Mollohan Under Fire

Before the FBI and IRS stepped up the probe of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, by searching his home Monday, a House member tried to highlight the federal scrutiny of Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-1st.

Rep. Steven King, R-Iowa, proposed dedicating $1 million in the FBI's budget "to continue and accelerate their investigation so that they can either move forward to completion, or clear the individual who sits underneath this cloud."

While not identifying Mollohan by name during his July 25 floor speech, King cited how "a former member of the Ethics Committee stepped down from the Ethics Committee to avoid the appearance of impropriety during an investigation."

"And yet, since that investigation began," King continued, "the same Member has opted to step forward and take on the gavel of the very appropriations committee that deals with the funding of the investigation that's being conducted."

King referred to press reports regarding Mollohan's appropriations earmarks, personal finances and real estate transactions.

King also quoted from an appearance by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the House Judiciary Committee.

"I asked the Attorney General if he was intimidated... If the chairman of the Justice Appropriations Committee happened to have been under that kind of scrutiny, would that affect the kind of prosecution that takes place out of your Justice Department with regard to that particular Member of Congress?''

"I make no allegations about guilt or innocence," King said. "I simply say that there is a huge question of impropriety when the chairman of justice approps has in one hand the gavel, and in the other hand the pursestrings that funds the very people that are conducting the investigation."

The amendment brought several House members to their feet.

"He has offered an amendment which does absolutely nothing in order to give him an opportunity to talk about something he says he doesn't want to talk about," said House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis. "Only in Washington would that be believable."

"I'm, indeed, sorry that this amendment has been brought to the floor," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J. "I think it is totally inappropriate."

Mollohan also responded.

"I would suggest that the gentleman, number one, has expressed a greater knowledge about any investigation than I have," Mollohan said. "Perhaps he has inside knowledge about it. But I could not tell you actually if it exists, because I have never been approached with regard to it."

King persisted.

"I didn't hear a response to the question about the intimidation factor and, in fact, the appearance of impropriety that the man holding the gavel is also holding the purse strings of the agency that is doing the investigation, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and a number of other publications across this country," King said.

(In his floor speech, Obey had said "The fact is that that gentleman in question has recused himself from all matters relating to the FBI, the Attorney General, the Criminal Division, and U.S. attorneys. That's why I am here on the floor handling those portions of the bill today.")

King's amendment, to a U.S. Justice Department appropriations bill, failed 19-389.

Mollohan and Reps. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, and Nick Rahall, D-3rd, voted against the amendment.

Another 16 House members, meanwhile, merely voted "present."

The Congressional record has the transcript of King's remarks and the responses.

The Hill has a story on the episode.