Here at West Virginia Watchdog there is nothing we enjoy more than pouring through campaign finance disclosure forms. You just never know what you’re going to find.

This week we discovered that Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., is the number one recipient in the U.S. House of Representatives of campaign donations from Arab-Muslim Political Action Committees, one of which has ties to the terrorist groups Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Here is what that article DOES NOT say: It DOES NOT say that Rahall supports terrorism. To paint yesterday’s story in that light is unfair to us and most definitely unfair to Mr. Rahall.

Here is what the article ACTUALLY says: It ACTUALLY says that if you give a Congressman large amounts of donations, that person is probably more apt to support legislation and/or positions that align with the donor’s wishes. In this case it’s Rahall’s support for the lifting of an economic embargo of Gaza, which is ran by Hamas and has a history of shelling Israeli cities.

Many other Members of Congress support the lifting of the Gaza embargo and I won’t get into the politics of the situation; one can probably find fault in the actions of both Hamas and Israel during this conflict. But it is not wrong to point out the donations and it’s not fair to call yesterday’s story a “smear.” It’s not a smear if it’s based on solid fact. It’s always easier to bash the messenger than bashing the message.

Just take the situation with Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., for example. A Charleston newspaper wrote a piece exposing the National Legal and Policy Center as a conservative group intent on bringing the first district congressman down. Of course, it ignored the fine work of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal group that backs up the data compiled by NLPC (Disclaimer: Both NLPC and CREW have linked to our investigations of Mollohan).

Instead of attempting to discredit the information, that newspaper chose to demonize the group that compiled the information that resulted in a four-year investigation by the Department of Justice, simply because that group is considered to be conservative. The criminal charges may have been dropped, but the House Ethics Committee could resume their investigation, which was halted while the DOJ worked on their investigation. Regardless of the political leanings of a group, if the information is accurate than they should be applauded.

It is the job of the media to keep an eye on elected officials. One way to do that is to take a look at who donates. They all have to be watched regardless of party. Reporters are the consciences on the shoulders of those the public elects to serve. If unethical things are happening, we shine the light. Sometimes we get their attention and they clean up their acts, but sometimes they don’t get it. When that happens they either get voted out, get in trouble with their ethics committees, or get charged with a crime. No one is immune.

Look at Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., whose husband was hired as an executive at United Bank. He was qualified for the job, but West Virginia Watchdog felt it important to show how much money she had received from United Bank executives and employees between 2000 and 2009. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, which handles banking issues, we were a little concerned about how the hiring looked. But on her last disclosure form it showed she had stopped accepting donations from United Bank employees. She understood how it looked and cleaned up her act.

Every quarter we look at the top 10 donors for each of our Members of Congress. Now that there are several candidates running against the state’s incumbents we are also looking at who donates to them. I can assure you if we see as much as $1 donated to Republican Elliott “Spike” Maynard from Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, we’re going to surround it with neon lights. We’re going to watch them all and hold them to account.

Until the next disclosure is released, remember we accept tips. If you know of issues involving the misappropriation of tax dollars, conflicts of interest, political corruption, election shenanigans, etc., call or email us. We look into them all, Republican or Democrat.

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