GOP Rep. Darrell Issa's Partisan Agenda

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright January 4, 2011
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          Taking over for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) places partisanship over a duty to protect taxpayers from government waste.  Issa led the petition drive in 2003 to recall incumbent California Gov. Gray Davis.  Issa promoted former bodybuilder and Hollywood actor/producer Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Davis, whose nearly two full terms in office dug the state into the biggest hole since its statehood Sept. 8, 1850.  Issa had no problem pushing a political neophyte to run a state with mammoth fiscal and social problems.  Issa is to the House what Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is to the U.S. Senate:  The most partisan hack, hell-bent on keeping President Barack Obama from a second term in 2012.  Issa claims to care for taxpayer money but only now that Obama is president.

            Issa takes over for Waxman, a liberal to be sure but, more importantly, a true nonpartisan patriot when it comes to rooting out waste, fraud and mismanagement in government operations.  Issa promises now to deal with wasteful government spending but had no qualms about excesses during the George W. Bush administration, including approving Medicare Part D’s prescription drug plan, largest government entitlement since President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed Medicare into law July 30, 1965.  Once calling the Obama administration the most “corrupt” one in modern history, Issa shows the kind of extreme partisanship that’s left the country in gridlock, unable to complete a bipartisan agenda.  Issa wants no part of bipartisanship, only seeking to evict Barack from office at the earliest possible time and throw as many roadblocks in his path until the Nov. 2012 election.

            Issa claims’ he all about saving taxpayers’ money but raised no objections when his party occupied the Oval Office.  “It’s more about the inspector general that it is about lawyers in the White House.  And the sooner the administration figures out that the enemy is the bureaucracy and the wasteful spending, not the other party, the better off we’ll be,” said Issa, insisting the Obama needs less lawyers and more accountants to deal with the government’s problems.  “I couldn’t help but think about the fact he has called this president the most corrupt in history,” Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” with John King, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  Cummings expressed concerns about Issa’s extreme partisanship, especially his subpoena power now that he’s in control of the committee’s investigations.

            Expressing grave concerns about U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, Issa insisted that failure to prosecute WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange has damaged the nation’s credibility.  “I think [Holder] needs to realize that, for example, WikiLeaks, if the president says, “I can’t deal with this guy as a terrorist,’ then he has to be able to deal with him as a criminal,” said Issa blaming Holder for weakening U.S. status, especially overseas.  Issa had no problem when former President George W. Bush went to Iraq March 20, 2003 only to find no weapons of mass destruction.  “Otherwise, the world is laughing at this paper tiger we’ve become,” insisted Issa, not realizing that the real U.S. credibility problems comes not from WikiLeaks but a failed foreign policy that has buried the country in debt fighting two questionable foreign wars without the prospects of real military victories.

            Instead of bashing the White House, Issa should reach across the aisle to really fight waste, fraud and mismanagement, a problem not unique to either party.  Democrats and Republicans must come to grips with the waves of baby boomers slated to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits in 2011.  Issa doesn’t complain about his millionaire and billionaire friends that currently cash Social Security checks and receive Medicare benefits at the government’s expense.  Issa rants about socialized medicine with Obamacare but has no problems letting his well-heeled GOP friends collect Social Security and Medicare without paying for it.  He wants to blame Holder for not prosecuting WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, while, at the same time, not accepting Republicans’ role in the stubborn recession and damage done to the economy by unproductive foreign wars.

            Stepping into a leadership position on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa must stop partisan grandstanding and do something to help the waste, fraud and mismanagement currently plaguing Washington.  “We can save $125 billion in simply not giving out money to Medicare recipients that don’t exist for procedures that didn’t happen,” Issa told CBS’ “Face The Nation,” attesting to Medicare’s waste, fraud and mismanagement.  If Issa really wants to save Medicare and Social Security and leave a bipartisan mark on Washington, he needs to look at a reasonable means test for the nation’s biggest entitlement programs.  He simply can’t say with a straight fact that millionaires and billionaires should cash Social Security checks and use Medicare benefits when they should pony up for their own retirement incomes and medical care.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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