Fact Checking the Darrell Issa Campaign Mailer You
Paid For
A few days ago I received a mailer from my Congressman titled,
Getting Results for California's 49th District.
Below the title a quote from The
Washington Post declares "Darrell Issa one of the 'Most Effective Lawmakers'
in Congress."
Then came the small print: PUBLIC DOCUMENT-OFFICIAL BUSINESS.
Then, in even smaller type: This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at
taxpayer expense.
It's perfectly legal. The Congressional franking privilege allows taxpayer
funding for incumbents to promote themselves by mail, so long as they do not solicit
your vote or a donation to their campaigns. Issa's mailer didn't ask me for my
money or my vote. But after a closer look I found reason enough to deny him
both.
For starters, the Washington
Post article praising Issa was not an editorial endorsement, as implied. It
was simply taken from an article written by two university professors who developed
a rating system for Congress Members
by party. They ranked Issa among the top five Republican lawmakers in the 2013-2014 term.
The following fact checks address his mailer's claims of
achievements during his current term of office, beginning in January 2015.
The mailer highlights Issa's achievements in four areas.
Let's call them the Darrell Issa Mailer Claims (DIM Claims). Each fact check assigns a score for Bloviating Spin (BS), ranging from No BS to Total BS.
DIM Claim #1: Creating jobs for California
The mailer credits Issa for sponsoring the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act, intended
to "keep jobs in America by closing loopholes used to ship jobs
overseas." He introduced the bill just last month. It's cooling its heels
in the Judiciary Committee.
The text of H.R.5801
reveals the bill has nothing to do with keeping jobs from being shipped
overseas. Its purpose is to close a loophole in the H–1B visa program,
requiring employers to pay sufficiently high wages to ensure the protection of
the workforce in the United States. A more honest name for it would be Employment Security for Silicon Valley
High-Tech Employees Act.
DIM Claim #1 blames "sky high tax rates and burdensome
regulations" for "sending jobs everywhere but California." Not
according to this March 2015 article in the L.A.Times,
"California
tops other states in job growth." Writer Marc Lifsher reports, "California
gained 498,000 new jobs in the 12 months ending Jan. 31, 2015, almost 30% more
than Texas' total of 392,900."
Fact Check Score:
Issa's right about the H-1B visa program. It needs to be fixed to protect the wages
of highly educated American workers. But claiming it will keep jobs from being
shipped out of California because of burdensome taxes and regulations earns this
DIM Claim a score of Mostly BS.
DIM Claim #2: Holding Government Accountable
As a journalist I applaud Issa's sponsorship of H.R. 653,
updating the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA).
The law will make it "easier than ever before for
people to uncover what their government is doing behind closed doors," as
the mailer claims. But there are three branches of government. This version of
FOIA applies only to federal agencies within the executive branch.
Fact Check Score:
Allowing public access to documents related to Congressional hearings would enable
voters to do their own cost/benefit analyses, holding their elected representatives
accountable for results. This DIM Claim gets a score of Partly BS.
DIM Claim #3: Keeping America Safe
The mailer claims Issa is "leading the fight to stop
Isis in its tracks," boasting that this year alone he "supported and
passed 11 bills into law that will halt terrorist radicalization and
recruitment."
But of the 17 bills he's introduced
since January 2015, not one addresses
terrorism.
Among the bills he did
sponsor were:
H.R. 136,
renaming Camp Pendleton's post office;
H.R 134,
designating the 200-mile coastal sea zone the Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States;
H.R. 1836,
Monuments Protection Act, which would
keep national monuments open when Congressional wrangling over the budget shuts
down government services; and
H.R. 2222,
Eliminate Special Treatment for Congress
Act, a misleading title for a law that would allow members of Congress
unlimited tax deductions for "ordinary and necessary business expenses,"
removing their current limit of $3,000.
Fact Check Score:
There's no record of Issa leading the fight against Isis, unless you define leadership
as jumping aboard popular bills as a co-sponsor. This DIM Claim gets a rating of
Total BS.
DIM Claim #4: Protecting our Veterans
Issa's mailer claims he, "Sponsored and passed
legislation to reform the VA to ensure agency officials are held accountable."
One of those bills, H.R. 1994,
the VA Accountability Act of 2015,
was introduced in the House in May 2015 by Florida's Rep. Jeff Miller. Issa's
name is nowhere to be found among its 98 cosponsors.
Just last month Rep. Miller resurrected VA reform under a
sexier name, H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016. This
being an election year, Issa quickly added his name to the list of 12
co-sponsors.
Fact Check Score:
To say the 49th District Congressman "sponsored and passed legislation to
reform the VA" earns this DIM Claim a score of Total BS. Not even his campaign website boasts of doing that.
Missing from Issa's taxpayer funded mailer is any mention of
his infamous chairing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When
he stepped down in humiliation last year, after four years of failed leadership,
his departure was greeted with bipartisan applause.
When Republican leaders tapped Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz to
chair the committee he explained to reporters,
"Darrell Issa didn't do many reports. He did big press releases."
At the committee's first meeting after gavel passing,
Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the top Democrat, spoke. "The last four
years have been filled with acrimony, partisanship and sometimes vulgar
displays. They were a stain on this committee's integrity and an embarrassment
to the House of Representatives."
It's no wonder Issa's taxpayer funded mailer failed to mention
his service on the oversight committee. In fact, his leadership was cited in
the mailer only once, in his bogus boast that he's leading the fight to stop
Isis.
After sixteen years of Darrell's Issa's Bloviating Spin in
Congress, it's time for 49th District voters to look elsewhere for real leadership.
