Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

U.S. Representative (since January 2001)

(Congress Bio Directory)

Why He Matters

Though he first attracted national attention for his role in funding the 2003 petition to recall California Gov. Gray Davis (D), Issa hit the big time as the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He inherited subpoena power over the Obama administration as the new chairman of the investigative panel in the GOP-led 112th Congress, but pledged not to misuse it in his pursuit of $200 million in taxpayer savings.

"Our committee is the committee of stopping government from taking away your liberties, government from exceeding its authority, government from keeping your business from expanding and growing, government from spending your money less efficiently than you would spend it yourself," Issa said.

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Corrections?

News From Around The Web

What does Darrell Issa want? via KPCC

The game Issa loves to play via NBC News

What Darrell Issa considers 'reckless' via NBC News

Darrel Issa's Plan to Resuscitate the IRS Scandal via The Atlantic

Issa, Cummings Fight Publicly Over Interview Transcript via Wall Street Journal

The Federal Eye

Cummings challenges Issa on IRS transcripts

Josh Hicks

The top Democrat and Republican from the House oversight committee have sparred over the release of transcripts from a congressional investigation of the IRS targeting controversy.

The Federal Eye

Rep. Elijah Cummings releases a full IRS interview transcript

Josh Hicks

The Democratic congressman said the interview "debunks conspiracy theories" about the IRS targeting controversy.

The Plum Line

Calling Darrell Issa's bluff

Greg Sargent

Democrats give the GOP investigations ringleader until Monday to explain in more detail why he won't release transcripts of witness testimony on the IRS scandal.

The Plum Line

Breaking: Full House committee transcripts shed new light on genesis of IRS targeting

Greg Sargent

Elijah Cummings releases the full transcripts, after Darrell Issa refused to do the same.

Article

Full transcript of congressional interview with IRS manager released

(Charles Dharapak / AP)

Josh Hicks

Rep. Elijah Cummings says the interview “debunks conspiracy theories” about the IRS controversy.

News From Around The Web

Issa demands answers on possible State Dept. misconduct via CBS News

Top Democrat on oversight committee gives Darrell Issa deadline for IRS transcript release via Daily Kos

Darrell Issa Gets Nastier via Huffington Post

IRS scandal: Partisanship overshadowing facts? via CBS News

Cummings releases the IRS transcript via NBC News

The Federal Eye

Issa proposes new legislation to restructure Postal Service

Lisa Rein

The chief House architect of a bill that failed to gain traction in the last Congress has drafted new legislation

Video

Cummings: Issa ‘absolutely wrong’ about D.C. involvement in IRS targeting

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, highlighted testimony from a Cincinnati IRS employee to claim that committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is "absolutely wrong" when he argues that the targeting of conservative groups originated in D.C. and was politically motivated.

The Plum Line

Happy Hour Roundup

Jonathan Bernstein

Our nightly wrap-up of news and opinion.

At a Glance

Career History: Founder and CEO of Directed Electronics (1982-2000);United States Army (1970-1980)
Birthday: Nov. 1, 1953
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Alma Mater: Siena Heights University, B.A., 1976
Spouse: Kathy
Religion: Antioch Orthodox Christian
Committees: Chairman, House Oversight and Government Reform (since January 2011); House Judiciary Committee
DC Office: 2347 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515202-225-3906

District Offices: Vista, 760-599-5000; Temecula, 951-693-2447
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Path to Power

Issa was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1953. A Lebanese-American, Issa attended Sienna Heights University on an ROTC scholarship and graduated in 1976. In the Army, he served as a bomb- disposal technician, tank-platoon commander, computer research-and-development specialist and rose to the rank of captain.

In 1982, he founded the company Directed Electronics with his wife Kathy in Cleveland. In 1986, the company moved to Southern California. Over the next decade, Directed Electronics became the largest vehicle-security company in the world. The company's best known car alarm, the Viper, features a recording of Issa saying "Please step away from the car." The company helped Issa make a fortune estimated at $100 million and catapulted his name to prominence in the high-tech industry.

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Political Career

Issa first ran for elected office in 1998, contesting California State Treasurer Matt Fong in the Republican primary for the chance to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

The race between Issa and Fong was fierce and ugly. The campaign reached a critical juncture with the publication of a Los Angeles Times story, which was followed by other news reports, alleging a wide range of improprieties in Issa's business dealings, including a mysterious arson fire at his business soon after the purchase of increased fire insurance and the allegation that Issa threatened an employee with a gun while firing him. The article also revealed that Issa, along with his brother, was arrested and charged with stealing a Maserati when he was 18, though the charges were later dropped. Issa said the stories were lies planted by his political foes. Fong eventually won the primary by two points, despite being heavily outspent by Issa, who largely self-financed his campaign.

Issa won election to the House in 2000, cruising to an easy victory over Peter Couvelis (D) in the general election after a notably treacherous Republican primary in which the car-alarm magnate spent $1.5 million of his own money.

Davis Recall Campaign

In 2003, Issa was a key funder and supporter of the campaign to recall California Gov. Davis. Issa contributed $1.6 million to help circulate a recall petition and announced his intention to personally replace Davis.

The Republican House Member went so far as to air commercials throughout California, but early opinion polls showed him performing poorly among likely voters. Issa surprised his supporters when on Aug. 7, 2003, he abruptly dropped out of the race that he had done so much to foment.

The principal reason for Issa's withdrawal was Arnold Schwarzenegger 's (R) gubernatorial bid, but Issa also found himself responding to new press accounts, which he believed were spread by political opponents, of a bevy of alleged car theft incidents from his youth involving him and his brother William.

Issa was visibly upset while announcing his withdrawal, and claimed that "it had nothing to do with Schwarzenegger's decision." Issa later caused confusion when he advised Californians to vote "no" on a recall of Davis if both Schwarzenegger and state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) stayed in the race, worrying that a split vote would hand the recall election to Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante. Issa finally endorsed Schwarzenegger 's candidacy less than two weeks before the election, but his delay led some commentators to conclude that Issa's initial recall campaign had been principally fueled by his personal ambition to become governor.

Issa successfully defended his House seat in 2008, defeating Democratic challenger Robert Hamilton, 58 to 37 percent.

The Issues

Issa holds reliably conservative positions on most issues, but the Lebanese-American has earned a reputation for being independent-minded on Middle Eastern affairs. His leadership position on the House Oversight Committee has given him a consistent platform to voice his fiscal conservatism, particularly on tax and spending issues.

The Economy

Issa has been outspoken in his displeasure with the Obama administration's spending plans, voting against the February 2009 $787 billion stimulus bill with the rest of House Republicans. One of Issa's objections to the stimulus bill was that it wouldn't directly help the economy. At an event in San Diego in March 2009, he said, "You have to lower your expectations about what will actually come to us, because it just isn't that kind of stimulus package, unfortunately."

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Issa has been critical of the process by which the federal government tracks stimulus funds, claiming that the Obama administration lacks an adequate plan for following the money going to contractors and special-interest groups.He also drew attention to $87 billion sent to states in Medicaid matching funds that was diverted for other purposes.

Oversight

In early 2009, Issa accused the Obama administration of failure to oversee the bailout money given to insurance giant AIG and called for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the midst of the popular furor over the awarding of $165 billion in bonuses to AIG executives.

In May 2009, Issa and his Oversight colleagues grilled AIG chief executive Edward Liddy and a trio of board members about the opacity in their use of bailout funds, calling the board tasked with overseeing taxpayer stakes in the company "an unconstitutional and unaccountable entity."

In December 2008, Issa was similarly critical of a group of former housing executives appearing before the Oversight Committee to explain their lending practices, saying, "You're not accepting any blame for this at all. You're either standing behind the mandate of the Congress or the mandate of your stockholders, [or] perhaps, the mandate of your bonus packages. And you're telling us that, in fact, everyone was doing it."

In a May 2009 interview with the conservative publication Newsmax, Issa described the role of the Oversight Committee and the perceived failings of the stimulus package and federal financial bailout program.

He said, "Primarily our job is once legislation is passed, making sure it lives up to its claim. Certainly [that's true] in the case of stimulus, which already has countless redirections of funds and failure to account for them, and the TARP, the bailout money as it's called, which we've already seen had hundreds of billions of dollars that either were overspent for assets or were spent on assets that left the United States."

Middle Eastern Issues

Though generally hawkish on foreign policy, and a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, Issa's Lebanese heritage has led him to adopt a more nuanced stance on some matters, particularly in regard to Lebanon.

In the midst of the 2006 fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Issa was the lone member of Congress to travel to Lebanon, returning to present a slideshow at the National Press Club depicting the damage wrought by the conflict.

He has been critical of both Israeli and Arab groups, earning him a fair amount of criticism from outlets like Al-Jazeera. Issa advocated increased aid to Lebanon and a redrawing of Israel's territorial lines by the United Nations if the regional actors couldn't agree to a compromise.

In 2007, Issa was reprimanded by the Bush White House for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a day after a much-criticized tete-a-tete between Assad and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Issa had met with Assad previously in 2003, drawing approval for his attempts to repair diplomatic damage done by the Iraq war.

Oil and Gas Royalties

While serving on the House Government Reform Committee in 2006, Issa demanded accountability from the Interior Department in the collection of oil and gas royalties from companies that drill on federal lands.

At the time, Issa said, "They don't know how much oil is coming out of the ground. If an oil company were to give them the right number, they would take it. If they were to give them the wrong number, they would take it."

Issa's calls for reform were in response to reports that the department's Mineral Management Service had lost of track of billions of dollars and that a general culture of cronyism and poor management had taken hold in the department.

Closing Guantanamo Bay

Issa has been vocal in his opposition to Obama's plan to close the prison for enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, calling Obama's executive order "a symbolic, hollow gesture aimed at somehow fostering international good will toward America."

He also opposed relocating the prisoners to the United States, especially to facilities in California.

The Network

Issa's national profile stems largely from for his lavish funding of the successful California recall effort, which inadvertently brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to power as governor.

On the House Oversight Committee, Issa worked closely with the Democratic Chairman Edolphus Towns in the 111th Congress. Rep. Eliljah Cummings (D-Md.) is slated to be the ranking Democrat in the 112th Congress in which Issa chaired the panel.

Additional Resources

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