Congressman Alan Mollohan D-WVA-1st has responded to accusations about his assets and business dealings.
Washington Post by Thomas B. Edsall April 14, 2006 Ethics Panel Democrat Defends Rise In Assets
Also in the Washington Post by Larry Margasak April 14, 2006 Rep. Mollohan Says He's Unaware of Errors
From CQ Today Midday Update April 14, 2006:
House ethics committee ranking member Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., is vigorously defending his financial disclosure statements and the appreciation in his real estate holdings a week after a conservative watchdog group accused him of hiding assets through 250 errors and omissions in his reports over the past decade. Republicans are pressing him to resign from the ethics committee because of the allegations.
Mollohan said he and his accountant have reviewed his annual financial disclosure statements dating back to 1996. “My review confirms my initial reaction to these serious charges — they are entirely and demonstrably false,” Mollohan said in a statement. “More to the point, these charges are outrageous and irresponsible.”
The congressman said the reports he has filed during his 12 terms in office may contain “inadvertent” mistakes, but not serious ones. The Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center has refused to disclose the research it says documents its allegations. But it has sent a 500-page report to the Justice Department. Justice officials have declined to comment on whether an investigation is under way. An official at the center said Mollohan’s rebuttal does not stand up to close scrutiny.
