Businessman catching fire in Mollohan’s district has tax liens

Businessman Mac Warner is rising in the polls in next week’s GOP primary in Rep. Alan Mollohan’s (D-W.Va.) district, even as his family’s business deals with myriad troubles, including several previously unreported tax liens.

A lawsuit filed by PNC Bank against Warner and his family’s collapsed rental housing business in February shows the business owed tax liens in Monongalia County of more than $23,000, as of mid-2009. And a separate document shows the Warners owed a lien of $10,000 in 2003.

The news comes as internal GOP polling shows Warner has surpassed former state Sen. Sarah Minear in polling and is running first in the key Clarksburg and Parkersburg media markets in Mollohan’s district. The national GOP favors former state Del. David McKinley in the race, and the underfunded Warner is threatening to play spoiler.

Warner’s campaign declined to comment on the tax liens, citing the fact that Warner put his assets in a blind trust when he launched his congressional run. The liens were issued before that time.

“We simply cannot comment on this either way, whether it’s accurate or not,” Warner campaign manager Anthony Conchel said. “Clearly we are shooting up in the polls, which explains McKinley’s desperate attacks in these final days – only days after he said he instructed his campaign not to go negative.”

Conchel referred comment on the liens to Warner’s brother, Kris Warner, who is also listed in the PNC suit.

Kris Warner, a former state Republican Party chairman, said the $10,000 lien was issued because the county lost an insurance form the Warners had filled out. He said the lien has been satisfied.

The other $23,000 in liens stem from a court case involving the $29 million development project the brothers embarked upon on the West Virginia University campus in Morgantown, W.Va., before the economic crisis hit. Mac Warner is a minority partner in that project.

Kris Warner sought to distance his brother from whatever financial problems the family business has. He said PNC is trying to get whatever it can out of a settlement, so it’s throwing everything it can at the brothers.

“Anything that PNC listed there, you haven’t seen our side of that case,” Kris Warner said. “That’s what the whole process is for.”

He did not deny that tax liens exist, but he emphasized that they are on the business and not Mac Warner individually.

“I’m not going to say unequivocally there are no liens anywhere on the business; that’s not the case,” Kris Warner said. “But it’s not something that would reflect in any way on Mac’s candidacy or Mac personally.

“I don’t think Mac is running from that. He’s a 25 percent owner, but he was not a managing owner.”

When the bank that loaned the Warners the money – National City Bank – went under, it was acquired by PNC in what has been described as a “shotgun marriage.” An ensuing conflict with PNC over their loan has left the Warners $14 million in debt and forced them into Chapter 11 bankruptcy as they seek to reorganize their business.

The situation has also led them to sue the city of Morgantown for the conduct of its fire and building code inspectors, who the Warners say harassed and intimidated them, according to the Associated Press.

But it hasn’t kept Warner from running an increasingly successful campaign for Congress. Mollohan’s seat has emerged as a top GOP target, especially with the incumbent’s ethical problems and the conservative nature of the district.

The primary is May 11. Mollohan also faces intra-party opposition from state Sen. Mike Oliverio. Either way, GOP leaders have made his seat a top priority.