March 5, 2010
 
EDITORIAL: Rahall's Portrait: Something That Only Makes Sense in D.C.
 
True, the money used for Congressman Nick Rahall's portrait was not taxpayer's money.
 
But that's the only good news in this symbolic story of how the culture of Washington D.C. differs so much from Main Street U.S.A.
 
According to a recent story in Roll Call, Rahall, Chairman of the House National Resources Committee, was able to use a loophole in the laws establishing gift bans for federal office holders. No prohibitions exist for donations to help pay for "official portraits" of House committee chairs. As a result, Rahall became one of the very first to take full advantage of this loophole and established a "portrait fund committee." This committee, in turn, receives its checks to pay for the portrait through the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, a Congressionally chartered non-profit.
 
Conveniently, because of this organization's non-profit status, donations are...tax-deductible. Isn't that nice? So Nick Joe's friends can not only pay homage to their favorite House Committee Chair--they can get a tax write-off, too.
 
But of course the real issue is what kind of influence is being sought by such donations? House Committee Chairs can have significant influence over key pieces of legislation that are of great importance to corporate or even individual donors. The appearance here is grotesque: the donors help feed the egos of the House Committee Chairs, helping to pay for a grand portrait of the politico in question. In exchange, they obviously hope to cultivate the influence of the House Committee Chair.
 
In just six months last year, Congressman Rahall was able to secure $17,500 in donations from contributors including: Consol Energy, CSX, and Union Pacific, among others. Will any of these organizations come before Rahall's committee?
 
Do birds fly?
 
And just what kind of portrait is this that costs $17,500? Will gold leaf be involved?
 
Congressman Rahall is becoming a poster child for all that is going wrong with Washington, D.C. with little stunts like this one. Nothing rankles the voters more than the appearance of an elected leader becoming high and mighty-- increasingly detached from the reality of life beyond the D.C. beltway.
 
Regular folks in a tough economy don't have corporate friends to buy them a $17,500 portrait. But more importantly, they expect their elected legislators, especially those chairing federal committees, to have no appearance of impropriety.
 
Rahall should pay for the portrait himself, returning the donations to restore the public's trust in him as an elected official and House committee chair.