With a new Congress comes new faces, or in this case familiar faces in new places. Rep. Darrell Issa from CA-49 officially took over the House Oversight Committee this week, and his to-do list is a mile long. I'm proudly working on the Courage Campaign project IssaExposed.com to set the record straight about Issa's record of extreme partisanism and shady dealings, plus hold him accountable during his tenure.

On Wednesday, Courage introduced Darrell Issa to our members with the email below the fold. Issa is gearing up for an unprecedented volume of investigations and hearings into every corner of the Obama Administration- just hoping something will stick. It's crucial, especially from here in California, that we do whatever we can to keep him in check.

I hope you'll check out this new project and help us spread the word about our work and the true Darrell Issa!

“I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks.” — Incoming Republican House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, 11/8/10

Have you ever heard of Darrell Issa? 

If not, starting today, you will. Darrell Issa is a member of Congress from right here in Southern California. He's the newly minted chair of the House Oversight Committee, which has sweeping power to subpoena and could serve as the tool to dismantle nearly everything that Barack Obama and progressives have built in the last two years.

Will you join us to fight back at www.IssaExposed.com?

On this first day of Republican control of the House, they've already announced a vote to repeal healthcare reform next week (1). They know it'll die in the Senate, but they'll waste everyone's time putting on a show for the Tea Party. And then, they'll pass the dirty work off to Mr. Issa who will use his committee to dismantle healthcare reform piece by piece.

But it's not just healthcare. Mr. Issa and his right-wing Tea Partiers will attack America from a position of power: Deny climate science. Bash the stimulus. Fight the EPA. Resist full equality. Undermine the repeal of DADT (2).

Who is Darrell Issa, the new grand-inquisitor?

Indicted for felony grand theft and twice arrested on illegal weapons charges (3). Instrumental in convincing the Bush White House to fire Carol Lam (4), the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the corrupt Duke Cunningham — then refused to comply with a subpoena in a related case (5). No stranger to hypocrisy, he's requested hundreds of millions in earmarks–including some for his biggest campaign contributors — despite calling the practice “tantamount to a bribe.”(6)(7)(8)

Learn more at www.IssaExposed.com, and then please forward this link to five friends.

Effective today, and despite his own checkered past, Issa is now in possession of some of the broadest oversight and subpoena powers in Washington — powers he's already promised to focus on repealing health reform (9), attacking the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” (10) and putting big corporations in charge of his committee (11).

As a California based, national progressive organization, the Courage Campaign has a special responsibility to expose the truth about Darrell Issa's reckless, partisan agenda. And with thousands of members in his district, the Courage Campaign will hold him accountable for his record and his behavior. Together, we must stand up to his extremism and prevent him from pushing our country into the abyss.

Please help build an army for accountability — join us at Issa Exposed, and spread the word to five of your friends.

Thanks for all you do,

Rick Jacobs
Founder and Chair, Courage Campaign

P.S. Holding the right wing accountable is a full time job. That's why if you haven't yet, I hope you'll become a Courage Campaign subscriber for the new year. Every dollar makes a huge difference.

(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/health-care-repeal-vote-s_n_803883.html
(2) http://www.scribd.com/doc/38795482/A-Constitutional-Obligation-Oversight-of-the-Executive-Branch-September-22-2010
(3) http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/201006010007
(4) http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/article_30f2ef2d-3fdb-53a1-8b1e-bbdb9d3ae252.html
(5) http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5897.html
(6) http://issa.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=61
(7) http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00007017&type=I
(8)http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=597872157
(9)http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/27/reclaiming-the-right-to-oversight/
(10)http://macsmind.com/wordpress/2010/12/28/rep-darrell-issa-r-ca-will-have-hearings-into-how-dadt-study-findings-were-manipulated/
(11) http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/46995.html