Six Degrees of Alan Mollohan
Roll Call Staff
“We’ve contributed to Mr. Mollohan and we’ve benefitted from earmarks, but there is no plan involved there,” Guerreri said. “We contribute to a lot of people, many people we don’t get earmarks from, and it’s mainly because we believe they represent our views on issues.”
Guerreri also said his company’s mentorship of Azimuth and donations to the Mollohan foundation are simply extensions of a broad company culture of being involved in the communities where the EWA has offices and providing a helping hand. He said the company has mentorships with several other small businesses around the country and has a long list of charitable commitments.
Guerreri also said that before the high-tech center and office park were established, there was no top-quality office space available in Fairmont. His company’s first office in the area was a converted garage, he said. After the buildings were built, they were a natural draw for the EWA and other companies looking to do business in the area.
DN American/Innovative Management and Technology Services
Nash Patel came to West Virginia in the late 1980s to join his family’s hotel business, he told the Charleston State Journal in 1998, but he “had the opportunity to go see Sen. Byrd and Congressman Mollohan talk about diversifying the state’s economy and building a technology center and to me, that seemed the golden opportunity to come in on ground zero and be a part of building something.”
Patel created a company called DN American, which produces software and IT products for federal government customers, aided by earmarks from Mollohan.
Patel was a founding member of the WVHTC, and was named to Mollohan’s 2000 task force to review its operations. In 2005, he sold the company to Innovative Management and Technology Services, a company owned by his brother Chirag Patel, who still has an office in the Mollohan Innovation Center. Employees of the two companies have provided at least $33,000 to Mollohan’s campaigns and PAC since 1998.
Asked by Roll Call about whether donations made by employees had any connection to earmarks the company received, Chirag Patel said, “I’m not aware of any of those activities. ... I’d rather call you back because this is very sensitive information.” He did not call back.
Mollohan’s office did not answer repeated requests for comment on this story.
There can be an element of “Six Degrees of Alan Mollohan” in tracking the connections between the Congressman’s earmarks and his small circle of friends.
For example: In March 2007, Mollohan wrote an earmark request letter seeking $4 million for West Virginia pallet manufacturer Greenpak to provide “logistics support capabilities” to the Navy. Greenpak is based in Parkersburg, on the far western edge of Mollohan’s district, and company employees do not appear to have ever donated to Mollohan’s campaigns.
But Greenpak has been a big supporter of events for wounded veterans through the Armed Forces Foundation, which lists West and IMC’s Hytner as board members. Greenpak has on several occasions provided transportation and other assistance to the foundation for hunting events designed specifically for disabled veterans. The company has also hired Robison as its lobbyist.
According to press releases and news accounts, the lead organizer of the disabled-veteran hunting events sponsored by Greenpak was Lt. Col. Lew Deal, a retired Marine, who testified in July before a House Natural Resources subcommittee about the importance of providing adaptive equipment such as wheelchair-accessible hunting blinds to the military for wounded veterans. Deal is involved with several veterans organizations and is listed as national programs director of Friends of American Heroes, a group that provides outdoor recreational opportunities for disabled vets, and as an outdoor sports volunteer for the Armed Forces Foundation.
Deal’s other title is director of outdoor programs and support services for Robison International. He is listed as a lobbyist on Robison’s 2007 registration form for American Growler, a company that manufactures wheelchair-accessible blinds.
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