Darrell Issa: Antagonist Or Hero?

A June 21 blog in the Washington Post written by congressional reporter Ed O’Keefe suggests Lake Elsinore lawmaker Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) likely will be most remembered for putting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's feet to the fire.

Whether that’s a good thing might depend on which side of the aisle one stands.

On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee -- which is chaired by Issa -- voted to recommend holding Attorney General Eric H. Holder in contempt of the committee after the Obama administration, citing executive privilege for the first time, refused to turn over certain documents pertaining to

Issa’s persistence in this investigation isn’t the norm, according to O’Keefe.

Unlike the Fast and Furious investigation, O’Keefe finds that many of Issa’s inquiries result in no follow-ups, no hearings or no reports. “Essentially, some complain, there have been too many instances in which there was more show than substance,” O’Keefe wrote.

Fast and Furious is different: It’s labeled by some as “Issa’s great hit,” O’Keefe wrote.

Click here to read O'Keefe's piece.

The investigation “has earned Issa and the oversight panel wide news coverage, disdain from Democratic supporters of Holder who claim Issa allowed the investigation to devolve into a personal attack on the attorney general, and acclaim from conservatives eager to find any fault with President Obama and his administration,” O’Keefe wrote Wednesday.

“Issa may want to be remembered as a serious, nonpartisan leader of government reform efforts, but Wednesday’s contempt vote — and the possibility of a full House vote on the matter next week — likely will cement his status as a partisan antagonist in the eyes of Democrats and a hero to conservative Republicans — whether he likes it or not,” O’Keefe continued.