Thorn in the side of GOP says he's just doing his job(Waxman)

[maddezmom]

(05-28) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Henry Waxman's critics say he is a "Bush-bashing" attack dog obsessed with a partisan vendetta.

His admirers say he is a dogged investigator making up for years of neglect during the six years a Republican-controlled Congress exercised little oversight of a Republican-controlled executive branch.

Whatever his motivations, the 17-term Democratic congressman from Los Angeles has been making life distinctly uncomfortable for the Bush White House.

Since he became chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in January, Waxman, 67, has been probing some of the more contentious issues surrounding the administration, including prewar intelligence on Iraq, corruption in postwar reconstruction, White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, allegations that administration officials used political party e-mail accounts to conduct government business, and the misinformation surrounding the friendly fire death in Afghanistan of former NFL star Pat Tillman.

~snip~

As for his alleged abuse of subpoena power, Waxman said he has issued only three subpoenas, reluctantly -- one of which is to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on the administration's prewar claims that Iraq was building nuclear weapons.

He pointed to Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ill., chairman of the committee under President Bill Clinton.

"He issued 1,052 subpoenas!" Waxman said with an incredulous chuckle. "And then, when the Republicans came to power, there wasn't a scandal too big for them to ignore. ... That was inappropriate and partisan oversight."

more:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/28/MNGV7Q2QGK1.DTL&feed=rss.news

[Uncle Joe]

1. Three subpoenas and they're whining about that!?

What a bunch of cowards!