In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from California’s 49th District, Darrell Issa, who remains the wealthiest man in all of Congress. Issa’s past includes being arrested for stealing a car, and investigated for potential arson in an insurance fraud scheme, and after throwing millions of dollars at a couple unsuccessful Congressional campaigns in the late nineties, he finally found his way to Washington, D.C. in the 2000 election.
Issa truly made a name for himself when he was serving as the Chairman of the House Oversight committee, where he set records for the number of subpoenas he issued to people while leading witch hunts whenever a “scandal” broke in the conservative news media. Sadly, in calling hearings over Solyndra, the IRS investigations into 501c4 groups, Wikileaks, and double-digit investigations into Benghazi… in all those Congressional hearings, exactly zero convictions or criminal charges were filed, and a small fortune in taxpayer dollars werewasted in his mad quest to root out corruption that doesn’t exist.
Rep. Issa himself bragged in 2010 that under his watch, the House Oversight Committee would hold hearings “seven hearings a week for 40 weeks”. He issued as many subpoenas during his tenure than his three predecessors combined. In 2016, he called for the Republican Party to have another government shutdown to protest if Hillary Clinton was not charged with a crime for using a private e-mail server while serving as Secretary of State, because that’s not an unreasonable demand. You’d think with all the s*** the man threw at the wall over a seven-year tenure in that position, he could have managed to find something that would stick, but all it did at best was hurt the poll numbers of whomever he was attacking at the time.
Now, what’s new with Rep. Issa is rather timely. Back on June 28th, 2017, he went to speak before the Federation for American Immigration Reform, aka FAIR, aka an honest-to-not-goodness hate group whose founder likes to talk a lot about the white race being superior because eugenics prove it. And after the Neo-Nazis were marching through Charlottesville and carried out a terror attack, suddenly Issa wanted hearings on white supremacy in Congress. Hey, Darrell? Maybe you should go back through your day planner and invite some of your pals, y’know?
Surviving until 2018 In a California swing district, after nine terms in office, Issa had drawn the ire of his constituents, so much so that he was seen standing on the roof of his office in his home district to avoid them, and went out of his way to plan a “town hall” where he had a special invitation list of people who were conservative, so he wouldn’t have any confrontations with people who actually disagree with them. After record Democratic voter registration, and record Latino voter registration started to be reported throughout most of California, including Darrell Issa’s district, It became official on January 10th, 2018… Darrell supposedly retired from office after 9 terms in Congress…
However, Darrell Issa launched a carpet-bagging campaign to try to run for the seat in California’s 50th Congressional District instead, and narrowly won with 54% of the vote. He has quickly returned to being a partisan s***heel:
- January 6th, 2021: Darrell Issa votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Issa votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Darrell Issa votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Issa votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Issa votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Darrell Issa votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Issa votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Issa votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Darrell Issa votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
Darrell Issa has recently returned to anti-immigrant paranoia, pretending that Donald Trump actually completed a full border wall on the U.S./Mexico border, and pretending that somehow “gaps” in it were created by Joe Biden in his first few months in office. We really wish he’d f***ed off into retirement, but if it means we get to see him get his ass kicked out of office in a second district two years later, we’ll be alright with it.
One Year Ago, August 29th, 2020: Darrell Issa (CA)… 2020 Update
Two Years Ago, August 29th, 2019: Gina Sosa (FL)
Three Years Ago, August 29th, 2018: Darrell Issa (CA)… 2018 Update
Four Years Ago, August 29th, 2017: Darrell Issa (CA) … 2017 Update
Five Years Ago, August 29th, 2016: Darrell Issa (CA)… 2016 Update
Six Years Ago, August 29th, 2015: Darrell Issa (CA)…2015 Update
Seven Years Ago, August 29th, 2014: Darrell Issa (CA)…Original Profile