Darrell Edward Issa is an American businessman and politician serving as the US representative for California's 48th congressional district.
70 Facts About Darrell Issa
2.
Darrell Issa represented the 50th congressional district from 2021 to 2023.
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On January 10,2018, Darrell Issa announced that he would not seek reelection to the House.
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On September 19,2018, President Donald Trump nominated Darrell Issa to be director of the United States Trade and Development Agency.
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On September 26,2019, Darrell Issa announced that he was running for California's 50th congressional district in the 2020 election.
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The second of six children, Darrell Issa was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Martha and William Darrell Issa, who sold trucks and ground valves.
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Darrell Issa's father was the son of Lebanese Christian immigrants, and a member of the Maronite Catholic faith.
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Darrell Issa's mother is of German and Bohemian descent and a Latter-day Saint.
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Many of Darrell Issa's friends were Jewish, and he reportedly worked for a rabbi at one point.
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In 1970, on his 17th birthday, Darrell Issa dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Army.
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Darrell Issa became an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician assigned to the 145th Ordnance Detachment.
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Darrell Issa received a hardship discharge from the Army in 1972 after his father suffered a heart attack.
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Darrell Issa pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered firearm and was sentenced to six months' probation and a small fine.
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Darrell Issa has said he believes the record has since been expunged.
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Darrell Issa majored in business administration at Siena Heights University, a small Roman Catholic college in Adrian, Michigan, completing his degree at the Stark campus of Kent State University.
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Darrell Issa served in the Army Reserve from 1976 to 1980, and was promoted to captain.
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Shortly before his discharge from the Army in 1980, Darrell Issa was again indicted for grand theft auto.
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Darrell Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota.
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In 1985, Darrell Issa sold the company to a California-based maker of home alarms, and moved to the San Diego suburb of Vista, to work for the company.
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Shortly afterward, Darrell Issa left to start Directed Electronics, Inc.
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Darrell Issa used his knowledge of the weaknesses in automotive security to develop effective theft deterrents.
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Darrell Issa is partner in 17 limited partnerships and limited liability companies that own commercial properties across North San Diego County.
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Active in consumer-electronics trade organizations, Darrell Issa became more directly involved in politics.
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Darrell Issa went to Washington, DC to lobby Congress and later became one of California's biggest individual campaign contributors to Republican candidates.
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Darrell Issa was instrumental in persuading the national Republican Party to hold its 1996 convention in San Diego.
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Darrell Issa spent $10 million of his own money in the primary, running against California State Treasurer Matt Fong, Congressman Frank Riggs, and three others.
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Fong's campaign raised $3 million from contributions and complained that Darrell Issa's wealth made for an uneven playing field.
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An Darrell Issa spokesman countered that the money was needed to compensate for Fong's statewide name recognition.
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Darrell Issa ran for the seat, capitalizing on his name recognition from the 1998 Senate race.
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Darrell Issa was one of four Middle Eastern American members in that Congress.
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Darrell Issa has said that he identified primarily as Lebanese, not as pan-Arab.
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Darrell Issa sent out a campaign mailer that featured a photograph of President Barack Obama signing a law.
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On November 23,2016, Darrell Issa held a 3,234-vote lead with approximately 6,000 ballots still uncounted.
34.
On January 10,2018, Darrell Issa announced that he would not run for reelection.
35.
On September 26,2019, Darrell Issa announced that he was running for California's 50th congressional district in the 2020 election.
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Darrell Issa placed second in the March 3,2020, blanket primary and beat Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar by nearly 30,000 votes in the general election.
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Darrell Issa said he could switch districts because he owns his mother's home in Bonsall.
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Darrell Issa has long lived in Vista, where he has raised his family.
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Darrell Issa was a vocal advocate for investigations into the Obama administration, including the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, corruption in Afghanistan, WikiLeaks, and the Food and Drug Administration, among other topics.
40.
In February 2011, the Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit investigative reporting center based at San Diego State University, published an investigation alleging that as leader of the committee, Darrell Issa built a team that included staff members with close connections to industries that could benefit from his investigations.
41.
On February 16,2012, the committee held a hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services's regulation requiring insurance plans to cover birth control, which Darrell Issa believed to be a violation of the religious freedom of people who oppose the use of birth control.
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Democratic members submitted attorney and activist Sandra Fluke as a witness for promoting women's health, but Darrell Issa did not permit her to testify, saying her name was submitted too late, a claim Democrats challenged.
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In July 2017, Darrell Issa introduced the CLASSICS Act to Congress in a bipartisan effort to empower artists by collecting royalties for the preceding three-year period and by ensuring their creative rights remain in force for pre-1972 recordings just as newer artists are guaranteed by current legislation.
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Darrell Issa has been a consistent cosponsor of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act as well; granting radio performance rights for musicians and record producers.
45.
In September 2011, a liberal advocacy and lobbying group, American Family Voices, filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Darrell Issa, alleging he had repeatedly used his position of authority on the Oversight Committee to improperly intervene in dealings with Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and DEI Holdings, all of which Darrell Issa is associated with in some way.
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Darrell Issa supported the overturning of Roe v Wade, calling the day the decision was made a "great day for the cause and principle of life".
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Darrell Issa came to national prominence in 2003 when he contributed more than $1.6 million to help fund a signature-gathering drive for the petition to recall California Governor Gray Davis.
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At the time he made the contribution, it was widely believed that Darrell Issa intended to run to replace Davis.
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Darrell Issa later said his mission had been accomplished with Davis's recall and that he wanted to continue to represent his district in Congress and work toward Middle East peace.
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Darrell Issa endorsed Schwarzenegger, who won the governorship when Davis was recalled.
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Darrell Issa voted against an amendment, which ultimately failed narrowly, that stated that religious corporations, associations and institutions that receive federal contracts cannot be discriminated against on the basis of religion.
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Darrell Issa attracted attention for his close relationship with and strong support for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
53.
In early February 2017, Darrell Issa expressed his support for a special prosecutor to look into Trump's ties to Russia.
54.
Darrell Issa said he believed Russia meddled with the 2016 election.
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Darrell Issa supported Trump's firing of Comey and that said the US should focus on other issues.
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On January 7,2021, after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building, Darrell Issa voted to reject the certification of Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.
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Darrell Issa voted against impeaching Trump on an articles of impeachment for "incitement of insurrection" in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol.
58.
In May 2021, Darrell Issa voted against the creation of an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack.
59.
Darrell Issa called Obama's unwillingness to investigate Climategate "unconscionable" and an abdication of responsibility.
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In 2001, Darrell Issa voted for the authorization of the PATRIOT Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
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Darrell Issa voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act in 2005 after successfully amending it to require judicial notification, reporting requirements and facts justifying the use of roving surveillance at new facilities or places.
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Darrell Issa had a significant role in US peace initiatives in the Middle East.
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Darrell Issa traveled to Lebanon and Syria in an effort to negotiate the end of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
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In June 2021, Darrell Issa was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 against Iraq.
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Darrell Issa favors repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and voted in support of the budget resolution to repeal it in January 2017.
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On May 4,2017, Darrell Issa voted to repeal Obamacare and pass the American Health Care Act.
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The group was unhappy about a photo in which Darrell Issa stood "front and center" in tribute to Republicans' success in passing the AHCA.
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Darrell Issa voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
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Darrell Issa was one of two California Republicans to vote against the bill, alongside Dana Rohrabacher.
70.
Darrell Issa opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act because of the amount of discretion it would give the Department of Justice.