Here are some excerpts from Rabin-Hart's article and a picture of the typical angry countenance of Issa himself scowling down from his committee chair's perch:
"In four years at the helm of the House of Representative’s primary investigative body, Darrell Issa launched major investigations into the 2012 attack in Benghazi, the IRS’s alleged targeting of conservative organizations, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms’ failed “Fast and Furious” operation, the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, and the launch of Healthcare.gov. In pursuit of these scandals he was granted a budget of $25,678,100.
"This figure does not account for the $14 million spent by the IRS answering voluminous and often duplicative subpoenas, the “millions” spent by the Department of Defense responding to inquiries about the attack in Benghazi, the budget of the Oversight Committee’s minority staff, nor the massive expenditure of resources by the dozens of other federal agencies that have come under the scrutiny of the Oversight Committee. By its conclusion Darrell Issa’s chairmanship could cost the U.S. Treasury well into the nine figures [over $1 billion]. From that astounding allocation of resources, Issa has unveiled no major corruption or gotten to the bottom of [any] significant scandal.
"By mistaking bureaucratic incompetence for scandal, ineptitude for criminality, and general stupidity on the part of low- and mid-level government employees for political conspiracy, Issa all but guarantees that only the most fervent partisans will trust any information that emerges from his committee. In that way he is perhaps the best Oversight chairman a Democratic administration could hope for — one whose investigations can simply be disregarded as partisan witch hunts and whose influence waned with each misstep. . . .
". . . Darrell Issa’s chairmanship is without accomplishment. His primary targets – Benghazi, “Fast and Furious,” the IRS, Solyndra — have all led to dead ends. . . . the chairman never acknowledging that no evidence existed for charges he leveled in the media.
"His investigation into Benghazi has been one embarrassing episode after another [and] has unearthed no significant findings. Speaker Boehner, in the ultimate slap in the face to Issa, essentially removed him from the case, choosing South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy to lead the Benghazi Select Committee.
"During the IRS investigation Issa ignored facts and remained dedicated to the predetermined conclusion that the agency was used by the Obama administration to target conservatives. . . . he will not acknowledge his investigation has yet to turn up a single document suggesting anything untoward about the IRS’s actions, other that an attempt by an understaffed department to deal with a huge influx of applications . . . .
"Contrary to Issa’s repeated assertions of criminality, not a single act of wrongdoing by any White House official has been uncovered by his efforts."
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This is really good riddance of a terrible committee chair, completely aside from his partisanship. Remember how shabbily -- how actually demeaning -- he treated the ranking Democratic member of his committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-SC) by actually cutting off his microphone when he tried to speak as Issa was adjourning a meeting in which he had not allowed any committee member to speak?
Ralph
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