-By Andrew Jones

September 14, 2011- For a congressman who isn’t afraid to start up an investigation, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sure was cautious when the idea of probing into News Corporation was presented to him.

The House Oversight committee chairman appeared on Fox News Tuesday evening and declined to investigate the Murdoch corporation. News Corp. is facing allegations of whether the company broke the Foreign Corrupt Practices Law and hacked into the phones of 9/11 victims.

Oversight committee ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and other members of his panel called on Issa to probe News Corp earlier in the week. But the California Republican seemed disinterested in fulfilling their hopes.

-by Michael McAuliff

August 23, 2011- WASHINGTON -- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is suggesting a New York Times reporter may be guilty of making things up in a recent critical report on the Republican, even though his office cites the same reporter's work when it criticizes the White House.

Issa's office has been on a crusade against scribe Eric Lichtblau ever since the reporter penned a lengthy story arguing that Issa, a wealthy businessman who heads the House Oversight Committee, has enriched himself through his congressional office.

Team Issa started by firing a scathing broadside at the broadsheet last week, demanding a retraction and contending that Lichtblau's story was riddled with at least 13 errors. The Times made one minor correction, but is otherwise standing by the piece and Lichtblau.

-by Lee Fang

August 18, 2011- Has Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) turned the House Oversight Committee into a bank lobbying firm with the power to subpoena and pressure government regulators? ThinkProgress has found that a Goldman Sachs vice president changed his name, then quietly went to work for Issa to coordinate his effort to thwart regulations that affect Goldman Sachs’ bottom line.

-by Eric Lichtblau

August 14, 2011- VISTA, Calif. — Here on the third floor of a gleaming office building overlooking a golf course in the rugged foothills north of San Diego, Darrell Issa, the entrepreneur, oversees the hub of a growing financial empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Just a few steps down the hall, Representative Darrell Issa, the powerful Republican congressman, runs the local district office where his constituents come for help.

The proximity of the two offices reflects Mr. Issa’s dual careers, a meshing of public and private interests rarely seen in government.

Most wealthy members of Congress push their financial activities to the side, with many even placing them in blind trusts to avoid appearances of conflicts of interest. But Mr. Issa (pronounced EYE-suh), one of Washington’s richest lawmakers, may be alone in the hands-on role he has played in overseeing a remarkable array of outside business interests since his election in 2000.

-By Andrew Restuccia

July 29, 2011- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) launched an investigation Friday into a series of closed-door meetings between Obama administration officials and major automakers that resulted in beefed-up vehicle fuel economy standards.

Issa sent out letters to executives of the country’s major automakers Friday alerting them to the investigation and requesting that they keep all documents related to meetings with administration officials on the standards.

In the letters, which were obtained by The Hill, Issa says the administration’s efforts to negotiate the fuel economy standards “raise serious concerns.” The new rules, which were announced Friday by President Obama, will also limit consumer choice, Issa says.

“I am concerned about the agreements lack of transparency, the failure to conduct an open rulemaking process, as well as the potential for vehicle cost increases on consumers, and negative impact on American jobs,” the letters say.

-By Jordy Yager 

July 14, 2011- A Democratic lawmaker is calling on Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to investigate allegations that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bribed foreign law enforcement officials and possibly hacked the phones of U.S. citizens.

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called on the panel’s chairman to investigate whether the U.S.-based company has violated U.S. laws and the rights of U.S. victims of 9/11.

“Our committee has jurisdiction to look into these very troubling allegations against News Corp. and find out whether any federal laws were violated such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials or other types of criminal violations,” Braley said Thursday in an interview with CNN.

- By Meteor Blades

June 29, 2011- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), one of the richest members of Congress and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee who promised a hearing a day after the November 2010 elections, has always been slimy little creature who refuses to accept responsibility for his own misbehavior, everything from car theft to lying about his military history.

-By Lisa Rein

June 23, 2011- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced legislation Thursday to restructure the U.S. Postal Service, saying more regulation is necessary to “prevent another taxpayer bailout” of the financially strapped agency.

The bill would eliminate Saturday delivery and give the Postal Service greater latitude to close post offices and regional mail processing centers. A panel would be created to oversee the agency, modeled on the District of Columbia’s Financial Control Board, with a broad mandate to reduce costs and bring the agency back to financial solvency. “Congress can’t keep kicking the can down the road on out-of-control labor costs and excess infrastructure of USPS,” Issa said in a statement. 

Courage Campaign members and allies from California's 49th District delivered a formal letter to Congressman Darrell Issa, as well as a petition signed by nearly 8,000 individuals, demanding the newly minted House Oversight Chairman return $815,000 in earmarked federal funds that are benefiting his personal real estate investments at a San Diego Hearing of the House Oversight Committee.

-By Susan Crabtree

June 17, 2011- Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee repeatedly clashed Friday over the politically charged National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing Co. and its decision to locate a nonunion plant in South Carolina.

Even before the field hearing in Charleston, S.C., got underway, Democrats were accusing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) of trying to intimidate the NLRB by hauling the agency's top lawyer, Lafe Soloman, before the panel.

Soloman reluctantly agreed to testify under threat of a subpoena, and Democrats on the panel complained throughout the lengthy hearing that Issa was attempting to pressure the NLRB amid an ongoing enforcement case.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) was particularly annoyed and testy throughout the hearing, arguing that forcing Soloman to testify was an unprecedented act by the committee and would "taint the legal proceeding."