Darrell Issa has a Better Idea

Hammering on this a lot, but it just keeps getting more ridiculous

So Darrell Issa finds it inappropriate for the federal government to be funding medical care for sick 9/11 rescue workers. Says Rep. Issa, "I have to ask ... why the firefighters who went there and everybody in the city of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state consideration."

So as to prove that he's not just running off incoherently about hating rescue workers, Issa wants you to know he's proud of his alternative plans for spending federal funds. To that end, he's triumphantly sent around a press release listing all of his new earmarks (word doc, h/t Chris Reed). So what, you're probably wondering, has Representative Issa chosen to crow about that exemplifies the "local money for local issues, federal money for screw you" spending mantra? Here's the quick list:

San Diego Regional Interoperable Computer Aided Dispatch Project -$6 million
San Diego Regional Communications System (RCS) Upgrade -$3.5 million
Gang Prevention Program (City of Oceanside) -$500K
Lake Elsinore Emergency Operations Center -$250K
Murrieta Creek Flood Control Project -$13 million
San Luis Rey Flood Control Project -$7.2 million
Perris II Desalter (Perris, CA) -$2 million
Non-Potable Distribution Facilities and Demineralization/Desalination Recycled Water Treatment and Reclamation Facility Project (Riverside County) -$2 million
Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project (Camp Pendleton) -$1 million
San Jacinto & Upper Santa Margarita Watersheds Project -$355K
San Diego County Fire Safety and Fuels Reduction Program -$45 million
Corpsmen/Medics Civilian Nursing Training Program (Oceanside) -$1.6 million
Vista Community Clinic -$1 million
North County Health Project Oceanside Clinic Expansion (Oceanside) -$1 million
Railroad Canyon I-15 interchange project -$8 million
State Route 76 (widen and realign) -$5 million
San Luis Rey Transit Center (Oceanside) -$3.1 million
West Vista Way (City of Vista, widen) -$2 million
French Valley Airport (Temecula) -$1 million
Renovation and expansion of Fallbrook Boys and Girls Club -$500K

Some pretty nice projects in there. But it begs the question: Ahem, why do all these people need "to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state [or local] consideration?" Rep. Issa? Bueller? Bueller?

Lemme just venture one guess. Rescue workers in New York don't vote in Temecula or Oceanside do they? Oh yeah. So only when Issa is trying to hook it up for his own self should federal money be spent on state and local projects. Not only cruel and hateful, but selfish and duplicitous too. He's building himself quite a nice collection of adjectives. Full of crap isn't technically an adjective, but it also applies.


Robert Hamilton is challenging Darrell Issa this year.

Cross posted at Calitics

Darrell Issa Keeps Digging, Still Hates 9/11 Rescue Workers

Yesterday I noted with considerable disdain that Darrell Issa doesn't give a crap about 9/11 victims and is, not surprisingly, an ass. Turns out that Issa's heartless BS isn't finding much of an audience elsewhere either, as people from coast to coast line up to tear him a new one:

"That is a pretty distorted view of things," said Frank Fraone, a Menlo Park, Calif., fire chief who led a 67-man crew at Ground Zero. "Whether they're a couple of planes or a couple of missiles, they still did the same damage."

"New York was attacked by Al Qaeda. It doesn't have to be attacked by Congress," added Long Island Rep. Pete King, a Republican.

"I'm really surprised by Darrell Issa," King added. "It showed such a cavalier dismissal of what happened to New York. It's wrong and inexcusable."

Lorie Van Aucken, who lost her husband, Kenneth, in the attacks, slammed Issa's "cruel and heartless" comments.

"It's really discouraging. People stepped up and did the right thing. They sacrificed themselves and now a lot of people are getting really horrible illnesses," she added.

New York Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Anthony Weiner and GOP Rep. Vito Fossella also added some heated criticisms of Issa. Issa, however, remains mostly unrepentant:

"I continue to support federal assistance for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," he said.

But he didn't retract his wacked-out rhetoric claiming the feds "just threw" buckets of cash at New York for an attack "that had no dirty bomb in it, it had no chemical munitions in it."

He went on: "I have to ask ... why the firefighters who went there and everybody in the city of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state consideration."

In his statement yesterday, Issa insisted he only "asked tough questions about the expenditures" during a hearing Tuesday on an aid bill for sick New Yorkers.

And if that wasn't enough, contrast this with another recent dumbass maneuver by Issa in which he DID scurry to apologize for his missteps. Back in February during hearings into a million missing White House emails, Darrell Issa enthusiastically did his water carrying for the Bush administration, declaring it entirely reasonable that converting from Lotus Notes to Outlook would cause such a loss of information. He went so far as to compare Lotus Notes to wooden wagon wheels and Betamax. But once big business got agitated about it, Issa fell all over himself and even officially correcting the Congressional record. But 9/11 rescue workers? Apparently not on the same level as keeping Lotus happy. I mean after all, according to Issa, 9/11 "simply was an aircraft" hitting the World Trade Center and causing "a fire."

I don't know what world Darrell Issa is living in, but he certainly doesn't have much company.

Robert Hamilton is challenging Darrell Issa this year.

Cross posted at Calitics

Darrell Issa: 9/11 Fallout is New York's Problem

I'm not sure if he's just a soulless ass or if he's also actively trying to undermine the entire foundation of post-9/11 conservativism, but Darrell Issa is doing his level best to spit on the rescue workers who got sick at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the twin towers attacks. He's flatly refused to vote for federal funding that would provide medical care to these victims of the attack because, in Issa's mind, it apparently was just a local thing, and not a major one at all:

"It simply was an aircraft, residue of two aircraft, and residue from the materials used to build this building," Issa said during a hearing into whether a new 9/11 victims' compensation fund should be launched.

Which is odd since, as Rep. Anthony Weiner notes, "The gentleman voted for [original 9/11 funding] because we had the national sense that this was not an attack on New York City, this was an attack on our country."

But hey, keep up the dispicably cruel hypocrisy Rep. Issa. Feel free to even bring some friends along. Because all it proves is that 9/11 to you is nothing more than a tool to intimidate people into sacrificing Constitutional rights and attempt to justify the $3 trillion Iraq boondoggle. That's when it's a national issue. That's when America is at stake. Only when it serves the political interests of Darrell Issa.

But when the heroes who sacrificed at Ground Zero need help? For Darrell Issa, that's not America's problem and it apparently sure isn't his problem. It's...well...somebody else's problem.

Robert Hamilton is challenging Darrell Issa this year.

Cross posted at Calitics

Supporters of OC Toll Road Dealt Major Blow

Congresswoman Susan Davis, has inserted a "rider" in the upcoming defense authorization bill. The rider "would require the Foothill/South Toll Road project to adhere to state environmental laws."[Link] This requirement would mean that the project would have to obtain a permit from the state Coastal Commission. In September, the commission issued a report that recommended the project be denied a permit.[Link]

Davis' rider has passed the last of the procedural hurdles and is now part of the full defense authorization bill that is head to the full House for consideration probably next week. The rider effectively reverses another rider from 2000 "by three Republican Congressmen – Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert – who used the same mechanism to specifically exempt the toll road project from state and federal environmental laws."[Link]

Props go out to the Congresswoman for taking this important step in trying to save Trestles.

OC Lincoln Club joins fight to steal electoral votes

Capitol Alert from the Sacramento Bee is reporting that OC Lincoln Club is donating $100,000 to help qualify the Electoral College reform initiative for the ballot. [Link] The measure, if it qualifies for the June ballot and passes, would award California's electoral votes by Congressional district instead of the present winner-take-all system.

The initiative qualifying effort was dropped by its original sponsors, but in recent weeks was pickup "by a group led by Republican strategist David Gilliard." Their goal is to turn in 700,000 signatures by the end of the week.[Link]

The OC Lincoln Club joins 49th Congressional Representative Darrell Issa as the single largest contributors to the effort by the California GOP to malapportion the electoral system here in California. Here is a list of some of the donors who have contributed to this effort.

Cross posted at Calitics

Tuesday - Quick Hits

Continued fallout from Labor Day beach riot, City Council passes 1-year Alcohol Ban on all city beaches. UT VOSD

Trying to profit from the wildfires disaster, the D.A. nabs 8 unlicensed contractors in fraud investigation. UT

General Jack Ripper be on alert, the county moves closer to fluoridating water. UT

As Bush's failed war in Iraq continues, Veterans group seeks holiday donations. UT

Local Paper comes out against crazy Darrel Issa scheme to steal votes. NCTimes

11 city schools honored for improved test scores. VOSD

Darrell Issa and the Dirty Tricks Big Tent Revival

As reported and later expounded on by the Calitics web of newshounds, Dirty Tricks is back.  Unfortunately it's not a Halloween gimmick, and thanks to Courage Campaign, you can now see this new video from Bradley Whitford on the shady power grab and help financially support the incredible work that the Courage folks are doing.  But as the Dirty Tricks continues its haphazard course between various life-support systems, it's found a big money home in the wallet of recall-champion Darrell Issa.

Issa, who represents the 49th Congressional District, is one of the richest people in Congress, making a fortune off the Viper car alarm (step back, you are too close to the vehicle).  Issa is a veteran of throwing gobs of personal money into campaigns.  He dropped $12 million of his own money to lose the Republican Senate primary in 1998.  He was a bit more successful in 2003 when he dug into his wallet for $1.6 million in personal cash to fund the signature gathering for the Gray Davis recall which, when asked if it was worth it earlier this month, he said "Yes, of course."  Well, Rep. Issa is ponying up the big bucks again, lining up behind Dirty Tricks in its hour of need.  If new polling from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner is any indication though, he may have picked himself a loser this time.  The poll finds just 22% in favor and 53% opposed (25% undecided) to the measure throughout the state with uniform opposition throughout every region of the state.  So the question is...why?

Issa has been around this game long enough to know that any initiative starting that low is an exceptional longshot, and even said of initiatives last month "We barely mention them until they qualify...Usually they're just talked about to get us to spend money."  Well, it sure looks like it worked, as Issa has described his financial commitment to the initiative as "fluid."  This money obviously is a drop in the bucket to Issa, whose net worth is estimated by OpenSecrets as $135,862,098 to $677,230,000.  So why even bother with a stinker like this?  The Union-Tribune editorialized a theory on Saturday suggesting that it's all just a "slick" and "ingenius" plan by an otherwise bankrupt and backsliding CA-GOP to drain the coffers of Democrats throughout the state.

Obviously it discounts the notion that unifying, organizing, and energizing Democrats throughout the state might actually be problematic for Republicans.  While the initiative would likely appear on an otherwise overlooked ballot, that sort of organizing is pretty easy to roll over into, say, competitive assembly, state senate and congressional elections several months afterwards.  Given the complimentary fundraising debacles being turned in by the NRCC and California GOP, how wise is it to get Democrats revved up in every corner of the state?

Rep. Issa is taking on a curious cause here.  It's chump change for him, but as he explained when discussing the recall, "Would I have liked to have spent less? Absolutely. I'm a fiscal conservative."  He's also been fretting of late over the prospect of too many children receiving health insurance.  Yet he's more than happy to toss some coin around to make Republicans look bad and help galvanize Democrats.  I haven't seen Republicans around the state coming up with any other ideas to improve their electoral chances next year, so maybe this is just the desperation starting to set in.  Time will tell, but in the meantime it's time to gear up again.

Cross posted at Calitics

Judge Forces Bilbray, Hunter, Issa to Disclose Soledad Cross Records

U.S. Judge John Bates in the DC District Court ruled yesterday that Representatives Bilbray, Hunter and Issa must provide some of their official documents to a Jewish Veterans group who filed suit last year. The veterans group is attempting to demonstrate that federal seizure of the land was designed to advance a religious goal.

The New York Sun runs through the decision:

Judge Bates said that by sponsoring a bill to federalize the cross, Messrs. Bilbray, Hunter, and Issa opened themselves up to the demand for records. "These members in particular had every reason to suspect that their words and deeds as the Act's sponsors would be the subject of post-enactment scrutiny; they played a high-profile role in the federal government's acquisition of a large Latin cross that had been the subject of extensive prior litigation, made numerous public statements, and boasted of their role in campaign literature," the judge wrote. "This Court's case-specific ruling allowing discovery from these three Members neither works an injustice to them nor opens a proverbial can of worms for legislators generally." Judge Bates's ruling was something of a split decision. He said the legislators were entitled to withhold records pertaining to "legislative acts" but had to disclose records about attempts they made to convince executive branch officials to seize the land by public domain. The judge also said records of contacts with local officials, citizens' groups, and the press might constitute "political activities" that are not protected from subpoena.

The ruling could reveal interesting insights or may land with a dull thud once the surrendered documents are reviewed. And while this is a case-specific ruling which does not directly carry precedent, it does mean that legislators in the future will not be able to count on the Speech and Debate clause as definite protection.

Cross posted at Calitics