Darrell Issa as crystal ball

Seven days from now the nation will have spoken, sort of, through the election
booth. This coming week is the time when the elusive “undecided voter” makes
his or her decision about voting for and against candidates for public office.

There’s been no shortage of information out there about the election to date.
But if undecided voters are looking for more, they may take into consideration
one Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican of California, as a possible crystal ball for
a glimpse into the future of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
If independent voters are looking for consensus-building solutions that will
address our lagging economy, Issa is a great example of how a
Republican-controlled Congress will deliver anything but. Rather than work
constructively on solutions, a Republican House will spend its time and taxpayer
resources on frivolous, politically driven “gotcha” games designed to embarrass
the administration.

You see, Mr. Issa likes investigations. Well, he does now that there is a
Democratic administration, anyway. See, he didn’t spend a lot of time as a
government watchdog before 2009. Now he uses his office to inflict political
damage on the administration, oftentimes without a shred of evidence and never
with any bipartisan support.

Let me give you an example.

Recently, after a time-consuming and costly review, the inspector general of
the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a 77-page report exonerating
the agency from any wrongdoing with regard to the timing of the agency’s
securities fraud complaint against Goldman Sachs last April. The expensive
investigation and report were necessitated by accusations from Issa and his colleagues
accusing the White House and the independent agency of coordinating the complaint
to influence the debate over the Wall Street reform bill pending in the U.S.
Senate at that time. Despite receiving statements from both entities that no
coordination had taken place, Issa pressed the SEC’s inspector general to
investigate, though he had not a shred of legitimate evidence to support his
wild accusation. The IG’s report thoroughly debunked Issa’s charges and
eviscerated his so-called evidence, indicating the information Issa provided
was false.

The inspector general’s report outlines the lengths to which the investigation
went to debunk Issa’s lame charges — or to find something to substantiate them.
They searched 3.4 million e-mails from 64 current and former SEC employees,
including many in the chairman’s office, the commissioners’ offices and
enforcement employees. The IG interviewed 32 SEC witnesses — under oath —
including all five SEC commissioners and high-level attorneys and staff,
including the top two enforcement officials.

Roger Parloff, legal analyst for CNNMoney.com, called the investigation
“astoundingly silly and wasteful” and notes that it occurred “while the SEC was
still trying to conduct its ongoing investigation of Goldman — the highest-profile
case on its docket.” Parloff believes that the investigation will likely have a
chilling effect on the agency; its staff cowering from challenging the next
Goldman or Bernie Madoff for fear of being targeted by a politically motivated
witch-hunt, like Issa’s, that treats them as the criminal.

So if partisanship and vindictive politics is what you’re looking for, Issa and
the Republicans are the answer. If you think wasteful investigations intended
to deliver headlines, not to uncover malfeasance, will turn the economy around,
vote Republican. Undecided voters should consider Darrell Issa as a crystal
ball. But all there is to see in that future is a more partisan Congress than
ever, conducting expensive, politically motivated investigations that waste
taxpayer dollars.