Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) is hosting Cafe San Diego today, and has started the conversation with a few words about the Carol Lam situation:

I recognize that every U.S. attorney has to balance needs and resources, but it’s clear from information released by the Justice Department that the Southern District of California U.S. Attorney’s Office lagged behind the other four districts on the U.S./Mexico border in prosecuting border crimes. I never asked that Carol Lam be fired, but I was adamant over a three-year period that the situation with smugglers in San Diego needed to be addressed.

This is supposedly an interactive situation, so feel free to cruise over to the comments section if you have anything to say to or ask of the Congressman.

UPDATES ON THE FLIP

Update 1:

My first question:

“You say “I recognize that every U.S. attorney has to balance needs and resources,” so my question is whether you’ve attempted to increase the resources available to USAs around the country? If so, what has been the problem, and if not, then in what way are you not attempting to dictate the priorities of the US Attorney’s office? Further, given your acknowledgment of the limited capacity of Ms. Lam’s office, would you have preferred to trade the Cunningham, Wilkes, Foggo, and other corruption investigations for increased prosecution of immigration cases?”

Issa has written his follow up to the 8 posts to his original post, mentioning his efforts to increase resources for the office and responding in part:

I disagree, however, with the notion that Carol Lam had an “either/or” choice between prosecuting Cunningham and those who traffic human beings across our borders.

In regard to the question about finite resources and Carol Lam not being told that she needed to improve her border crimes record, I do have some concerns. Carol Lam testified before Congress that Justice Department officials did not make clear to her that she needed to make border crimes and gun crimes more of a priority.

My response will be up shortly wondering whether, since he doesn’t have a problem with Lam being overzealous in other areas, he’s just saying she’s lazy?

Update 2: Josh Marshall at TPM is also watching to see what Issa has to say.  The comments are getting increasingly combative, but if Issa responds again, my comment is first in line.