When you rent office space at the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center or the West Virginia High Technology Consortium office park, one had better be prepared to pay more than just rent.

Mollohan, D-W.Va., received $38,800 in campaign contributions so far in 2009 from companies located at the Mollohan Innovation Center or the office park, which is managed by the Mollohan-created WVHTC.

The Mollohan Innovation Center opened in 1996 and came complete with a bronze bust of Mollohan. Located in the Interstate 79 Technology Park, the building serves as the headquarters for the WVHTC.

West Virginia Watchdog determined which companies have offices in the complex from a Google Maps search of the address “1000 Technology Drive, Fairmont,” which lists 29 companies and nonprofits at that address. We also used an article by reporter Paul Singer, writing for Roll Call. Singer obtained a tenant list for for the building and office park.

2009 campaign donations to Mollohan came from the following entities located at the center and/or office park:

• $9,600 from individuals associated with Information Manufacturing Corp. and $4,800 from National Interest Security Company, which bought Information Manufacturing Corp. in 2007.
• $4,400 from ManTech International Corp.
• $10,000 from employees of Northrop Grumman Corp.

The WVHTC was created by Mollohan in 1990. According to a report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the foundation received $35 million in earmarks, part of which was used to build the Mollohan Innovation Center.

James L. Estep is currently President, CEO, and a board member for the WVHTC. He was active with the Institute for Scientific Research, also created by Mollohan in 1990. ISR received $102 million in earmarks from Mollohan to complete a $130 million headquarters before merging with WVHTCF in 2000.

The ISR headquarters project was managed by the Vandalia Heritage Foundation, created by Mollohan in 1998. ISR board member Laura Kuhns is the current President of Vandalia. She was a staff member of Mollohan’s before she, and her husband, took jobs with the McCabe-Henley real estate company – co-owned by State Sen. Brooks F. McCabe Jr., D-Kanawha – in 1994. The Mollohan Innovation Center was developed by McCabe-Henley. Prior to her job with McCabe-Henley, Kuhns was Executive Director for the WVHTC.

WVHTC owns several companies: Innovative Response Technologies, Biopharmance Inc. (dissolved in 2007), National Corrections and Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center, Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization Inc., HT Foundation Holdings, Tech Park Non-profit Holdings, and Vertex Non-profit Holdings.

Also located in the Mollohan Innovation Center is the Canaan Valley Institute, another Mollohan-created non-profit specializing in stream restoration. Electronic Warfare Associates maintains office space at the center. Dr. Frank W. Blake, EWA President and CEO, is on the Board of Directors for WVHTC.

Getting most of EWA’s work is Azimuth, a software development company also located in the Mollohan Innovation Center. In the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill Mollohan earmarked a total of $4,080,000 for Azimuth’s U.S. Navy projects. Over the last three election cycles, starting from 2004 to 2008, Mollohan received $41,100 from Azimuth employees. In 2004 Azimith helped underwrite Mollohan’s five-day trip to Bilboa, Spain. This trip was financed by several defense contractors and non-profits to the tune of $36,000.

Mollohan also maintains connections to other companies located in the Mollohan Innovation Center, including Northrop Grumman, Toothman Rice, the National White Collar Crime Center, ManTech, and DN American. These companies either receive earmarks from Mollohan or donate to Mollohan, the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation, or to Summit PAC.

West Virginia Watchdog will be taking a look at the little-known Summit PAC tomorrow.

Check out our Mollohan coverage:

• Mollohan and Vandalia Team Up Again for Armory
• Vandalia Gives Thousands to Mollohan
• Mollohan Earmarks Money for New Vandalia Project
• W.Va. Earmark Report: U.S. House of Representatives
• BREAKING: Justice Dept. still Investigating Mollohan
• Controversial Earmarks Plague Mollohan

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