Politico speculates about possible replacements for Darrell Issa, whose “adventure” as Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is term limited:
Issa’s term as the Obama administration’s chief inquisitor expires at the end of 2014, and unless leaders waive party rules, he won’t be eligible to keep running the committee.
Awww…it’s a sad.
No…really! Issa has been a real gift to the Democrats in his role as Chair of the Oversight Committee. It begins with the irony that a man who was charged twice with auto theft, and charged twice and convicted once of weapons charges is at the helm of the Oversight Committee. It sort of fits in with the Republican Projection Phenomenon of “we think you are doing something bad, because we know what we would do in your shoes.” In other words, pick the most corrupt, shadiest, morally bankrupt member to hunt for corruption, shadiness, and moral bankruptcy.
The fact is, Issa has been a disaster as Oversight Chair. He is undisciplined, politically unsavvy and, frankly, ineffective. He doesn’t seem to have a nose for investigations.
This is no more evident than in the “IRS Scandal”, where Issa made a fatal investigatory blunder. As a Partisan Issa would certainly want people to believe that Teabagger groups were being targeted. But, the Investigator Issa should have initially focused on reality first and used what he could later for the spin cycles.
Instead, Issa directed IRS Inspector General J. Russell George to investigate IRS targeting of only conservative and tea party groups. The results made for some weeks of good sound bites, but proved embarrassing and amateurish when the truth came out that the IRS was targeting all political-oriented groups. More importantly, it undermined Issa’s credibility to effectively conduct investigations.
So, this is one reason way we should hope that Issa gets a term limit waiver and remains Chair of the Oversight committee! But that probably won’t happen.
Among the prospective Chairs in Politico’s list is Washington state’s Doc Hasting (R-WA-4):
Call this Boehner ally and personal friend the wild card.
As current Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Hastings, like Issa, is term-limited [as Natural Resources Committee Chairman] at the close of this Congress.
He raised GOP eyebrows when he joined Oversight earlier this year — a rare move for someone who’s been in Congress for nearly two decades.
Republican rank and file call that “committee hopping,” and many on the panel wonder if he joined with an eye on the gavel.
Hastings’s office wouldn’t confirm or deny rumors that he‘ll throw his name in the pot. If he chooses to, he has more than Boehner’s friendship at his back: He has money.
I’ll just say this: if there is anyone in Congress that I perceive as more incompetent and ineffective in the role of Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, it’s “Doc” Hastings. A dumber Congressman you will not find.
Please…let it be so!
Don’t forget Mr. Issa was also a prime suspect in the burning of his own Car-Alarm business after it had come out that his “business” was also involved in some interesting shenanigans with tax fraud and defrauding his suppliers. The insurance company refused a payout because he’d doubled his insurance just a few weeks before the business was burned down, and arson was the declared cause. The payout would have been about $450,000.
Issa is San Diego Mafia through and through.
The whole Republican Party needs to be stuffed into a toilet and then flushed. They are not only haters but a few steps away from being Nazi’s. Jay Leno described it best.
Hastings has the distinction of being even dumber that McMorris-Rogers. That’s hard to do.
Yeah right. Issa has continued to keep the pressure on and we’re learning new things and special revelations each week.
Keep crying about Issa. He’s kept this phony scandal alive much to the chagrin of Elijah Cummings who claimed no one appointed by Obummer was involved! WRONG!
Wait until Lois Lerner sings!
Facts are the enemy of HA libtards. Keep creating threads to “allay” false fears!
@4 “Issa has continued to keep the pressure on and we’re learning new things and special revelations each week.”
What did we learn this week?
@4 “Wait until Lois Lerner sings!”
You mean she’s going to spill Rmoney’s 2009 tax return? I thought they had to keep that confidential.
Don’t forget that for many years during Bushtime, Hastings chaired the House Ethics Committee – in theory, at least, because he almost never actually convened the committee, even in the era of Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, and the worst corruption the House had seen in decades.
Hastings is the perfect guy to have as chair when the GOP is in charge. He’s the type of guy who, while alarms are shrieking as the ski-masked bank robbers run out the door with sacks of money in their hands, is leaning over, outraged!!!!!11!!, by the cigarette butt on the sidewalk.