W.Va. congressman offers documents to rebut group's charges 

W.Va. congressman offers documents to rebut group's charges

Real Estate

W.Va. -- Answering allegations from a conservative group that have spawned a federal investigation. U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan asked the House Clerk's office on Tuesday to correct or amend 19 items on his financial disclosure reports dating back to 2000. But the West Virginia Democrat said the "relative handful of unintentional and immaterial mistakes" fail to amount to the more than 250 "misrepresentations and omissions" the National Legal and Policy Center alleged he had made in his reports. The 12-term congressman also released several documents to rebut those allegations. including a statement from one of his accountants explaining the jump in personal worth seized upon by the group in its allegations against him. The firm of Braund Eiler & Vasko has done accounting for Remington LLC. which owns rental units in Washington. called The Remington. Remington LLC has Mollohan. his wife and another couple as its shareholders. The Allison Park. Pa.-based firm said shares in Remington have greatly increased with skyrocketing real estate values. "When the underlying asset of that stock investment is real estate. and when that real estate is located in a market that is experiencing rapidly escalating values. it really doesn't take much appreciation in a single unit to greatly affect the value of a block of units." Managing Partner Blair Eiler wrote in the May 9 letter to Mollohan. Mollohan also released his disclosure report for 2005. which said the value of his assets increased by at least $1.6 million over the prior year to a minimum of $7.9 million. His non-congressional income.012. Real estate holdings in Canaan Valley and North Carolina account for the increases. "The documents prove that the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has wildly exaggerated the inadvertent errors on my past financial disclosure statements." Mollohan said in a release. "They also show that NLPC is dead wrong in implying that I have improperly benefited from my office." The group filed a 500-page complaint against Mollohan with federal prosecutors in April. but has declined to release that report to The Associated Press. Group Chairman Ken Boehm questioned whether a booming real estate market can explain why Mollohan's assets grew by a minimum of $6.1 million between 2000 and 2004. Boehm called Mollohan's disclosures on Tuesday a "quasi-validation" of the allegations. "These are not isolated. inadvertent mistakes." Boehm said. "He has not begun to address all of the problems." Four of the changes to Mollohan's reports reflect incorrect dates for financial transactions. Another four correct income from Remington to Mollohan and his wife that had been underreported by a total of $30.820 in 2002. The amendments also add that Mollohan borrowed $2.3 million from the United Bank in Virginia in 1999 to refinance loans relating to The Remington. But Mollohan said such loans are normally exempted from disclosure. citing advice he received on the topic at the time from counsel to the House ethics committee. "I also note that the net effect of reporting the loan (a liability) and the note receivable (an asset) is zero." Mollohan wrote. Mollohan further stated that he started reporting a 2003 refinancing of those loans when he and his partners withdrew more than $1.5 million as part of that deal. Besides Mollohan's assets. Boehm's group has targeted the federal appropriations he has secured for nonprofits in his district. The FBI has subpoenaed records from at least some of those nonprofits since Boehm's group filed its complaint in April. Facing re-election this year. Mollohan was pressed by House Democratic leaders later that month into stepping down as the ranking minority member of the House ethics committee. He is also on the House Appropriations Committee. and is a ranking member of one of its funding subcommittees. Get home delivery of the Daily Press for less than $3.33 a week.
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