Darrell Issa

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The Real Darrell Issa: The Tarnished Witch-Hunter Who Should Be Investigated.
Rep. Darrell Issa's past includes arrests for weapons charges and auto theft, suspicions of arson, and accusations of intimidation with a gun.

Issa dropped out of high school at 17 to join the Army, where he was trained to defuse bombs. He claimed it was his unit which provided stadium-sweeping security for President Richard Nixon before all 1971 World Series games. This was proven false by the facts that Nixon never attended any 1971 World Series games, and that Issa had been transferred to a supply depot during that time due to having previously received an unfavorable performance evaluation. That same year, a fellow soldier claimed that Issa had stolen his Dodge Charger. After confronting him, the auto was mysteriously found the very next day, abandoned, on a nearby freeway. Of course, when asked about this last year, Issa denied it altogether and claimed that this fellow soldier had a drinking problem and had likely abandoned the car himself while drunk.

Having been proven a liar, Issa's criminal patterns escalated:

Suspected Arson
1982: Issa Suspected, But Never Charged, In Arson Incident At Manufacturing Plant. According to the Los Angeles Times: "A suspected arson fire ripped through [Issa's Ohio] manufacturing plant in 1982. No one was ever charged in the fire, but authorities were troubled by a dramatic escalation in the facility's fire insurance just weeks earlier. Even before the blaze was put out, investigators began peppering Issa and his partner with 'crazy questions' regarding their whereabouts before the fire, Issa recalled." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]

Prior To Fire, Issa "Boosted" Fire Insurance And Removed A Computer From The Premises. According to the _Los Angeles Times: "Weeks before the fire, Issa and [business partner Miles] Hunsinger boosted their fire insurance from $100,000 to $ 462,000 on property stored for other companies...At the same time, a separate company that contracted with Quantum to outfit bug zappers increased its insurance to $400,000, and, according to an insurance report, one investigator was 'concerned about the coincidence.' Fire investigators also noted that a computer was taken off the site eight days before the fire, 'allegedly to be reprogrammed' by Issa's lawyer, and that business blueprints were put away in a safe -- which was 'not previously done before.'" [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

"Suspicious Burn Patterns" And "Out Of Normal Practice" Behavior Alerted Investigators. The Washington Post reported: "Investigators reported 'suspicious burn patterns' and said the fire may have been set. A company bookkeeper, Karen Brasdovich, also told them that computers and records had been removed from the site days before the fire for no clear reason. 'It was totally out of normal practice,' she said in a telephone interview last week." [Washington Post via FTLComm.com, 7/8/03]

AC Custom Fire: Flammable Liquid Had "Been Poured On The Only Area Not Covered By Fire Sprinklers." The Los Angeles Times reported that "seven months after Issa took control," a fire broke out at the "Quantum manufacturing plant." "Case files from Maple Heights, the Ohio fire marshal and insurers pointed repeatedly to the likelihood of arson in the blaze, which officials estimated caused $800,000 in damage. Although an accident could not be ruled out, the uneven and unnatural burn patterns made the blaze 'suspicious in nature,' the state concluded two months later. Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

Intimidation With A Weapon
Former AC Custom Executive Claimed Issa Intimidated Him With A Gun. According to the Los Angeles Times: "One of Issa's first tasks as the new boss [of AC Custom] was to remove an executive named Jack Frantz. According to Frantz, Issa came into his office, placed a small box on the desk and opened it. Inside, he said, was a gun." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

Issa Allegedly Used Intimidation To Fire Executive Frantz. According to the Los Angeles Times, Frantz claimed, "'He just showed [the gun] to me and said 'You know what this is?' Issa invited Frantz to hold the gun at one point and told him he had learned about guns and explosives during his military days, Frantz said. Because he was about to be fired, Frantz said he saw it as 'pure intimidation.' [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

Former AC Custom Bookkeeper: "It Was Pretty Terrifying." According to the Los Angeles Times: "The bookkeeper, [Karen] Brasdovich, also recalled Issa having a gun at the company that day. 'It was pretty terrifying,' she said." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

Issa On The Incident: "Shots Were Never Fired." The Los Angeles Times reported: "Issa said, 'Shots were never fired. If I asked Jack to leave, then I think I had every right to ask Jack to leave...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.'" [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]

Auto Theft & Weapons Charges
Issa "Twice Arrested In 1972 On Weapons Charges." According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Issa was twice arrested in 1972 on weapons charges -- once in Ohio, once in Michigan." [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]

Issa Was Convicted Of "Possession Of An Unregistered Handgun," Paid Fine, And Served Probation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "[W]hen Issa was attending college in Michigan, was fined $100 and put on three months' probation after being arrested for possession of an unregistered handgun, Michigan court records show." [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]

1972: Issa Was Arrested For Auto Theft. According to the New York Times: "In 1972, [Darrell Issa] and his brother William were arrested in the theft of a Maserati from a Cleveland car dealership." [New York Times, 7/23/03]

1972: Issa Also Charged With "Carrying A Concealed Weapon." According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Court records...show that in March 1972, one month after getting out of the Army, Issa was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and auto theft. The court file doesn't indicate the type of weapon involved." [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]

Auto Theft, Concealed Weapons Charges Were Ultimately Dropped. According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "In May 1972, a grand jury indicted Issa on a larceny charge in connection with the car theft but dropped the weapons charge. Two weeks later, a prosecutor dropped the car theft charge as well." [San Francisco Chronicle, 7/2/03]

Charges Were Dropped Despite Witness Reports. According to the Los Angeles Times, "a witness reported seeing [Darrell and William Issa] pushing the sports car down the street just before midnight, records and interviews show. But the charges were dismissed -- months before the older brother, [William], was convicted of stealing another car amid a string of offenses." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis]

http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/01/11/report-media-ignore-rep-issas-alleged-criminal/174997

Darrell Issa is eager to investigate the Obama administration, but he's got plenty of skeletons in his own closet. In a lengthy profile, the New Yorker dredges up a series of scandalous allegations from the House Oversight Chairman's criminal past. Among them: Issa has been accused of burning down a building and arrested for carrying a concealed weapon (he paid a fine, got 6 months probation) and stealing a red Maserati (case dismissed). The stories are old ones, and have been aired before, and Issa "seemed tired of defending himself_" from them, writes Ryan Lizza. "Everyone," Issa told him, "has a past." And in reviewing the events that have dogged him, "Issa’s defense in most cases can be summarized in four words," writes Lizza. *"My brother did it."

DON’T LOOK BACK
Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own.

This is a fabulous long-read, and I will emphasize it truly is a must-read. It's a well-written article, intermixing comments made by Issa during interviews concerning his documented criminal past with his recollections. Issa seems to suffer from illusions of grandeur, clearly revealing his patterns of lying, blaming others, while polishing his own self-image. He is a narcissist constantly involved in self-aggrandizement, which many are; however, this guy is pure evil.

An excerpt:

The question now for Washington is how much of a hurry Issa is in to investigate alleged misdeeds by the Administration. Many people assume that Issa Enterprises doesn’t have a brake, but while Issa can be careless when he speaks off the cuff, mangling facts the way normal people often do in conversation, he seems chastened by all the legal and journalistic investigations of his own complicated past. If one believes his version of events, he has been unfairly accused of several crimes, and has long had to live under a cloud of suspicion. It seems possible that Obama won’t be tormented by his chief prosecutor in the House. Perhaps Issa’s experiences will lead to investigations that are careful and serious, and avoid the warfare that has characterized the Oversight Committee in recent decades.

A few days after we met in Las Vegas, Issa called me. He was concerned about all my questions regarding his early life and didn’t see why they were newsworthy. The conversation was awkward. I told him that there was one more question I wanted him to answer: Where did you get the money for your start in business? The issue had stumped the insurance investigators, and William had, somewhat mysteriously, told me that his brother “would lend people money and get money back that way when he was in the service. He would buy and sell cars sometimes. He would get cars at a very good price, keep them, and sell them.”

There was a pause on the phone. “That’s sort of an amazing one to ask,” Issa said. He took a deep breath, and then carefully and patiently explained that, before he started at Quantum, he sold a BMW motorcycle and two cars—his Mercedes and his wife’s 1967 Volkswagen Bug. “We liquidated everything we could to raise money,” he said. He added that he also borrowed fifty thousand dollars from family members to make the first loan to Adkins. Issa seemed frustrated and exhausted. “Everyone,” he said, “has a past.”

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/24/110124fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all

Reference

 * 2011-01-11 REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa's Alleged Criminal Past (MediaMatters)
 * 2011-01-11 REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa's Alleged Criminal Past (MediaMatters)
 * 2011-01-11 REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa's Alleged Criminal Past (MediaMatters)
 * 2011-01-11 REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa's Alleged Criminal Past (MediaMatters)
 * 2011-01-11 REPORT: Media Ignore Rep. Issa's Alleged Criminal Past (MediaMatters)