More Issing on the cake from Buzzflash

Darrell Issa: Pillar of Virtue

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Howard Hoffman

When Democrats fib, it's cannon fodder for talk shows and Republicans. When Republicans fib, it's time for all of us to just move on.

This is the continuing mindset as the LA Times on June 30 takes recall creator and now gubernatorial candidate Rep. Darrell Issa apart on a big ol' pile of his claims. Just a few examples:

Issa, who served two stints in the military, first as an enlisted man and later as an officer, has said that he was an Army computer research and development specialist. In a 1995 interview, he said that as an officer he had spent four years in the New Mexico desert perfecting electronic warfare techniques that were later used in the 1991 Gulf War.

His military records, however, list Issa's postings during that period as Ft. Riley, Kan., and Ft. Ord, Calif. Those records and Issa's 1980 Army separation form make no mention of computer training or computer specialty.

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During his 1998 campaign for the Senate, at a time when he was trying to link his candidacy to the legacy of former president Richard Nixon, Issa's campaign literature said he had been a member of Nixon's security detail.

Issa had previously claimed attendance at the 1971 World Series as part of Nixon's security. Records show that Nixon did not attend the 1971 World Series, said Susan Naulty, archivist at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

In recent comments to The Times, Issa has stood by his claim of having served on Nixon's security detail, but has sidestepped the World Series claim, which has not been repeated in the current campaign.

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Issa has often recalled his rags-to-riches rise in the business world. Issa's campaign Web site touts an achievement that seems to symbolize his story: "In 1994, Inc. Magazine recognized Darrell Issa as Entrepreneur of the Year."

In fact, Issa has never won the prestigious national award. The founders of Outback Steakhouse took the magazine's top "Entrepreneur of the Year" honors in 1994.

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On Jan. 16, 1973, Issa pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possession of an unregistered gun. A magistrate fined him $100, put him on probation and ordered him to pay $107 in court costs. At the time, Issa was a student at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich. The arrest was first reported by the Adrian Daily Telegram on July 16.

Asked earlier this month about that arrest, Issa told a Times reporter that the gun was an "unloaded, never-fired, in-the-box, little teeny pistol" and said it wasn't his, although he declined to say whose it was.

Public records obtained by The Times show that when arrested, Issa was carrying a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol with seven bullets in its ammunition clip, as well as 44 bullets and a tear-gas gun.

And how does Issa respond to being caught in repeated lies?

"If there was any mistake on any bio, I wish somebody would point it out to me so we can clarify what is a small, honest error."

"That's from something years before, from a misquote, er, you know, interpretation, years before I even ran for office."

Okay...we know it's coming...

"There are details and details and details that have been used against me that are minutiae."

From Think Progress:
In 1982, Issa allegedly used deception to take control of Directed Electronics Inc. (then named, A.C. Custom) from a former business partner, Joseph Adkins. Adkins borrowed $60,000 from Issa with Adkins’ company stock serving as collateral. Issa made a verbal agreement to give Adkins extra time to repay; but later Issa obtained a court order to seize the stock despite the verbal agreement, a move Adkins describes as cheating him out of the company and Issa calls the only chance to protect his loan collateral.[4]

A day after the court order, Issa allegedly carried a cardboard box containing a handgun into the office of an A.C. Custom executive, Jack Frantz, and told Frantz he was fired. In a 1998 newspaper article, Frantz said Issa had invited him to hold the gun and claimed extensive knowledge of guns and explosives from his Army service. In response, Issa said, “Shots were never fired. … 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.”[5]