Brody Mullins is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Based in Washington, D.C., he is an investigative reporter covering the intersection of business and politics. The awards committee chose Brody Mullins’ fine reporting for the Wall Street Journal on the intersection between lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his top lieutenants and key House Republicans. In particular, the judges noted his front page story, ‘The End of the Affair,” about the ties between current and former aides to Republican Leader Tom DeLay, calling the piece an absolute ‘must read’ in Washington the day it broke. By piecing together the personal and professional relationships between Tony Rudy, Michael Scanlon, and DeLay aide Emily Miller, Mr. Mullins took a complicated corruption scandal and gave it a personal dimension that anyone could understand. His reporting and writing about Miller and Scanlon’s broken engagement, which eventually turned Ms. Miller into a federal witness against Mr. Scanlon, pierced through the minutia of detailed federal lobbying laws and ethics guidelines, giving a human face to the scandal and educating his readers as to how corruption can brew in the offices of the powerful in Washington. Mr. Mullins started his career in Washington at National Journal’s CongressDaily and later at Roll Call, where he covered Congress and lobbying. He joined Dow Jones in March 2005 as a reporter covering tax legislation on Capitol Hill. In 2006, he began writing broader investigative stories about Congress and lobbying as well as stories about the culture of Washington. Mr. Mullins won an award from the National Press Club for best political reporter under the age of 33 for a series of stories published in the Wall Street Journal on corruption in Congress. Born in Washington, D.C., Mr. Mullins graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois. He now resides in Washington, D.C.
2006 Brody Mullins
Brody Mullins / The Wall Street Journal