever served or not. He could save the tax payers money by staying at home and mailing or phoning in his vote, once the party leaders told him how they wanted him to vote.

A vote for Danny is a guarantee that the Democratic leadership will have one less automaton in the House that will automatically rubber stamp what is demanded by the democratic party bosses. Plus it is a good way to pay back the insult of having an incumbent who does nothing in Charleston except socializes and takes for granted his re-election.

Charleston Paper asks Mollohan to Step Aside

Our congressman would have us believe that it is another right wing conspiracy launched from the White House that is out to get him. Alan is being victimized, I guess. Those arch radical-right publications, The New York Times and The Washington Post, have opined that Rep Alan Mollohan should step aside from his responsibilities on the Ethics Committee until such time as his behaviour with congressional earmarks have been resolved. Was he running a patronage machine or a campaign financing machine to send federal dollars to a non-profit he created to have that organization skim off a percentage of the salaries to be returned to him in political contributions? In total, four hundred and some thousand dollars, it is alledged was received that way. Today a Charleston Newspaper calls for Mollohan to step aside. What do you think?

Sometimes it's just hard to remember what you own!

The State Journal asked Mollohan during the Clarksburg interview whether he owns any other property. Mollohan said he did not. Then, this week, Mollohan told the Charleston Daily Mail he owned a house in Canaan Valley that he and his wife purchased with his parents, Helen and the late Robert Mollohan, in the mid-1990s. He said Barbara and he purchased a lot next to that house, as well as two other lots in Tucker County. He also told the Daily Mail he and a childhood friend purchased a farm along the Cheat River in Tucker County in 2005. The Tucker County Assessor's Office shows Mollohan owning a bit more than that. In total, Mollohan owns part or all of just fewer than 305 acres in Tucker County.

Alan B Mollohan's Financial Statements

This is where you can read for yourself the financial statements that Alan Mollohan filed as yearly requirement as a member of Congress. The issue is, in part, about the veracity and accuracy of the data that was filed and submitted to Congress. It has been claimed that 250 errors/mistakes/falsehoods/lies/oversights were made on the forms (pick your descriptive word). The organization that made the 9 month investigation claimed that they traced legal documents that were part of the public record, such as deeds, to come to the conclusion that there was some level of deceit going on in these submissions. The forms themselves tell you nothing about the inherent value of the property claimed except what the person who filled out the form represented the values to be.
It is interesting to listen to "Martin", a frequent caller to the Tim Brady show. He is the ultimate appologist for Mollohan. He presents on a daily basis the type of counter argument we all watched to convinced the jury that OJ Simpson didn't do it. If a counter theory can be invented, he's your guy. He might have made a better defense lawyer for politicians instead, as someone claimed, of someone who seeks personal riches by suing public institutions like WVU and the City of Clarksburg at the drop of a hat.
He ventilated today that if he could see these financial reports he could tell us all in 5 minutes the kind of "depreciation" that was being used to establish value. Knowing that, he was sure, would straighten everything out. Actually, the issue surrounds the idea of "appreciation" over a few short years and the accuracy of the reports based on confirmation from public records spread out over many court houses in several states. That's why it took 9 months to do the research.

HE HAS RISEN! REJOICE! LOVE JESUS IN YOUR HEART KEEP THE SCHOOLS NEUTRAL