10 things about Alan Mollahan
1. Mollohan, born in Fairmont, W.Va., in 1943, was a child when his father, Robert Mollohan, was first elected to Congress in 1952.
2. After earning a degree in politics from the College of William and Mary, and then studying law at West Virginia University, Mollohan worked as a corporate attorney from 1970 to1982 for a Washington, D.C., firm.
3. He married his wife, Barbara, a school speech therapist, in 1976. They have five children.
4. In 1982, Mollohan followed in his father's footsteps and won election to Congress. He has been re-elected in every election since.
5. He is a Baptist who strongly opposes abortion and has chaired the House Pro-Life Caucus for years. He's known to be conservative on social issues but tends to vote with the Democratic Party on other issues, such as the Bush tax cuts.
6. A building named in his honor, the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center, located in his hometown of Fairmont, is a computer software testing center in the heart of a high-technology corridor.
7. Mollohan decided to step down as the highest-ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee in early 2006 amid an investigation into his personal finances and as questions surfaced regarding millions of dollars' worth of earmarks that he allegedly won for projects and groups in his home district.
8. Mollohan's historically Democratic district was unhappy with President Clinton's policies on coal and the environment and voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004.
9. Mollohan is a hunter and supports gun owners' rights.
10. With his powerful seat on the House Appropriations Committee, he has steered money to projects in West Virginia, which he hopes will create jobs.
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