Thursday, April 14, 2011
The second worst hearing of the week
Not content to blast basic workers' rights today, the Oversight Committee will be playing host to one of its most absurd hearings yet -- and frankly we're still trying to figure out what the heck is going on. On Friday, a joint subcommittee hearing will explore whether environmental laws and regulations are impeding border security. Led by Glenn Beck golden boy Jason Chaffetz, this sounds like a hearing to see if Republicans can pin illegal immigration on environmental protections.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Great figures of the 20th Century Republican Party
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.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Putting the Issa Enterprises band back together to defend the boss
Looks like Issa Enterprises hasn't been slowed at all by the high-profile firing of Kurt Bardella amidst scandal last month. Instead of weakening the Issa message machine, it may have just expanded the tentacles, as Bardella has resurfaced just a month later with a long, detailed defense of his old boss. It marks the latest in a stream of detailed, indignant Issa defenses in the wake of last week's ThinkProgress report that federal earmarks that Issa secured directly benefit the value of property owned by Issa's family company -- defenses that are increasingly shrill in insisting there's nothing to defend.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Conflicts of interest continue in week’s hearings
CREW is calling for an Congressional Ethics investigation into the circumstances around Issa's dismissal last week of spokesperson Kurt Bardella.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Issa fires aide, raises ethics questions
Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella was fired today, the day after Politico reported allegations that Bardella was improperly sharing emails between reporters.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Issa Enterprises responds. Sort of.
A week ago, Courage founder and chair Rick Jacobs wrote an
OpEd in the San Diego Union-Tribune questioning Darrell Issa's commitment to the serious, non-partisan oversight that our government needs. In fact, it echoed the concerns of the U-T's own editorial board, who worried in January that Issa was
undermining his own credibility even before beginning his work as chair of the Oversight Committee.
Issa didn't reply directly to the concerns that Rick Jacobs raised. Instead, the chair of the San Diego Republican Party was dispatched to defend Issa.
Sort of. I say sort of, because he doesn't actually defend Issa at all.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Hill watchers worry about Issa’s plans
Even after a week-long tour of shuffling among the news media attempting to cover for his “most corrupt” communications blunder, Darrell Issa has a credibility problem. Even before the New Yorker ran a long profile (more on that later) about Issa’s checkered past today, the press corps has not been shy about expressing its wariness of Issa’s commitment to non-partisan oversight, and the sheer number of political pros who are nervous about what he might do is overwhelming.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Issa “is not a serious person”
Wrapping up a fevered week of activity in which Darrell Issa officially took the Oversight gavel, there's still more reaction to his stated agenda and letter inviting corporate interests to shape the committee agenda.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Glenn Beck with Subpoena Power?
If you thought the conspiracy theories advanced by Glenn Beck were confined to Fox News and WorldNet Daily, think again. The newly minted chair of the House Oversight Committee is a huge fan.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Full List and round up
After a couple days of wondering, The Hill has its hands on the full list of recipients for Issa's letter to business leaders, and uncovered $80,000 in campaign donations to Issa from the groups on the list. The next step will be to carefully watch how the money, the letter, and the direction of committee hearings overlap.
2 comments
posted by Lucas O’Connor at 3:52 am