Media Matters delves into Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Issa protege and one of Glenn Beck's favorites in Congress. With Glenn Beck set to "transition off," having folks like Chaffetz in Congress to keep pushing crazy conspiracy theories will help maintain Beck's de facto subpoena power.
In an interview with Univision, President Obama said "a serious mistake" may have been made in the Project Gunrunner situation. He noted that the Justice Department Inspector General will be conducting an investigation of the matter and said "we'll hold someone accountable" if a improper behavior is uncovered in that investigation. Darrell Issa continued to press his own investigation independent of the Justice Department, which is at direct odds with his own standard for the Oversight Committee. In 2007, he told C-Span "we're supposed to allow the Administration to do its investigation, and then we do oversight -- we're not investigators." That sentiment hasn't prevented Issa from issuing subpoenas over the incident, it seems that since control of the White House changed and Issa got the gavel, his tune has changed significantly.
As Darrell Issa spends his day criticizing the Obama administration for politicizing the Freedom of Information Act process at the Department of Homeland Security, Lee Fang expands on the brazen, partisan hypocrisy that we touched on yesterday with a rundown of the decidedly different tune Issa was singing during the Bush years
Consistent with the established pattern of avoiding oversight of the tens of billions of dollars of missing taxpayer dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not holding Wall Street accountable for driving the economy off a cliff, and turning his committee into a Koch Industries subsidiary for denial of science and partisan witch hunts, Darrell Issa will open up hearings tomorrow morning over that most pressing issue -- the processing of Freedom of Information Act Requests.
Oversight business will kick off after the recess tomorrow morning with a hearing on whether Dodd-Frank reforms of the financial sector have effectively ended 'too big to fail.' Stirring up the necessary acrimony and controversy, subcommittee chair Patrick McHenry refused to allow Barney Frank -- namesake of the legislation -- to appear at the hearing. McHenry, incidentally, has received major campaign funding from the banking and insurance industries and been called out for conflicts of interest after investigating banker bonuses after accepting contributions from Countrywide.
Darrell Issa has a long history in the tech industry, with close ties that continue today -- and have recently gotten him in some trouble. More personally, he's also a notorious tech junkie, unable to resist fiddling with new gadgets and the tech toys of everyone around him. So if anyone should understand how important net neutrality is, you'd think it would be Darrell Issa. But instead, he's been steadfast in walking the corporate conservative line, adopting the favorite industry astroturf demand that the government not protect equal access.
Without any apparent sense of irony, Issa this week blasted the treatment of a whistle-blower at Homeland Security. Issa, of course, shamelessly flip-flopped on expanding whistleblower protections at the 11th hour in December, spiking efforts to improve protections for whistleblowers via legislation that he had long supported.
Issa has hyperbolically declared the freeze a "farce" even though it would trim at least $28 billion from the federal budget over five years, and yesterday they were back at it. The crux of their argument was that Obama's proposal wouldn't eliminate literally every way for federal employees to make more money during the pay freeze period. And as it stands, federal employees make about 20% less than their private-sector counterparts, and the committee Republicans were criticizing performance bonuses that average less than $1000.
CREW is calling for an Congressional Ethics investigation into the circumstances around Issa's dismissal last week of spokesperson Kurt Bardella.
Issa Watch on Hiatus Indefinitely
The Appearance of Impropriety in Darrell Issa’s Office
Issa responds to ethics problems with conspiracy theories
Issa’s requested DoE loan would have benefited major GOP donor
Issa sought funds via “easy way to end up with corruption in government”
Out of excuses, Issa contradicts himself in avoiding NewsCorp
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
1 comments
posted by Lucas O’Connor at 4:11 pm