Tag Archives: Darrell Issa

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Issa to Obama: I’m rubber and you’re glue.

I proudly manage the IssaWatch.com project for the Courage Campaign. 

As Sunshine Week — an annual, national push to make government more open and transparent — begins, we at Courage Campaign are calling for Darrell Issa to back up his rhetoric with action. After resisting calls for his own disclosure while criticizing the Obama Administration for similar, we're calling on Rep. Issa to disclose all the meetings he has with lobbyists. While this sort of hypocrisy is nothing new from Issa, the double-standard is particularly audacious. Rick Jacobs recently sent this message to Courage members explaining the effort.

I can't believe what Issa just said:

“The current lack of transparency lends credence to the perception that bureaucrats are picking winners and losers in a politicized environment where the winners are favored constituencies of the Administration.”-Darrell Issa (1)

What?! Lack of transparency? This coming from the Chairman of one of the most powerful Congressional Committees, who refuses to disclose which lobbyists he meets with?

Tell Issa to speak for himself. Sign our petition here demanding he disclose who he meets with.

Look, access is everything. That’s what our friend Rena learned while waiting in vain for three hours outside a private country club hoping to talk to her Congressman, Darrell Issa, about the challenges she’s facing as a small businesswoman, a mom, and a hard-working taxpayer with pre-existing health conditions.

When President Obama recently asked members of Congress to post who they are meeting with online — so the public knows who is really steering our ship of state — he gave people like Rena hope. Unfortunately, her Congressman dismissed this idea out of hand (2). But in doing so, he invited an obvious question: What does Darrell Issa, one of the most powerful people in government, have to hide?

Click here to sign our petition demanding that Darrell Issa let the sunshine in. Tell him to disclose who he’s meeting with.

As I wrote recently in a San Diego Union Tribune op-ed (3), the first thing Issa did as chair of the powerful Government Oversight Committee — after months of right-wing media grandstanding — was ask corporate lobbyists and right-wing DC insiders for wish lists to guide his agenda. His next move was building an oversight staff full of walking conflicts of interest (4), and appointing subcommittee chairs whose campaigns have been bankrolled by the very industries they are supposed to regulate.

Then, after voting to let insurance companies once again deny coverage to the 331,000 constituents (5) like Rena with pre-existing conditions, Issa held hearings on bank bailouts and the mortgage meltdown.  And with one in 10 homeowners in his district facing foreclosure (6), he inexplicably didn’t call a single banker or loan servicer to testify before his committee. Not one.

If we’re going to find out why, we need to find out who has access to Darrell Issa. Click here to sign our petition demanding that Issa come clean.

We already know who doesn't have access to Darrell Issa. Now it's time for Darrell Issa to come clean about who does.

Thank you for standing with us,

Rick

P.S. Darrell Issa is the richest member of Congress, supported by deep-pocketed corporate interests, but if we all join together, we can win this. Can you chip in $5 today and help us continue to hold him accountable?

 (1) http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/09/issa-zeros-in-on-health-law-waivers/?mod=google_news_blog

(2) http://thehill.com/homenews/house/140441-rep-issa-obama-feigns-perfection-on-lobbying-rules

(3) http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/24/chairman-issa-oversight-for-whom

(4) http://www.watchdoginstitute.org/2011/02/28/industry-insiders-score-jobs-on-issas-team/

(5) http://issawatch.couragecampaign.org/index.php/page/65

(6) http://issawatch.couragecampaign.org/index.php/page/74

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Darrell Issa prepares echo chamber to blast Recovery Act

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I’m proud to work with the Courage Campaign on the IssaWatch project where this was first posted.

As mentioned briefly on Monday, the Oversight Committee is gearing up for a Thursday morning hearing entitled “Waste And Abuse: The Refuse Of The Federal Spending Binge.” Over-capitalization and histrionics aside, the witness list marks Issa’s best attempt to date to assemble the ’27 Yankees of Obama administration critics to address the Oversight Committee.

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given Issa’s known ties to the broad network of Koch Brothers influence, but a number of the Koch’s heaviest hitters are represented here. Meanwhile, there’s no sign of anyone who might offer a perspective that doesn’t fit with Issa’s pre-established narrative of opposition to the Recovery Act.

The list of witnesses Issa’s assembled below the fold.

~ Gene Dodaro is the Comptroller General and head of the Government Accountability Office. The GAO is tasked with overseeing performance and accountability for the federal government. Dodaro is also currently in the middle of an Oversight investigation being spearheaded by Issa looking into whether the GAO destroyed evidence surrounding an amended report.

~ Dr. Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center has a long track record of pushing deeply conservative perspectives on spending, budget, and other fiscal issues. Her criticisms of the cost of health care reform is currently cited on the Koch Industries website, and she’s such a favorite of the Kochs that she was among the featured speakers at the Koch network’s June meeting in Aspen, where she helped outline the master plan through the election and into the future.

She can help provide some of her own introduction by way of her personal disclosure: “I work for the Mercatus Center and Charles Koch is the chairman of our board and one of our main donors.”

But it goes much deeper than that. The Mercatus Center was founded by Rich Fink — an executive vice president at Koch Industries, former president of Koch Foundations and currently the president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Fink also leads Koch Industries’ lobbying efforts in DC — which has spent more than $50 million to influence members of Congress in just the last five years according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And on and on.

In the years since Mercatus was founded, its host George Mason University has received more than $30 million from the Kochs.

~ Debra Cammer comes from IBM Public Sector. IBM put on a full court press in pursuit of ARRA funds, specifically around billions spent on providing the IT infrastructure to track and implement projects throughout the country. IBM put considerable resources into providing ‘bridge’ funding to help IT projects get off the ground and access ARRA support.

~ Vincent Frakes appears as the Federal Policy Manager at the Center for Health Transformation. This is a front-group for the health-care industry, insurance providers and other huge corporations used to oppose health care reform. It’s in his capacity at CHT that Frakes is also a featured member of the “Newt Team” — a network of organizational representatives that Newt Gingrich promotes for media appearances and speeches.

~ Also testifying is Thomas Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. That organization received particular attention back in 2006 from the Senate while they investigated the many crimes of Jack Abramoff. A Senate investigation found that Citizens Against Government Waste was among several organizations who played at the edge of the law with Abramoff:

The Senate report…states that the nonprofit groups probably violated their tax-exempt status “by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff’s direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff’s clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff’s clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff’s clients.”

CAGW is also notorious for providing astroturf cover to a wide range of corporate interests — including big tobacco, Merrill Lynch and Exxon-Mobil.

~ Finally, Andrew Moylan is the Vice President of Government Affairs at the conservative National Taxpayers Union. The Kochtopus has provided thousands to the National Taxpayers Union over the years, and Charles Koch was once a member of the NTU board of directors. Like CAGW, NTU has also received tens of thousands from big tobacco.

And so, for two hours on Thursday morning, American tax dollars will be spent on a hearing brazenly designed to tell Darrell Issa that he’s right. It won’t explore the many benefits of Recovery projects, nor respond to the struggles of Issa’s own constituents here in California. Instead of working to create jobs, it will be a two-hour, taxpayer-funded party to implicitly criticize President Obama and his administration. But what we need is a plan. We need jobs. This isn’t that.

You can follow this project on Facebook and Twitter.

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Rep. Issa: Investigate This Now

For weeks with the IssaWatch project, I've been working with the Courage Campaign to chronicle Darrell Issa's solicitation of conservative think tanks, industry groups and corporations for guidance on his committee's oversight agenda. We think it's time that Darrell Issa also hear from the constituents, Californians, and Americans who are relying on him for non-partisan, unbiased oversight in DC — not just those who demand access because they're rich and powerful.
Below the fold is the email that we've sent to thousands of Courage members asking for their input.


Last Saturday, the Courage Campaign helped organize a protest of the “Billionaire’s Caucus” — a secret political strategy meeting hosted by oil conglomerate Koch Industries for big polluters, Wall Street robber barons, right-wing media personalities, and those who do their bidding in Washington. They’ve given tens of thousands to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and his new Subcommittee Chairs. And now he’s giving them an unprecedented opportunity to pad their profits at taxpayer expense.  We will not let this stand.
Darrell Issa knows where his bread is buttered.
That’s why the first thing he did as House Oversight Committee Chair was to ask corporate lobbyists and his rich industry friends to tell him what to investigate.  In other words, Issa’s top priority was to make government even more responsive to the wealthy and well-connected.
It’s time to remind Darrell Issa who he works for.
From delivering earmarks to campaign contributors to holding secret meetings with lobbyists, Darrell Issa has a bad habit of treating his constituents as an afterthought.
Unfortunately, not one of the fat cats who received Issa’s letter are among the 1 in 10 homeowners in his district facing foreclosure, his 331,000 constituents with pre-existing health conditions, the 2.27 million Californians who are out of work, or the countless others who await the return of loved ones from Iraq and Afghanistan.
It’s time that Rep. Issa listened to the hard working families on main street—not just the lobbyists on K Street.
Chairman Issa works for us, as Californians and Americans, not for a select few corporate lobbyists. Help us remind him, by telling him what you want to investigate.
Thanks for your hard work,
Lucas
P.S.  Time and again, we’ve shown the only way to compete with big corporate power is with people power.  Please share this urgent message along to five friends and urge them to make their voices heard.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Election 2012

Who will be GOP’s sacrificial lamb against DiFi?

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Last week, PPP polling asked the Twitterverse what challengers they should test against Dianne Feinstein for her 2012 re-election campaign. It solicited a wide range of suggestions — some serious, some decidedly less so — including testing other Democrats given our state’s new top-two primary.

The results rolled out yesterday, finding to (hopefully) nobody’s surprise that DiFi “stomps the field.” The full pdf of results are here, where PPP doubled down on the dire, declaring “No hope for Whitman, Fiorina, Arnold, anyone.”

Before abandoning us for the Emerald City, Robert had an excellent series breaking down the long-term realignment that’s settling in in California, and these PPP numbers certainly reflect that. But it goes beyond simply an overwhelming lead for DiFi due to her perpetually superhuman support. PPP, through their own calculations and twitter suggestions, couldn’t come up with a single potential Republican candidate that hasn’t already run a statewide campaign.

And of all those tested- Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina, Darrell Issa, Steve Poizner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meg Whitman- only Campbell managed a net positive approval rating (+3). And he only pulled that off by being notably less known than the rest of the field.

Arnold’s at negative 40. eMeg a solid minus-22 and Fiorina at minus-19. A bare majority have an opinion of Steve Poizner, putting him at 13 points to the negative. And of the 48% who have an opinion of Darrell Issa, it’s an unfavorable one by a 2-1 margin.

In other words, it’s impossible to run statewide as a Republican without alienating people faster than you win them over. It hasn’t just left all recent GOP contenders in a deep hole, but it should scare off anyone thinking of using a doomed DiFi challenge as a boost to higher office- just running statewide from the right is a career-ender. The half-dozen California Republicans with leadership positions in the House have no reason to come back and end their careers, and the new House members ought to see these numbers as reason not to bother.

It’s a cycle that’ll feed on itself as long as the Republican party is set on a dead-ender agenda of hyper-conservative purity.

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Issa’s double standard marches on

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I’m proud to work with the Courage Campaign on the IssaWatch project where this was first posted.

Darrell Issa continues this week to apply a wildly different standard of disclosure to himself as compared to the Obama Administration. Issa’s request for a wide-ranging document release from the Department of Homeland Security concerned alleged politicizing of FOIA requests didn’t devlier what he was looking for, so he’s now refocusing and expanding the request. As the Hill reports, Issa is

asking for copies of e-mails between key White House officials. He is also seeking a series of interviews with top-level staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of his probe into the Obama administration’s transparency.

Last week, Issa requested that 180 agencies send him records showing how fast they respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. He also asked the agencies to explain why some FOIA requests are delayed more than others.

Using the issue as cover, Issa recently called for in-depth tracking of all people and organizations that submit Freedom of Information Act requests. Ostensibly intended by Issa as a way to avoid politicizing the process, it would provide a shocking amount of tracking information to the federal government, and is part of a broader trend by Issa to chill dissent and citizen oversight.

In lodging a complaint over Homeland Security’s responsiveness, Issa wrote:

This directive is inconsistent with your pledge to identify and produce documents expeditiously, and it raises questions about the Department’s commitment to the President’s effort to create an ‘unprecedented level of openness in government’

The tone and content of this objection is particularly odd, however, given that Issa himself has consistently rejected such calls for openness out of his own office. He has declined to publicly post the letter he sent to industry groups and conservative think tanks soliciting agenda items for the Oversight Committee. He has resisted releasing the responses he’s gotten from the letter, agreeing only to release them in mid-February with spin added by his office and leaving CREW to seek the letters on their own. Odd that, if Issa is sincerely concerned about transparency as a way to address concerns of politicizing government, he would be so deeply opposed to being open about his own dealings.

Further, Issa’s concerns about alleged politicizing of government doesn’t seem to fit with his angry response to President Obama’s suggestion that Congress make its lobbyist ties public. Rather than welcome the opportunity for citizens to have more information about who’s influencing their elected officials, Issa turned bitterly defensive. He lashed out at Obama for not being perfect either, and tried his best to make the case for lobbyist confidentiality. If Issa is concerned about politicizing the process and wanting more transparency, it’s odd that he would attack even the notion of improved lobbyist disclosure.

If Darrell Issa is serious about a more open, less political government, he needs to provide the model himself. He can’t just talk the talk, criticizing the Obama administration for not being responsive enough to him specifically- he has to walk the walk by taking ownership of his own actions and applying the same standards to his own office. He owes it to the country and his constituents.

You can follow this project on Facebook and Twitter.

San Diego

The Koch Brothers and Darrell Issa

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This weekend, Rancho Mirage will play host to what's often called the “Billionaire's Caucus,” a regular top secret meeting hosted by the Koch Brothers, at which the wealthiest of the wealthy — together with right wing media personalities, lawmakers, and even judges — gather to plot their national political agenda. The meeting has taken on even greater importance in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2009 Citizens United decision, which effectively opened the door to unlimited corporate influence on U.S. elections.

Trying to list all the beneficiaries of the Kochs and their rich friends would be a daunting task. Suffice it to say, they are the wallet for just about every right wing cause you can think of — from tea party candidates and ballot measures like California’s pro-pollution Prop 23, to right wing think tanks like the Cato Institute and astro-turf front groups like Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity.
One of the country’s worst polluters — with business interests in everything from healthcare to the derivatives trading that helped push our economy off a cliff, the Koch brothers have spread hundreds of millions of dollars to protect their narrow ideological and financial interests over the years — ensuring that the agenda of billionaires is inserted at every level of our government and political discourse, and often at the expense of the middle class. No one has worked harder to kill Wall Street Reform, Healthcare Reform, or Energy Reform than the Kochs.
This is the meeting where the Kochs and their allies come together to refine their strategy; The billionaires prepare the agenda, which is packaged by the right-wing media echo chamber to sow fear and anxiety amongst unwitting foot soldiers who provide “grassroots cover” for right wing lawmakers as they push policies that undermine the middle class in DC.
It’s a sophisticated shell game that the Kochs and their allies are playing — steeped in secrecy, profit motive and ideological extremism — as described in a profile written by Jane Mayer of New Yorker Magazine. Past attendees at Koch sponsored events include Glenn Beck, and Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Scalia. This weekend’s junket will also be attended by newly minted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Ultimately, the tentacles of the 'Kochtopus' stretch out in all directions from this meeting.
And its hardly a stretch to think that Darrell Issa will be an important part of their future plans.
In just the past five years, the Koch network has spent nearly $44 million lobbying Congress on oil & gas issues. High-polluting industry is their primary business, and it's obviously proven to be exceptionally profitable. Unsurprisingly, they're in no hurry to give up that profitability or the influence it's afforded them. This week we've also learned that concern over stronger EPA regulations on pollution have dominated feedback from industry representatives to Darrell Issa's letter requesting suggestions of regulations to repeal.
And according to the Center on Responsive Politics, the Koch network has sunk at least $200,000 into the Oversight Committee. More than 87% has gone to committee Republicans, including more than $100,000 in support of Republicans currently on the committee. The list includes Chairman Issa and five subcommittee chairs (starred):
Rep. Darrell E. Issa (CA-49) – $12,500
Rep. John L. Mica (FL-07) – $7,500
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry* (NC-10) – $2,500
Rep. Jason Chaffetz* (UT-03) – $2,500
Rep. Connie Mack (FL-14) – $15,000
Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-7) – $20,000
Rep. James Lankford* (OK-5) – $10,000
Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25) – $250
Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7) – $7,500
Rep. Trey Gowdy* (SC-4) – $7,500
Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1) – $5,000
Rep. Dennis Ross* (FL-12) – $10,000
Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-3) – $2,500
Issa's personally amassed a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, so he fits right in with the Kochs and the other big-money heavy hitters in the same orbit. His connections to these industries are nothing new, just like he's no stranger to the vast influence of the Koch brothers. Nor is his antipathy towards the EPA and climate science a recent development.
The web of financial support from the Right's heaviest hitters weaves all through Issa's personal career and the key members of his committee. All those heavy hitters are gathering this weekend to plan their strategy, and we can reasonably expect that Issa will be an important piece. Where an independent watchdog might be focused on investigating the deep influence of this unlimited money on our government and the policies that have created an ever shrinking middle class, Issa has taken the opposite tack. He's already thrown open the doors of the committee to allow many of the folks heading to Rancho Mirage the chance to rewrite their own rules. This weekend, they'll be working out what to do with the access.
Unlike past years however, this weekend a counter-protest is planned for the Kochs' event, as is a national campaign to expose their broad reach, nefarious tactics, and destructive impact on the middle class. You can read more about that here.
 
(I work on the IssaWatch project at the Courage Campaign) 

San Diego

Harvey Milk and Gabrielle Giffords

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I proudly work on IssaExposed.com for the Courage Campaign.
We're all still reeling from the tragic events in Arizona over the weekend. In reaction, Cleve Jones sent the below message to Courage Campaign members condemning this violence and the dangerous rhetoric in our political discourse today.

Courage Campaign

“I think it's important for all leaders… not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party… to say, look, we can't stand for this…we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the cross-hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action.”
-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, March 25, 2010

I know something about senseless violence.

I have never met Congresswoman Giffords, nor Judge Roll, nor any of the other victims of the shocking massacre that occurred Saturday in Tucson. But I recall as though it were yesterday the assassinations in 1978 of my friend and mentor Harvey Milk along with San Francisco Mayor Moscone. As if that were not enough, only seven years later, I was stabbed by a group of skinheads screaming “faggot.” For me, political violence has never been hypothetical.

Harvey received so many death threats that he stopped looking at them. He almost assumed he would be killed, because of the hate speech and incendiary language that foes of equality hurled with impunity.

On Saturday, it happened again. While no one knows for sure what drove Jared Loughner to commit this heinous act, we do know that the toxic political discourse in this country today- candidates talking about “second amendment remedies”, news networks featuring anti-government conspiracy theorists, and national political figures like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin describing themselves as “progressive hunters” and urging followers to “reload”- lays the groundwork for this kind of violence (1, 2, 3, 4). We shouldn't stand for it.

It has to stop. That's why today the Courage Campaign calls on Rep. Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to investigate the ties between violence and increasing calls for it in our national political dialogue. 

Mr. Issa has promised to hold a hearing every day on various Obama administration programs and legislation. What about hearings on what led to this attack? How about an investigation into increasing calls for violence from national political figures, organizations, and the media? It's time for him to call hearings now on the environment that led to the deaths.

We know that law enforcement and the judiciary will bring the perpetrators to justice. But that's only this time. What about next time? We will never end this violence until we have an honest national dialogue about who and what is feeding it, and determine the steps that can be taken to prevent more violence.

Will you join me in calling on Chairman Issa to investigate how overheated political rhetoric can contribute to such violence?

Let us do more than bring the shooter to justice. Let us put the spotlight on those who are teaching the next shooter that violence is the answer.

Join me in calling on Chairman Issa to convene hearings, so that we may again become a nation of democracy and debate, rather than mob rule and violence.

Together,

Cleve Jones

(1) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html
(2) http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa/status/10935548053
(3) http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/1016/Did-Glenn-Beck-s-rhetoric-inspire-violence
(4) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/sharron-angle-floated-2nd_n_614003.html

California, San Diego

The fox in the henhouse

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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

Uncategorized

Issa Blossoms as Designated Bomb Thrower

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Following the election in November, I noted briefly that Darrell Issa’s ascension to ranking member on House Oversight bore watching because he gets off on being difficult and grabbing headlines. A profile from CQ last week finds that he’s really enjoying the new role:

And House GOP leaders are already signaling that they expect Issa to stake out high-profile points of conflict with the White House. “He’s the kind of guy who will charge forward and get to where it leads him,” a figure who will “push the envelope,” said Kevin McCarthy of California, the chief deputy minority whip.

Outside analysts underline the same point: At a time when House leaders such as Minority Whip Eric Cantor are looking inward and assessing longer-term electoral vulnerabilities, more autonomous figures like Issa can be full-time partisans. “You wouldn’t put someone in there if all they wanted to do is talk consensus,” said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. Tapping Issa for the oversight job “does say something about his party’s faith in his ability to throw a few hand grenades,” he added.

He’s already changed over two thirds of his staff with a focus on investigation, and every week he’s got a fresh outrage with which to whip the Hill into a frenzy. Which seems to suggest specific and more meta themes. For one, despite his efforts to dress up his actions as a vital watchdog protecting the checks and balances in government, Issa’s full political career is a record of naked partisanism, distortions and outright nastiness. To CQ, “Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern contends, for instance, that Issa’s mission is just ‘to tear something apart.'” It’s just who he is, and while that may make him well suited for this job in the narrow sense, it certainly doesn’t carry any nobility when the goal is simply personal victory and aggrandizement.

In the broader sense though, this offers a striking counterpoint to Cantor’s listening tours and Rush’s push to the far fringes of the Right. Issa’s tactics represent probably the only piece of the Republican party that have a shot of being effective right now- wearing down the administration with a thousand paper cuts. And in the process of triumphing on all the ticky tack stuff, Issa slides into a default position of leadership and triumph in the party. If you thought the GOP was petty and vindictive already, well, Issa would kick things to levels rarely seen and ideology would be incidental.

Keeping this administration honest is one thing, and frankly we’re already seeing good signs on accountability. But Issa’s job and his passion is to destroy government’s ability to function and destroy his opponents in the process. It’s a point to watch carefully as Republicans run out of other options for developing feasible counters to Democratic governance.

Uncategorized

Issa Schooled For HSR Lies

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Darrell Issa has had an interesting position in the 111th Congress as one of the chief yarn-spinners on the Republican side.  I guess it’s because he’s immune to any charge of hypocrisy.  First he demanded White House compliance with necessary Presidential Records Act laws regarding email, after playing down the Bush Administration’s major failings in this regard.  Yesterday, he appeared on MSNBC with David Shuster to parrot the latest RNC talking point, that the stimulus earmarked construction of an LA-to-Las Vegas high speed rail train.  Now, I’m not sure what’s so horrible about this – LA to Vegas is a busy corridor, especially on the weekends, and the route essentially goes through desert so construction will be disruptive to almost no communities.  But the fact is that it’s completely untrue – LA to Vegas is not on the current DOT high speed rail lists and no money expressly goes toward construction of that corridor.  A fact that David Shuster inconveniently pointed out.  I particularly enjoy the smile after he knows he’s been caught.

This zombie lie isn’t going away, but at least some reporters aren’t taking the bait.