Despite Obama’s Smear Campaign, Rep. Issa is Unrelenting

Photo Credit: APThe Watchdog: Rep. Darrell Issa takes on the IRS

By Susan Ferrechio. Rep. Darrell Issa likes to show visitors to his office a bullet-riddled body-armor plate that was manufactured in his district.

He holds up a new model that offers better protection for soldiers, but cautions that even the latest prototypes have limits.

“Ultimately, these things are not bulletproof,” Issa said as he examined a shield. “When you are getting riveted, you’ve got to get out of there. You don’t stand there like one of those movie stars, taking bullets in the chest forever.”

It’s a fitting metaphor for Issa, Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, whose aggressive style of taking on government agencies, most recently the Internal Revenue Service, has drawn a barrage of hit pieces in the news media.

Some of the attacks, which delved into his arrests for alleged car thefts as a youth, were purportedly orchestrated by the White House press office, according to Mark Leibovich in his new book, “This Town,” about the self-absorbed Washington media. Read more from this story HERE.

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Rep. Issa blasts Justice inaction on tax snooping, sees dangers in health care law

By Stephen Dinan. House oversight committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa said Thursday he’s baffled that the Justice Department declined to prosecute a government employee who apparently knowingly pried into tax records of a political candidate or donor, and said there should be a way for victims to know their rights have been violated.

He also said letting state officials have access to federal tax records can be dangerous, and that’s one reason to try to rein in the health care law, which will expand access to states that plan on running their own insurance exchanges.

Mr. Issa made the comments after The Washington Times reported this week that the Treasury inspector general for tax administration had found at least four cases in which a candidate’s or donor’s tax information was accessed improperly.

In one case, the investigator said the violation was willful and referred it to the Justice Department, which declined to pursue the case — a move Mr. Issa said was worrisome.

“We are not just disappointed, but dismayed,” Mr. Issa, California Republican, told The Times, speaking just after he finished a hearing with Inspector General J. Russell George looking at the intrusive IRS scrutiny of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. Read more from this story HERE.