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Darrell Issa
Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Edolphus Towns
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 49th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Ron Packard
Personal details
Born	(1953-11-01) November 1, 1953 (age 71) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kathy Issa
Children	William Issa
Residence	Vista, California
Alma mater	Kent State University Stark, Siena Heights College
Occupation	Congressman
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1970–1980

Darrell Edward Issa (Template:Lang-ar pronounced /ˈaɪsə/; born November 1, 1953) is the U.S. Representative for California's 49th congressional district, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was formerly a CEO of Directed Electronics, the Vista, California-based manufacturer of automobile security and convenience products. His district consists of portions of southern Riverside County and northern San Diego County. The district was numbered as the 48th District during his first term and was renumbered the 49th after the 2000 Census. Since January 2011, he has served as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Issa is a self-made millionaire with a net worth estimated between $220 and $448 million, making him one of the wealthiest members of Congress. He was a major contributor to the 2003 recall election of Governor Gray Davis.

Early life

Issa was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of six children. His mother was a Mormon and his father Eastern Orthodox. Issa is the grandson of Lebanese immigrants.

The family moved to the predominantly Jewish suburb of Cleveland Heights in the later years of his childhood. Many of his friends were Jewish, and Issa reportedly worked for a rabbi at one point. He became very familiar with Jewish culture.

Military career and personal life

Issa dropped out of high school and enlisted for a three-year tour in the Army on his 17th birthday. He served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician, defusing bombs, after having been shown a movie about soldiers in that specialty during World War II. He has said that his unit provided security for President Richard Nixon, sweeping stadiums for bombs prior to games in the 1971 World Series, and that he had always received the highest approval ratings during his service. A 1998 investigation by the San Francisco Examiner found that these claims were not true and Nixon had not attended any of that year's World Series games. The investigation also found that Issa was transferred to a supply depot after receiving an unsatisfactory evaluation. According to Issa, the Examiner reporter had misunderstood an anecdote he had related. A fellow soldier, Jay Bergey, claimed that Issa stole his Dodge Charger in 1971 while they were serving together and that the day after he confronted Issa the car was found abandoned on a nearby expressway. Asked about this charge in 2011, Issa denied it and suggested it was possible that other soldiers stole the car or that Bergey, who he claims had a drinking problem, had abandoned it himself while intoxicated."

After receiving a hardship discharge in 1972 following his father's heart attack, Issa earned his General Educational Development (GED) certificate and began taking classes at Siena Heights University, a small Catholic college in Adrian, Michigan. He continued his military service in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)." Twice during that year he was arrested, once for alleged theft of a Maserati, which Issa says was a matter of mistaken identity, and for which the charge was dismissed. In another case, he was pulled over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and a police officer noticed a firearm in the glove compartment. Issa was charged with carrying a concealed weapon; he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of possession of an unregistered firearm, and sentenced to six months' probation and a small fine. Issa has said he believed the record of the incident had been expunged.

Issa was commissioned as a lieutenant after graduating from college on an ROTC scholarship and served in a non-combat administrative capacity with the U.S. Army from 1976 to 1980. In September 1980, while deployed with the 1/77th Armor at Fort Ord, he received high marks on a routine evaluation. Lt. Col. Wesley Clark stated, "This officer's performance far exceeded that of any other reserve officer who has worked in the battalion." The standardized report also stated that Issa had "unlimited potential" with a note to "promote ahead of contemporaries."

Business career

After leaving the military, Issa and his second wife, Kathy Stanton, moved back to the Cleveland area, pooled their savings, sold their cars and borrowed $50,000 from his family to invest in Quantum Enterprises, an electronics manufacturer run by a friend from Cleveland Heights that assembled bug zappers, CB radio parts and other consumer products for other companies. One of those clients, car alarm manufacturer Steal Stopper, would become the path to Issa's fortune. It was struggling badly, and he took control of it by foreclosing a $60,000 loan he had made to it when its founder, Joey Adkins, missed a payment. Adkins remained as an employee.

Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota. But early in the morning of September 7, 1982, the offices and factory of Quantum and Steal Stopper in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, caught fire. The fire took three hours to put out; the buildings and almost all inventory within were destroyed.

Move to California

Steal Stopper soon regained its previous prosperity. Car theft rose in the United States during the 1980s, and with it the demand for security devices. Rolls Royce, BMW and General Motors joined Ford and Toyota as customers. In 1985 Issa sold the company to a California-based maker of home alarms, and moved to the San Diego suburb of Vista, where he has lived ever since, to work for it. Shortly afterward he left to start Directed Electronics, Inc. (DEI).

He recorded the "Please step away from the car", warning for DEI's signature product, the Viper car alarm. Sales grew from a million dollars its first year to $14 million by 1989. DEI diversified, and eventually became one of the largest makers of aftermarket electronic automotive accessories in the U.S. As of 2004, Directed Electronics was North America's largest aftermarket automotive electronics manufacturer. Issa divested personal interest in Directed Electronics after being elected to public office.

From his involvement in consumer-electronics trade organizations, he began to get politically active. He went to Washington to lobby Congress and became one of California's largest individual campaign contributors to Republican candidates. In 1996 he backed the successful campaign to pass Proposition 209, a ballot initiative which prohibitted public institutions in California from considering race, sex, or ethnicity. He was instrumental in persuading the national Republican Party to hold its 1996 convention in San Diego.

Political career

1998 U.S. Senate campaign

Issa's first campaign for elected office came in 1998, when he sought the Republican nomination for United States Senate to run against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. He backed the campaign with $10 million of his personal wealth, but lost the primary election to California State Treasurer Matt Fong. Fong's campaign raised $3 million from contributions and complained that Issa's wealth made for an uneven playing field (Issa had only $400,000 in contributions). An Issa spokesman countered that the money was needed to compensate for Fong's statewide name recognition. Fong prevailed in the open primary by a margin of 22% to 20% for Issa. A San Francisco exit poll suggested large numbers of Asian-Americans had crossed party lines to vote for Fong.

U.S. House of Representatives

Two years after Issa's failed Senate bid, Congressman Ron Packard, a nine-term incumbent, announced his retirement. Issa capitalized on his name recognition from the 1998 Senate race. He finished first in the all-party primary; the only other Republican candidate in the race, State Senator Bill Morrow, finished sixth. He won in the November 2000 general election with 61 percent of the vote.

Issa has been reelected five times with almost no difficulty in this heavily Republican district (it presently has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10). During his 2002 run for re-election, the Democrats failed to field a candidate, and his closest competition was from Libertarian Karl Dietrich. A write-in candidate from that election, Mike Byron, went on to become the Democratic challenger in 2004.

2008 House election

In 2008, Issa defeated Democratic candidate Robert Hamilton, prevailing by a 20 point margin. In 2010, Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, awarded Issa with its Good Government Award for his contributions to government oversight and transparency. These included publicizing documents produced by the New York Federal Reserve Bank in response to a congressional subpoena, publicly exposing the New York Federal Reserve's secret "back-door bailout" of AIG's counterparties, and cofounding a Transparency Caucus dedicated to "promoting a more open and accountable government through education, legislation, and oversight."

House tenure

Issa currently serves on the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Judiciary Committee, and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which he is the chairman. Issa mounted an unsuccessful campaign to join the ranks of the House GOP leadership hierarchy. He finished third of the four candidates vying for the chairmanship of the House Republican Policy Committee, and was ultimately passed over in favor of Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI).

On February 16, 2012, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on contraceptives mandates. Sandra Fluke was submitted as a witness by Democratic members, but Issa did not permit her to testify because her name was submitted too late, a claim Democrats challenged.

Gubernatorial recall

Issa came to national prominence when he contributed over $1.6 million to help fund a signature-gathering drive for the petition to recall Gray Davis. At the time he made the contribution, it was widely believed that Issa intended to place himself on the ballot to replace Davis. However, following the entrance of fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger into the race, two days before the filing deadline, Issa announced that he would not run. Issa later said that his mission had been accomplished since Davis was recalled and he wanted to continue representing his district in Congress and work towards Middle East peace. At one point in the campaign he suggested that people should vote against recalling Davis unless one of the two leading Republican contenders dropped out, concerned that Schwarzenegger and fellow Republican Tom McClintock would split votes, resulting in Democratic lieutenant governor Cruz Bustamante taking over as Davis' successor. Issa endorsed Schwarzenegger in the election.

Middle East involvement

Issa is one of a few Lebanese-Americans in Congress and has had a significant role in U.S. peace initiatives in the Middle East. He traveled to Lebanon and Syria in an effort to negotiate the end of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. In 2003, he appeared at a Washington rally by Iranian groups protesting against the Islamic government in Iran.

Issa targeted in bombing plot

In 2001, Issa's district office in San Clemente was targeted in an aborted bombing plot. Jewish Defense League leader Irving Rubin was arrested along with Earl Krugel in connection with the plot, which reportedly had focused on other targets before shifting to Issa's office. Issa speculated that the cause of the incident may have been a column written by political commentator Debbie Schlussel in which she charged that Issa sympathized with Hezbollah despite its being listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, charges he denied.

Issa supported the use of military force in Iraq (2002) and Afghanistan. On June 16, 2006 he voted to reject setting timetables for withdrawal from Iraq. On 5 April 2007, Issa met with Syrian president Bashar Assad to discuss Middle East issues, one day after Assad met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

As of 2010, Issa serves as a director of the American Task Force for Lebanon, a nonprofit organization working to advance Lebanon and its ties with the US.

Political views

Issa holds a generally conservative political viewpoint. He has voted with the majority of House Republicans 94.7% of the time during the 111th Congress.

Issa is generally opposed to abortion and supports stem cell research, saying that "The promise of stem cells to provide innovative treatments and cures warrants investment in more advanced research".

In 2001 Issa voted for the authorization of the PATRIOT Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. He voted for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act in 2005 after successfully amending it to require judicial notification, reporting requirements and facts justifying the use of roving survelliance at new facilities or places.

He voted against the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation.

He has opposed attempts to ease restrictions on illegal immigration such as the "Blue Card" system, saying that it provides amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Issa has said he supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He voted against a cap and trade bill designed to cut them. Issa believes that "the science community does not agree to the extent of the problem or the critical threshold of when this problem is truly catastrophic."

He has been critical of No Child Left Behind, supporting a modification that would, in his words, "give states the freedom to adopt best practices for their students by returning flexibility and control to the educators and parents who are the real experts on education".

He signed the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" of the Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases.

He is opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act based on the amount of discretion the Department of Justice would have under the legislation as it is currently drafted. He plans to propose amendments that would reduce that discretion. Issa subsequently went on to cosponsor the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

He co-sponsored both the 2008 and 2009 versions (H.R. 6845 and H.R. 801, respectively) of the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act and sponsored the Research Works Act (H.R. 3699) introduced in 2011, all of which aim at a reversal of the NIH's Public Access Policy, which mandates open access to NIH-funded research.

He has endorsed Mitt Romney's candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Chairman)
  • As Chairman of the full committee, Rep. Issa may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
  • Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy

• Republican Study Committee

Obama administration

After becoming Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa has become a vocal advocate for investigations into the Obama administration, including the TARP and Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, corruption in Afghanistan, Wikileaks, and the FDA, among other issues. On March 22, 2011, it was reported that Issa accused the Obama administration of retaliating against Catherine Papoi, who complained the administration was blocking public access to records.

Criticism and controversy

Industry insiders on his oversight team

In February 2011, the Watchdog Institute, an independent nonprofit reporting center based at San Diego State University, published an investigation alleging that as leader of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa built a team that included staff members with close connections to industries that could benefit from his investigations. The Huffington Post also published the Institute's investigation.

9/11 payments

In April 2008, the Daily News reported that Issa questioned federal expenditures made after 9/11. He was criticized for making comments that the federal government "'just threw' buckets of cash at New York for an attack 'that had no dirty bomb in it, it had no chemical munitions in it'" and asking "why the firefighters who went there and everybody in the city of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state consideration." In September 2009, Issa's office released a statement indicating that his comments had been misrepresented and that the questions he asked concerned the then still unpassed bill H.R. 3543, which, according to that statement "would give U.S. taxpayer dollars to those who did not suffer physical injury and did not work at or around Ground Zero."

Letter to businesses

Following the 2010 elections, Issa sent a letter to more than 150 trade associations, companies and think tanks, asking them to tell him which existing and proposed regulations would harm job growth. Liberal critics have charged that Issa was "embracing regulatory capture", and Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also criticized Issa's actions.

Office of Congressional Ethics complaint

In September 2011, the group American Family Voices filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Issa, alleging he had repeatedly used his public office for personal financial gain. Issa's office rejected the allegations.

See also

• List of richest American politicians

References

1. Richest members of Congress (#1). The Washington Post. Posted and retrieved (December 27, 2011).
2. Roll Call (August 11, 2011). CBS News.
3. "The Dozen Richest Men and Women in Congress", NPR.
4. Half of Congress Enjoys Millionaire Status, Study Shows, Fox News. Accessed April 17, 2012.
5. ^ Lizza, Ryan (January 24, 2011). "Don't Look Back". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
6. Broder, David S. (December 21, 1997). "California's Battle of the Bankbooks". The Washington Post.
7. Williams, Lance. (May 29, 1998). Issa's Army record in doubt: Candidate's account can't be verified. San Francisco Chronicle.
8. ^ Williams, Lance, San Francisco Examiner, July 2, 2003 "Darrell Issa held twice on illegal weapons charges and convicted in '70s on misdemeanor count"
9. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/05/29/NEWS12714.dtl
10. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2010/06/gen-wes-clark-praises-darrell-issas-military-service.php?page=1
11. Leduff, Charlie (July 23, 2003). "California Recall Backer Feels Heat". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
12. Wildermuth, John (May 20, 1998). "Issa Raising More Money by Using His Own/Millionaire's funds create coffer bigger than Matt Fong's". San Francisco Chronicle.
13. Williams, Lance; Coile, Zachary (June 3, 1998). "Asian Demos help set up showdown with Barbara Boxer". SF Chronicle.
14. 2000 California congressional primary results
15. 2000 California House results
16. Burge, Michael (September 29, 2004). "Democrat is looking for a big upset over incumbent Issa in 49th District" SignOnSanDiego.com, San Diego Union-Tribune.
17. "Good Government Award Home Page". Project On Government Oversight Website. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
18. Staff (June 29, 2010). "Press Room - Issa Recognized for Rigorous Government Oversight" (Press Release); Congressman Issa Official Website. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
19. Kiff, Sarah (February 16, 2012). "Contraception Controversy Continues: Meet Witness Sandra Fluke". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
20. "Darrell Issa pulls out of Calif. recall election". USA Today. Associated Press. August 7, 2003. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
21. Wildermuth, John (September 23, 2003). "Issa, who started recall, now tells voters to reject it / Risk of GOP vote being split prompts call to retain Davis". sfgate.com; San Francisco Chronicle.
22. (unfiled) (July 9, 2003). "Congress joins rally against Tehran regime". Washington Times
23. "Chair of Jewish Defense League Arrested in Failed Bomb Plot". Tolerance.org; Southern Poverty Law Center. December 12, 2001. Archived from the original 2001-12-13. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
24. ^ "Transcript: Issa on Bomb Plot". The Washington Post. September 21, 2000. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
25. Cantlupe, Joe (December 24, 2001). "Rep. Issa's fight with columnist has dark side". SignOnSanDiego.com; San Diego Union Tribune. Copley News Service.
26. Schlussel, Debbie (November 30, 2001). "Darrell Issa: Traitor, or useful idiot?". Political USA blog. Archived from the original, 2002-08-21.
27. "Representative Darrell Issa (CA) Voting Record". votesmart.org; Project Vote Smart.
28. AP (April 6, 2007). "Issa meets with Syrian president Assad". nctimes.com; North County Times. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
29. "ATFL Administration". atfl.org; American Task Force for Lebanon. Retrieved 2010-06-18.
30. "Darrell Issa profile". Washington Post. 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
31. "Issues & Legislation - Stem Cell Research". Congressman Issa's official website (November 11, 2009). Retrieved 2010-07-06.
32. "Representative Darrell Issa (CA) Voting Record". votesmart.org; Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
33. "GovTrack: H.Amdt. 490 to H.R. 3199 [109th] - 109th Congress". Govtrack.us. July 21, 2005. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
34. "Key Vote Detail" votesmart.org; Project Vote Smart. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
35. "Issues & Legislation - "Blue Card" System". issa.house.gov; Congressman Issa's official website. November 9, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
36. "Cap-and-trade climate change legislation: House Roll Call #477 Details". OpenCongress. June 26, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
37. "Issues & Legislation - Global Climate Change". issa.house.gov; Congressman Issa's official website. November 11, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
38. "Issues & Legislation - Education - No Child Left Behind"; Congressman Issa's official website. November 11, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
39. "Current Taxpayer Protection Pledge Signers in the 111th Congress". Americans for Tax Reform. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
40. "Rep. Darrell Issa, a senior House Republican, is predicting a dim future for the Stop Online Piracy Act". C-Net. December 14, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
41. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr3523
42. Rosen, Rebecca J. (January 5, 2012). "Why Is Open-Internet Champion Darrell Issa Supporting an Attack on Open Science?". The Atlantic.
43. Suber, Peter (2008). "An open access mandate for the National Institutes of Health". Open Medicine. 2 (2): 39–41. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
44. "Issa endorses Romney". The Hill. September 22, 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
45. "Republican plans investigations of 'corrupt' Obama administration", USA Today. January 3, 2011. Accessed March 22, 2011.
46. "Issa Accuses White House of Retaliating Against Whistleblower", Peter Surowski. Murrieta Patch blogsite. Accessed March 22, 2011.
47. Williams, Brooke; Pearce, Matt (February 28, 2011). "Industry insiders score jobs on Issa's team". Investigative Newsource. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
48. "Darrell Issa's Team Includes Industry Insiders". Huffington Post. February 28, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
49. ^ Sisk, Richard and McCauliff, Michael (April 3, 2008). "GOP Rep. Darrell Issa under fire from everywhere after 9/11 comments", New York Daily News.
50. "Setting the Record Straight for the 9/11 hearing held on April 1, 2008". issa.house.gov. September 11, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
51. "H.R. 3543: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2007". govtrack.usa. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
52. Goode, Darren (2011-01-03) Issa to business: Tell me what to fix, Politico.com
53. Yglesias, Matthew (2011-01-04) Embracing Regulatory Capture, Think Progress
54. Strong, Jonathan "Issa hits back at Cummings over letters to industry groups", The Daily Caller (2011-01-05).
55. Madison, Lucy (2011-09-13) Liberal group files ethics complaint against Darrell Issa, CBS News

External links

• U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa official U.S. House site
• Darrell Issa for U.S. Congressman official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Directed Electronics
• Darrell Issa: Enter Stage Right, profile in Mother Jones magazine
• Williams, Lance. Issa's Army record in doubt: Candidate's account can't be verified. San Francisco Chronicle. 29 May 1998.

Template:Persondata

• 1953 births
• American anti–illegal immigration activists
• American chief executives
• American politicians of Lebanese descent
• American military personnel of the Vietnam War
• California Republicans
• Dismissal of United States Attorneys controversy
• Kent State University alumni
• Living people
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from California
• People from Cleveland, Ohio
• People from San Diego County, California
• People from Vista, California
• Siena Heights University alumni
• United States Army officers