“I will have you physically removed if you don't stop.” – (former House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, firing upon then-ranking member Darrell Issa, who was demanding regular order in contrast to Mr. Waxman's repeated badgering of Bush administration officials.)
“You should be ashamed of yourself!” – Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, reproving Ronald Welch, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, for providing “blank pages” of discovery on the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.
Unlike U. S. Rep. Waxman (D-Los Angeles/South Bay), Rep. Issa (R-La Jolla) is leading the fight for our country. While Mr. Waxman was investigating lead in toys and steroid abuse in baseball, Mr. Issa has followed up major scandals, that have been erupting to a heated pitch in the last week.
While the mainstream media concentrated on President Obama's childhood and dressing up his failed policies as “just the right tonic for the country,” Mr. Issa and his committee have demanded information on the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, intended originally to allow illegal purchasers to take guns and aid law enforcement in bringing down Mexican drug cartels. The disrupted operation has made things worse. Federal agents have been killed along the U.S.-Mexico border, among numerous other crimes, all of which were committed with the very guns used by Obama administration DOJ officials and sold to illegal purchasers. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has waffled, refusing to provide requested documents on the Operation. Mr. Issa landed hard on Asst. Atty. Gen. Welch for offering documents with information blocked out. “You might as well have given us a ream still in its original binder,” Mr. Issa said. .”
Despite the fawning of the media and the blatant blame laid by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mr. Issa refused to support the emergency aid legislation to northeast states hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. Mr. Issa stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and protested the pork-laden legislation. The House Majority Leader excised much of the waste with a proper bill that would provide direct relief to all Sandy victims.
On CNN, Wolf Blitzer warned Mr. Issa that people would hate him for refusing to waffle on the fiscal cliff bill. Mr. Issa did not care. Voicing the interests of his constituents, he refused to support a last-minute midnight bill that would cut taxes but ignore spending while saddle future generations with heaps of debt.
Mr. Issa is leading the fight for our country, for our future, to ensure that Washington insiders do not dump deficits, dysfunction and debt on Main Street outsiders.
Within weeks of the Benghazi Embassy attacks last Sept. 11, Mr. Issa pursued the facts of what happened. Did the diplomatic corps request more security? Did the embassy inform the White House and the State Dept. of a planned attack? Or were the terrorists just demonstrators who suddenly rose up and sacked the consulate, killing for officials, including the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens? Whistleblowers have come forward in spite of witness intimidation. Witnesses and Chairman Issa concur that resource requirements were not the issue, but the refusal by the State Dept.to provide more security.
Despite the partisan rancor in Congress, Mr. Issa has allowed the House Minority free access to witnesses, even though the ranking Democratic minority members had claimed that they were not permitted to speak with the Democratic staff.
Mr. Issa is now pressing on the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups and intimidating them. These groups were targeted for their tax exemption status during the 2012 election. Officials within the Obama administration were lying about it even a few weeks prior. These audits were politically motivated, and even MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell has expressed her disgust on the matter. President Nixon faced articles of impeachment for using the IRS to intimidate political opponents.
The Associated Press has released further incriminating evidence that the Justice Dept. seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press. Mr. Issa has emphasized that he already has “a full plate” of investigations.
While investigating the BP oil explosion in 2010, Mr. Waxman had the audacity to impugn the former CEO Tony Hayward: “You're not taking responsibility.”
Meanwhile, he has taken no responsibility for his lack of oversight over the Brentwood VA. He has taken no responsibility for the 19 green tech companies that went bankrupt with taxpayer dollars. He has not even taken responsibility for shutting down a constituent during his embattled reelection campaign last autumn against Independent Manhattan Beach resident Bill Bloomfield.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a writer on issues eternal and unchanging, timeless and timely. A life-long SoCal resident, Arthur lives in Torrance.
Twitter – @ArthurCSchaper
arthurschaper@hotmail.com
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