Since Rep. Alex Mooney first stepped into West Virginia to run for Congress in 2014, political observers in the state say that he hasn’t been around much. Now allegations of ethical violations around a trip to the Caribbean could bury him.
A report by the Office of Congressional Ethics found there is “substantial reason to believe” that Mooney, a Republican, acted improperly by taking his family on an all-expenses-paid holiday to Aruba in 2021 and had his office staff do the prep work. HSP Direct LLC picked up the nearly $11,000 tab.
Mooney rejected the ethics office’s report and said it included “factual misrepresentations, evidentiary exaggerations, and plainly wrong legal conclusions.”
The Trump Factor
Mooney won a bitter Republican primary earlier this month — a race that centered mainly on the bipartisan infrastructure law. Had the ethics investigators’ findings been available earlier, perhaps voters would have wisely decided to abandon Mooney and instead support Rep. David Mckinley, another Republican who was his main opponent in the recently redrawn district.
McKinley voted in favor of the infrastructure legislation, which has helped West Virginia recruit two businesses so far, and it will bring in millions of dollars to improve roads and bridges. McKinley also voted to form a bipartisan committee to investigate Donald Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection.
That was all it took for Trump to enter the primary fray and endorse Mooney, boosting him in a state that Trump easily carried. Energy companies and business groups supported McKinley, as did Governor Jim Justice and Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat.
The ethic’s office report stated that it is “likely” that Mooney impeded investigators “by providing false testimony and withholding evidence or making edits to his calendar.”
Holding Him to Account
Mooney has run for office in New Hampshire, Maryland, and West Virginia. He left Maryland for West Virginia shortly before the 2014 congressional races. Forbes labeled him “the portrait of a political prostitute” — someone who craves power and who will do anything to get it. He had never voted in West Virginia before this race, nor had he paid property taxes.
Mooney maintains his travels and campaign spending are legal. Besides having HSP Direct allegedly fund his family vacations, the ethics office is looking into whether he illicitly used about $50,000 in campaign monies to pay for routine meals and family outings. The staff appears to have ratted him out. U.S. taxpayers pay them to perform ‘official business,’ not run personal errands for their congressman.
Indeed, the luxury $11k trip to Aruba is the act of an arrogant politician — a man who thinks the rules don’t apply to him. It’s time for this to change. Mooney must be held to account for his actions.
