'Darrell E. Issa' (pronounced ''Eye''-suh) (born
November 1 1953) is an
American politician and former CEO of a consumer electronics company. A
Republican, since 2001 he has been a member of the
United States House of Representatives, representing the
49th District of
California[1]. 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.
Aside from his service in Congress, Issa is also known for being a major contributor to the
2003 recall election of
Governor Gray Davis.
Biography
Darrell Issa's mother is of
Bohemian German descent and his father is a
Christian Arab of
Lebanese descent. Issa was born in
Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in a
Jewish neighborhood and worked for a
rabbi. Issa enlisted in the
Army during his senior year of high school, where he served as a
bomb disposal technician.
He attended
Kent State University Stark in
North Canton, Ohio and
Siena Heights College in
Adrian, Michigan, on an
ROTC scholarship, earning a
bachelor's degree in
business administration in 1976. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a US Army Officer, serving as a tank
platoon leader and a computer research and development specialist, among other command roles. He left the Regular Army in 1980 with the rank of captain. He later moved to
Vista, California, a suburb of
San Diego, where he now lives.
Issa made his fortune through his company, Directed Electronics Incorporated, that is most famous for its flagship product, the "Viper" car alarm. It bears one notable siren that is a recording of Issa's voice, "Warning, you are too close, this vehicle protected by Viper." As of 2004, Directed Electronics was North America's largest aftermarket automotive electronics manufacturer. Issa divested all personal interest in Directed Electronics after being elected to public office, but is one of the richest members of the House.
Issa is married to Kathy and has a son, William.
Allegations
In 1971, Issa allegedly stole a Dodge sedan from an Army post near
Pittsburgh. The allegation was made by a retired Army sergeant, and published in a 1998 newspaper article. Issa denied the allegation. No charges were filed.
[2][3]
In 1972, Issa and his brother allegedly stole a red Maserati sports car from a car dealership in Cleveland. He and his brother were indicted for car theft, but the case was dropped.
23
Also in 1972, Issa was convicted in Michigan for possession of an unregistered gun. He received three months probation and paid a $204 fine.
[4][5]
On
December 28,
1979, Issa and his brother allegedly faked the theft of Issa's Mercedes Benz sedan. Issa and his brother were charged for felony auto-theft, but the case was dropped by prosecutors for lack of evidence. Later, Issa and his brother were charged for misdemeanors, but that case was not pursued by prosecutors. Issa accused his brother of stealing the car, and said that the experience with his brother was the reason he went into the car alarm business.
23
In 1982, Issa allegedly used deception to take control of Directed Electronics Inc. (then named A.C. Custom) from a former business partner, Joseph Adkins. Adkins borrowed $60,000 from Issa with Adkins' company stock serving as collateral. Issa made a verbal agreement to give Adkins extra time to repay. However, Issa later obtained a court order to seize the stock despite the verbal agreement, a move Adkins describes as cheating him out of the company and Issa calls the only chance to protect his loan collateral.
4
A day after the court order, Issa allegedly carried a cardboard box containing a handgun into the office of an A.C. Custom executive, Jack Frantz, and told Frantz he was fired. In a 1998 newspaper article, Frantz said Issa had invited him to hold the gun and claimed extensive knowledge of guns and explosives from his Army service. In response, Issa said, "Shots were never fired. ... I don't recall having a gun. I really don't. I don't think I ever pulled a gun on anyone in my life."
5
Political career
First 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 $12 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
[6]. Fong prevailed in the open primary by a margin of 22 percent to 20 percent for Issa. A San Francisco exit poll suggested that large numbers of Asian-Americans had crossed party lines to vote for Fong
[7].
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, and won the Republican primary against State Senator
Bill Morrow. This win was tantamount to election in the heavily Republican district (only the
Orange County-based 48th District is considered more Republican). 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.
[8].
Issa currently serves on the
U.S. House Committee on International Relations, the
House Judiciary Committee, and the
U.S. House Committee on Government Reform. He serves as the Chairman of the
Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy and Resources and has also played an active legislative role on the issues of immigration,
intellectual property protection, and the
Middle East.
Most recently, 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 of
Michigan.
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, with only 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.
For the recall election, Issa endorsed Republican
Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, at one point in the campaign he actually suggested that people should vote against recalling Davis, concerned that Schwarzenegger and fellow Republican
Tom McClintock would split votes and install Democratic lieutenant governor
Cruz Bustamante as Davis' successor
[9]
Middle East involvement
As one of the few Arab-Americans in Congress, Issa has had a significant but sometimes controversial 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.
[10]
Activist
Debbie Schlussel wrote a column calling him "Jihad Darrell", charging that he sympathized with
Hezbollah despite its being listed by the U.S. government as a
terrorist organization
[11]. Issa denied this; he later speculated that Schlussel's column might have inspired an aborted
Jewish Defense League plot in 2001 to bomb his district office in San Clemente
[12]. JDL 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.
[13]
On June 16 2006 he voted to reject setting timetables for withdrawal from IRAQ. December 14 2005 he voted for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. June 29 2005 he voted for the increase of funds by another $25 million for anti-marijuana print and TV ads. October 6, 2005 he voted for the Department of Homeland Security.
Issa's support for
Palestinian causes has also attracted criticism from various
conservative organizations, even though he has a lifetime rating of 92 from the
American Conservative Union.
On
April 5,
2007, Issa met with Syrian president
Bashar Assad to discuss Middle East issues, one day after Assad met with House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi's visit brought strong criticism from Republicans, including President Bush.
[14]
Criticism and controversy
Blackwater controversy
On
February 7,
2007, during a hearing in which four mothers, wives, and daughters of four security guards killed in Iraq testified in front of the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Issa made controversial remarks, implying that the hearing was partisan and insinuating that the women's testimony was written by their attorney. The families have sued
North Carolina-based
Blackwater USA, the company that employed their relatives as security guards, to gain information about the circumstances surrounding the men’s deaths. (
[2]) Congresswoman
Janice Schakowsky of
Illinois lambasted Issa saying, "I also wanted to take exception to questions about who wrote this, first of all, because I think clearly the implication was that somehow these wonderful women could not possibly have written that wonderful, heartfelt testimony and that it took a lawyer in order to put it together and I resent that very much."
Firing of U.S. Attorney Carol Lam
Main articles: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, who successfully prosecuted
Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham, was dismissed in December 2006. ''
North County Times'' has quoted Issa stating that he takes "maybe one-twentieth" of the responsibility for Lam's firing.
[15]
In March 2007,
Congress opened hearings into the
dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys including Lam, probing whether the
Bush Administration had political motives for ousting the federal prosecutors.
[16]
Issa testified at the March 6, 2007,
United States House Committee on the Judiciary hearing
[17].
References
1. http://ftp2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd109_gen/cd_based/california/cd109_CA49.pdf
2. Issa was charged in San Jose car theft
3. "Issa Dogged By New Reports Of Past Legal Troubles" NBC San Diego, 2003-06-25
4. California Recall Advocate Issa Once Accused of Theft (Update3)
5. Recall chief held twice on illegal weapons charges
6. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/05/20/MN25428.DTL
7. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/06/03/NEWS135.dtl
8. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/federal/20040929-9999-1mi29cong49.html
9. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/23/ISSA.TMP
10. http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030709-110130-3554r.htm
11. http://www.politicalusa.com/columnists/schlussel/schlussel_003.htm
12. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20011224-9999_1m24issa.html
13. http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=371
14. [1]
15. Issa to testify on Lam firing William Bennett
16. AP via The Guardian
17. [3]
External links
★
U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa, House site
★
★
Federal Election Commission — Darrell Edward Issa campaign finance reports and data
★
On the Issues — Darrell Issa issue positions and quotes
★
OpenSecrets.org — Darrell Issa campaign contributions
★
★
SourceWatch Congresspedia — Darrell Issa profile
★
Darrell Issa for U.S. Congressman, campaign site
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Directed Electronics
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