WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Congressman Dale R. Wurthen (R-OH, 14th District) sits down to describe his legislative record, he does so with the quiet confidence of a man who has, by his own count, passed forty-one bills into federal law over the course of three decades in the House of Representatives. That is, by any measure, an impressive number. By almost every other measure, however, it is something else entirely.
An investigation by The Proceedings Today — conducted over three weeks and requiring access to archives that two different Library of Congress staff members described as "the room we don't really go into" — has established that every single piece of legislation bearing Congressman Wurthen's name follows an identical structure: it renames a federal building, bridge, plaza, or post office that was itself renamed by a previous Wurthen bill, which renamed something renamed by an earlier Wurthen bill, in an unbroken chain of self-referential civic rebranding stretching back to January 14, 1987.
That original bill — H.R. 112, the "Federal Facilities Modernization and Nomenclature Clarification Act of 1987" — renamed a urinal alcove in the basement of the Hart Senate Building from "Utility Recess B" to "Senator Harold G. Munch Memorial Utility Recess B."
Everything that followed was, in the congressman's own words, "built on that foundation."
"This Is How Laws Work"
"People don't appreciate the cumulative power of legislative precedent," Wurthen told The Proceedings Today from his Capitol Hill office, which is decorated with forty-one framed bill signings and a motivational poster that reads RESULTS above a photograph of a post office. "Every bill I've passed cites the last one as an established precedent. That's not a gimmick. That's jurisprudence."
His most recent bill, signed into law last March, renamed the Thaddeus P. Wurthen Memorial Federal Building in Akron — named after the congressman's uncle by a 2019 Wurthen bill — to the Thaddeus P. Wurthen and Associates Memorial Federal Building, following a constituent letter requesting the addition of the words "and Associates." The constituent, it emerged during our reporting, is the congressman's cousin, Gerald.
The 2019 bill that created the original Thaddeus P. Wurthen Memorial Federal Building renamed the Harold Greer Community Post Office, which had been named by a 2011 Wurthen bill, which renamed the Route 9 Federal Distribution Annex, named by a 2004 Wurthen bill, which renamed — and here the archival trail becomes genuinely moving in its consistency — the Maplewood Postal Facility, named by a 1999 Wurthen bill, which renamed a parking structure, which had been renamed from a different parking structure, which, in 1991, was renamed from something described in the original filing only as "the area near the thing."
Experts Weigh In, Mostly Quietly
Dr. Pamela Horrocks, a senior fellow at the Institute for Legislative Studies at George Washington University, reviewed the complete chain at our request. She was silent for approximately forty-five seconds before responding.
"This is," she said carefully, "technically legal."
She added that while no formal rule prohibits a congressman from constructing what she termed "a self-perpetuating nomenclature ecosystem," she was not aware of anyone having done so with such commitment over such a long period of time. "At some point," she observed, "you have to ask what the buildings themselves think about all this."
The Congressional Research Service, asked to comment, confirmed that Wurthen's bills do qualify as passed legislation and that nothing in House rules specifically addresses the scenario of a lawmaker renaming his own renamings in perpetuity. A spokesperson noted that the CRS would be "happy to prepare a full report on the matter" and estimated delivery sometime in the next fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the Hart Senate Building's facilities management office confirmed, upon inquiry, that the original 1987 Munch Memorial Utility Recess has since been converted to a storage closet, and that no plaque was ever installed. Senator Harold G. Munch, it should be noted, served one term, introduced no legislation of note, and is perhaps best remembered — if at all — for this.
The Congressman Remains Undeterred
Wurthen, for his part, is already working on bill number forty-two. He describes it as "landmark" and "a natural evolution of everything that came before it." It will, he confirmed, rename the Thaddeus P. Wurthen and Associates Memorial Federal Building in Akron to the Thaddeus P. Wurthen, Associates, and Regional Stakeholders Memorial Federal Building, following a second letter from Gerald.
"I don't know why people make legislating seem so hard," the congressman said, leaning back in his chair with the serenity of a man who has never once been troubled by a policy question. "You find something that works. You stick with it. That's leadership."
His office did not respond to a follow-up question asking whether any of the buildings in question have ever been visited by the congressman.
A junior staffer, speaking on background, said that Wurthen had driven past the Akron building once in 2017 and described it as "bigger than he expected."
The chain currently spans thirty-seven years, fourteen counties in Ohio, one Senate basement, and a parking structure whose original name has been lost to history. Experts say it will almost certainly continue. The buildings, as noted, have no comment.
