Bloodless Coup

Alan Mollohan Bought a Farm

There are still more questions than answers in the allegations being made about the congressman from WV-1, but the Wall Street Journal (and does anyone else find it interesting that so many of the stories about Mollohan are starting in that publication?) adds more today:

Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, the West Virginia Democrat whose real-estate holdings and financial disclosures have drawn federal scrutiny, last year bought a 300-acre farm with the head of a small defense contractor that had won a $2.1 million contract from funds that the congressman added to a 2005 spending bill. The joint purchase of the farm, which sits on the Cheat River in West Virginia, is the most direct tie yet disclosed between Mollohan and a beneficiary of the federal spending he has steered toward his home state. It raises new questions about possible conflicts of interest by Mollohan and his use of such spending. House ethics guidelines warn lawmakers to avoid business deals with those who benefit from their official acts.