| By Bob Weaver
Congressman Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., has come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly directing federal money to friends and business associates in WV, with reports alleging he kicked-back money to campaign supporters.
Family, personal and political connections to Calhoun go back many years, from the days when his father Robert Mollohan was a congressman, having grown up in the county.
Robert Mollohan's home-place stood where the senior center in Grantsville is now located.
Mollohan and Calhoun's Morris family have a long held relationship, which was apparently used to obtain $200,000 to complete the Calhoun High School athletic complex, among other projects.
The Morris' have been close friends to both Robert and Allan Mollohan, including their making campaign contributions for his re-election, although Mollohan did not serve this congressional district.
Alan Mollohan has been appreciated for his wide financial support of Glenville State College.
Most of Mollohan's constituents in his district have issued statements supporting the congressman, indicating the current issues have been to remove him from office.
Joe Jarvis, a Calhoun native and third-cousin of Mollohan has been under the gun in the national media for his dealings.
The NY Times wrote about the Mollohan-Jarvis connection: "Mr. Jarvis, 74, and Mr. Mollohan, 63, share a great-great grandfather, and Mr. Jarvis's son, Skeeter, said his grandmother Mildred and Mr. Mollohan's Aunt Tib were best friends who lived next door in Grantsville, WV."
After the Jarvis' were involved in real estate for years, their company received three federal contracts or subcontracts between 1995 and 2000 from the U. S. Department of Energy.
A conservative group, the National Legal and Policy Center, is asking how Jarvis' company received those contracts in the first place, how he ended up becoming a government contractor.
The issue came to the surface after the watch-dog group spent nine months looking into Mollohan's finances and discovering his personal wealth increased several million dollars in four years.
The West Virginia Secretary of State's Office says that Jarvis incorporated a company called Arrey in September 1995 to do research and development of computer software technologies. His wife, Rosemary, was named the company's president, vice president and treasurer.
Ms. Jarvis, like her husband, had been in the real estate business.
The State Journal reports, "One year after Arrey Industries received its first federal contract, the Jarvis', Mollohan and the congressman's wife, Barbara, began buying condominiums in The Remington building in Washington, D.C."
Arrey Industries used to have an office in the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center at the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, but the company has now gone out of business.
They now own 27 units worth between $300,000 and $350,000 each. The Remington condos have tripled in value to $8 million in the past two years.
Among many other property holdings, Mollohan's real estate ownership in Tucker County is also being investigated. He and his wife own all or part of eight parcels, several of which are around Canaan Valley Resort and Timberline Four Seasons Resort, amounting to over 300 acres.
The NY Times reports Jarvis had $1 million debts in a personal bankruptcy case when he partnered with Mr. Mollohan in 1996, a few years after his aerospace company failed to fulfill its federal contracts and also filed for bankruptcy.
The NY Times reported "Among the issues are why Mr. Mollohan and his wife borrowed $2.3 million from a bank on the same day in 1999 that they and the Jarvis' loaned the partnership the same amount â both using the condominiums as collateral â and why these loans were not listed on the congressman's financial disclosure forms."
Records show that Jarvis walked away owing Mollohan's nonprofit group $67,681.63 in rent.
"Joe Jarvis was a great salesman â and one of the worst managers I've ever encountered," said J. Roderick Heller, who sat on the board of Airspace and was one of the few investors to eventually get his money back.
"He's like the prospector who's out looking for gold. He finds 99 dry holes, and there's another one over the ridge, and he's sure the 100th is going to have gold," he said.
Mollohan claims the federal subcontracts and the purchase of real estate had nothing to do with each other.
He said the rapid increase in is net worth is simply explained that the property was purchased cheap and the values rose very rapidly.
"This really is not that complicated," he said.
"I think the motives that are behind it (allegations) are very apparent. They are political," Mollohan concluded.
Read under News Archives 5/14/06 CONGRESSMAN MOLLOHAN IN HOT WATER - Vandalia Groups Under Scrutiny
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