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Darrell Issa’s Lies and Gouges
Posted on August 8, 2003 in Accountability Gray Davis Recall Scoundrels
Update: Darrell Issa is out of the governor’s race. Apparently he thought the state was populated with newspapers like the Orange County Register that didn’t ask many questions when the candidate in question was a Republican.
Being as he is the mastermind behind the recall, however, examination of his past is still relevant. As a younger man, he hijacked cars. Today he and the gang of Republicans are trying to hijack the state.
Gray Davis hasn’t been that exciting of a governor, but whether or not you like him, if it is the deficit that worries you, know that the recall election mounted by car thief Darrell Issa is going to cost you up to $66 million.
At least one candidate is conscious of the cost and plans to do something for the people of California:
In the only good news regarding the cost of the election, Gray Davis has announced he won’t take advantage of a law that allows him to be reimbursed for the cost of his campaign if he survives the recall. Davis issued a challenge to his multimillionaire opponents to do likewise, and promise to give the state an amount equal to what they spend on their campaigns if they lose. So far none of the multimillionaires to the right of Davis—Bill Simon, Darrell Issa, Michael Huffington, Richard Riordan, etc.—has shown any interest in reimbursing the taxpayers.
How about you, Arnold?
Meanwhile, the same Orange County Weekly article reveals this nasty fact about Darrell Issa who, though he can mount a recall, can’t recall many salient details about his past disreputatble business practices. For example, Issa claimed to be the 1994 Inc. magazine “Entepreneur of the Year”. Go back and look. He’s not there. He was one of several winners of a lesser honor in San Diego that year.
He also claims to have built his business from scratch:
Issa’s company started out as Joey Adkins’ A.C. Custom Electronics. Adkins’ company had a contract producing car-security devices for Ford. In the early 1980s, Issa owned a smaller electronics company that did work for A.C. Though profitable, Adkins’ company was having some financial difficulties, and in 1982, Issa loaned Adkins $60,000. As the Times’ 1998 article explains, “A similar loan from Issa was repaid the previous year. But this time, Adkins asked for a few more weeks to repay the loan—and Issa says he agreed.” Such magnanimity didn’t last even one week: “Within days, however, Issa went to a judge and—under an Ohio law that did not require the debtor to be present—won a judgment for the outstanding $60,000.” Adkins didn’t find out until Issa phoned to inform him he was taking possession of the company.
(Nice laws they have back there in Ohio. Charles Dickens would have a field day with Issa and with the state of Ohio.)
There’s also suspicion that Issa set a fire to claim insurance costs:
“Three weeks before the fire, Issa had quadrupled the insurance coverage on parts and equipment in the building. He had ordered that a computer be removed for reprogramming about a week before the fire, according to transcripts of employee interviews, and wanted equipment blueprints, normally kept in a filing cabinet, to be put in a fireproof box.” And the Times’ 1998 article notes: “Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found.” Although the fire was officially classified as “suspicious in nature,” the arson investigation was dropped, and Issa eventually settled with his insurance company, though for far less than he felt he deserved.
If a man this dishonest is behind the recall campaign, can we trust his reasons? Of course not. Gray Davis is not accused of any crimes. He is the scapegoat for a deliberate ruin planned by a star chamber of oil magnates led by Dick Cheney. The deficit is not his doing: Legislative Republicans have halted all discussion of dealing with California’s shortfall for months. Darrell Issa is acting like Tom Delay in Texas. Do we want to Texacate California? The weather there’s bad enough. Let’s reject the politics, too.
