Darrell Issa Takes Care Of Goldman Sachs, And May Have Good Reason

by Stuart Shapiro

Rep. Darrell Issa, last seen on these pages asking businesses which regulations they don’t like, apparently has some businesses he really likes.   He likes Goldman Sachs so much that not only has he tried to get the federal government off of their backs but he also invests in their securities.

Issa’s investigation of the SEC’s investigation into Goldman Sachs stole the headlines and reinforced Goldman Sach’s claim that they had done nothing wrong. Explaining his defense of Goldman Sachs, Issa said he was representing the views of ordinary Americans who are worried about the “growth of government and the growth of government wanting to become more complex, with more agencies and more control over our lives.”

However, recent personal finance disclosures reviewed by ThinkProgress paint a different picture of Issa’s motivations. According to documents filed recently with the House Clerk, Issa went on a buying spree of high yield Goldman Sachs bonds at the same time he was running defense for the investment bank in Congress.

OK, tea partiers, here is your chance.  You have a government official abusing his position to enrich himself, the very type of offense that you formed the Tea Party to fight.  Let’s see a full throated condemnation of Issa!

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.