Experts slam Issa for forcing tech chief to testify

by Brendan Sasso - 11/11/13 10:38 AM ET

Three technology experts with ties to the White House are blasting House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for forcing Obama’s top technology expert to testify before Congress.

The group created a website, called “Let Todd Work,” arguing that Issa is wasting the time of U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and distracting him from trying to fix HealthCare.gov.

Issa’s panel issued a subpoena on Friday to force Park to testify about problems with the ObamaCare website at a hearing on Wednesday.

{mosads}”Now, instead of continuing to fix Healthcare.gov (a mess he did not make), Mr. Park has to spend his hours preparing for his testimony,” the group wrote.

The site was created by Clay Johnson and Adam Becker, former Presidential Innovation fellows, and Michael Aleo, a former White House art director.

Visitors can sign an online petition to “stand with Todd” and call for Issa to withdraw the subpoena.

“No matter what side of the aisle you sit on, Todd is one of the good guys. Let him do his job,” the tech experts wrote.

Park helped create the original version of HealthCare.gov when he was the chief technology officer at the Health and Human Services Department. At the time, the site only helped consumers compare insurance information.

His role in the botched roll-out of the ObamaCare exchanges last month is unclear, but he has been focusing on trying to fix the site in recent weeks.

The White House declined Issa’s initial request for Park to testify voluntarily, saying he is too busy working on the troubled website.

Donna Pignatelli, a White House official, told Issa that forcing Park to testify would be “highly disruptive.”

But in a letter to Park accompanying the subpoena to compel his testimony on Friday, Issa noted that Park was quoted in an October New York Times article.

“[Americans] deserve your sworn testimony before their elected representatives about what went wrong—not simply the media outlets that White House officials have deemed an appropriate use of your time away from working on the website project,” Issa wrote.

Tags Darrell Issa healthcare.gov Todd Park