WASHINGTON —  For nearly a quarter of a century, Rep. Alan Mollohan largely has been absent from the national stage, content with winning elections and bringing home the bacon to his northern West Virginia district.

But this year, the Democratic congressman found himself a casualty of the partisan ethics fracas on Capitol Hill. He was forced to resign his post as ranking member of the House ethics committee, threatening — at least temporarily — his party's plans to make the “culture of corruption” a major campaign issue for next month's midterm elections.

“For the first time, Alan Mollohan was bringing national attention to West Virginia, but for a very disgraceful reason,” says Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Emboldened by Mollohan’s perceived fall from grace, Republicans are running an aggressive candidate, businessman Chris Wakim, in hopes of ending a Democratic hold on this district that has lasted nearly a century.

Mollohan's troubles have been eclipsed by the more recent scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who resigned Sept. 29 over lurid electronic e-mails he sent to teenage House pages. Nevertheless, Mollohan, 63, was forced in April to respond to allegations that he had used his seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee to secure more than $150 million for five non-profit groups in his district, one of which was run by a former congressional aide.

Mollohan's financial disclosure statements also have come under scrutiny. His personal wealth ballooned from $550,000 from 2000 to to $6.3 million in 2004.

The allegations triggered a federal investigation, but there have been no formal charges against Mollohan, and the ethics committee has not taken any action against him. However, he stepped aside from his ethics post last spring after newspapers and colleagues suggested he make the move.

Mollohan responded to the charges in detail, saying his real estate investments grew with the market, accounting for the increase in earnings, while the funding for the non-profits coincided with a planned project to bring a multimillion-dollar high-tech corridor to Fairmont, W.Va.

He also attacked the group that sent the allegations to federal prosecutors, the National Legal and Policy Center, which has a reputation for filing complaints against Democrats.

“Any reasonable person who reviews the activities and funding of this organization will inevitably conclude that it is not a government-ethics watchdog, as it claims to be, but instead it is an ultra-conservative, politically motivated group that merely masquerades as a government-ethics watchdog,” Mollohan said in an April statement.

However, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is often attacked by Republicans for being too partisan, named Mollohan in September in its annual survey of most corrupt politicians on Capitol Hill.

Mollohan’s office did not reply to repeated requests for an interview for this story.