Rahall Used Congressional Stationery to Help Son
In February 2005, as his troubled son was facing felony robbery charges in Virginia, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) wrote a letter to a Fairfax County judge on congressional stationery, imploring him to show mercy on the then-27-year-old Nick Joe Rahall III.
Nick Joe Rahall, the congressman’s only son, was given a four-year suspended sentence, avoiding prison time in this instance despite being incarcerated twice in the previous four years.
Rahall acknowledged to POLITICO that he should not have used congressional stationery for the Feb. 14, 2005, letter but said it was not the same type that he uses for official or committee business. House ethics rules bar the use of congressional stationery for anything but government-related activities.
Rahall also denied that his son was granted any special breaks because of Rahall’s status as a member of Congress or because of his intervention.
“I should have used different personal letterhead,” Rahall said in a statement to POLITICO. “Back then, as I do now, I keep a supply of personal noncongressional stationery on hand. In the emotions of the moment I may have drawn from the wrong stack of paper, but my message was 100 percent from the heart of a father. I would send the message again in a heartbeat.”
Rahall added that he “will be reimbursing the Treasury [Department] for the paper.”
But Republicans have targeted Rahall — first elected in 1976 — for defeat this year, and the GOP could use this incident with his son to attack him. Spike Maynard, the GOP candidate, has cited Rahall’s support for failing to derail a Democratic climate change bill.
“This raises troubling questions about how else Rahall may have abused his office and broken the public trust,” said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Another defendant in the same case, Melissa Overheu, was sent to prison for 11 months.
Read more: (John Bresnahan, “Rahall plea for son raises questions,” Politico, 08/12/2010)