So the last few days have brought us "news" that Issa was involved in his brother's scheme to steal his car for insurance. (See sample reaction here and here and here and here.) Why the quotes around the "news"? It isn't new. I was pretty sure I'd see it before and I have.
I went back through my old recall posts. Most of the links are outdated now and I can't tell you if the now de-linked articles were rife with details. I can only pull up the Sacramento Bee articles. On 4/25, there was a report in California Insider that Democratic insiders were circulating a memo about Issa's past.
A month later, the car theft itself is mentioned in passing in a Bee profile.
Although the articles I found don't have details, I do think the delinked ones do because nothing in the Chronicle story surprised me and it's not as if I'm hanging out at parties with anti-recall activists spreading the news.
Posted by Justene Adamec at June 27, 2003 02:49 AM | TrackBackJustene--The old charge in the Chron story is new. The earlier car theft references you remember were to a 1972 case in Ohio. This one is 1980, in San Jose. So while it's old, it's the first time it's been reported. And while it may seem unfair to dredge it up, these charges have to be part of any evaluation of Issa's charcater, and this is starting to look like a trend. (There was actually one more case where an Army buddy accused Issa of stealing his car but never filed charges.)
Posted by: Dan Weintraub at June 27, 2003 05:26 AM (Permalink)I met Issa at the CA GOP State Convention, and immediately liked him. Great guy, very pleasant, not smarmy or fake-sincere like a lot of politicians I've met.
This is rather startling. It's certainly bad news for the recall. Surprise, surprise that it comes into the light just now...I'll bet it was the SF Chronicle that went out all on its little lonesome and found the story. *thinks: yeah, right*
Posted by: Pieter Friedrich at June 27, 2003 08:49 AM (Permalink)Thanks for the correction. I did not realize that the earlier reports were for a different car theft. Yes, I do think it is fair to report this one, too. I just wasn't surprised by it after the previous report.
It all just reaffirms my conclusion that Issa will get the recall on the ballot but will not personally benefit by his efforts to do so.
Why would this be bad for the recall? It's unquestionably bad for Issa's potential career as a statewide official, but I don't think anyone would use their opinion of Issa as a determining factor in whether or not to sign a recall-Davis petition.
Posted by: aphrael at June 27, 2003 11:24 AM (Permalink)Well, let's see...
Issa puts in some chump change, gets national exposure and bumps up his name ID, gets his dirty laundry aired which didn't have the nuclear blast that Davis was hoping for and he has the option of running for three seats -- Governor, Boxer's and possibly Di Fi's. If you ask me, I think Issa's coming out alright on this deal.
Posted by: Molly at June 27, 2003 11:57 AM (Permalink)Ok. It's not THAT bad. But I do think it might potentially be used against the Recall, though probably not effectively. Why? Because Issa is one of the main backers of the Recall, and it seems possible that this skeleton might be used in an attempt to discredit the backers of the Recall, and thus the Recall itself.
You're right. It isn't BAD news. But I do think it is news that may be used (quite likely ineffectively) against the Recall.
Molly's right, too, though. This isn't necessarily *good* for Issa, but it's probably not really bad for him, either.
Posted by: Pieter Friedrich at June 27, 2003 12:10 PM (Permalink)I'm telling you the recall has taken a life of it's own. It's not owned by any one individual and all shapes and sizes are signing it. There are three groups passing it around and it's still very much a grassroots effort, even with the money Issa's poured in.
As for Issa, I believe people will be like, "Yeah, we've heard that one before -- car stealing, blah, blah." I don't think it'll stick to him. He gets his dirty laundry aired early and we can move on.
If anything the Davis camp held on to the nuclear bomb a bit too long. If Issa was even thinking about running I would've blasted that thing off. Now you have everyone on the bandwagon to toss 'ol Joe.
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